18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

² Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.

³ Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.

⁴ And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

⁶ O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

⁷ At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;

⁸ If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

⁹ And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;

¹⁰ If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.

¹¹ Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.

¹⁵ See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;

¹⁶ In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

¹⁷ But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;

¹⁸ I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.

¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

²⁰ That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

139 O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.

² Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

³ Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

⁴ For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.

⁵ Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

¹³ For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.

¹⁴ I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

¹⁵ My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

¹⁶ Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

¹⁷ How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

¹⁸ If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

² But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

³ And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

⁴ The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

⁵ Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

⁶ For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

¹ Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer,

² And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house:

³ Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers,

⁵ Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints;

⁶ That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.

⁷ For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother.

⁸ Wherefore, though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient,

⁹ Yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

¹⁰ I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds:

¹¹ Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me:

¹² Whom I have sent again: thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels:

¹³ Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel:

¹⁴ But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly.

¹⁵ For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever;

¹⁶ Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?

¹⁷ If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself.

¹⁸ If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account;

¹⁹ I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides.

²⁰ Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord: refresh my bowels in the Lord.

²¹ Having confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say.

²⁵ And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,

²⁶ If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

²⁷ And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

²⁸ For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

²⁹ Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,

³⁰ Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

³¹ Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?

³² Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.

³³ So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.