Jeremiah 18
Common English Bible
God the potter
18 Jeremiah received the Lord’s word: 2 Go down to the potter’s house, and I’ll give you instructions about what to do there. 3 So I went down to the potter’s house; he was working on the potter’s wheel. 4 But the piece he was making was flawed while still in his hands, so the potter started on another, as seemed best to him. 5 Then the Lord’s word came to me: 6 House of Israel, can’t I deal with you like this potter, declares the Lord? Like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in mine, house of Israel! 7 At any time I may announce that I will dig up, pull down, and destroy a nation or kingdom; 8 but if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I’ll relent and not carry out the harm I intended for it. 9 At the same time, I may announce that I will build and plant a nation or kingdom; 10 but if that nation displeases and disobeys me, then I’ll relent and not carry out the good I intended for it. 11 Now say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem: This is what the Lord says: I am a potter preparing a disaster for you; I’m working out a plan against you. So each one of you, turn from your evil ways; reform your ways and your actions. 12 But they said, “What’s the use! We will follow our own plans and act according to our own willful, evil hearts.”
13 Therefore, the Lord proclaims:
Ask among the nations:
Have you ever heard anything like this?
Virgin Israel has done
the most horrible thing.
14 Does the snow on the mountains of Lebanon ever melt entirely
off their rocky cliffs?
Do the cool mountain streams ever dry up?[a]
15 Yet my people have forgotten me;
they have offered sacrifices to a lie.
And so they have stumbled along the way,
even along the ancient paths.
They have taken side roads,
not the main roads.[b]
16 They have ruined their country
and brought utter shame on it.
All who pass by are shocked
and shake their heads.
17 Like a strong east wind,
I will scatter them before their enemy.
When disaster strikes them,
I will show them my back,
not my face.
18 Then they said, “Come, let’s unite against Jeremiah, for the priest’s instruction won’t fail, nor will the sage’s counsel, nor the prophet’s word. Come, let’s silence him and pay no attention to his words.”
19 Pay attention to me, Lord;
listen to what my enemies are saying.
20 Should evil be returned for good?
Yet they have set traps for me.
Remember that I stood before you,
begging you to be merciful
and not to punish them.
21 Enough! Let their children starve;
let them die by the sword.
Let their wives be barren widows;
let their men be slaughtered
and their youth struck down in battle.
22 Let screams be heard from their homes
when you suddenly bring armies against them.
They have dug a pit to capture me,
set traps for my feet.
23 But you, Lord, you know
all their sinister plots to kill me.
Don’t overlook their wrongdoing;
don’t cleanse their sin from before you.
May they stumble before you;
when you become angry, do something about them.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 18:14 Heb uncertain; or be dug up
- Jeremiah 18:15 Heb uncertain
Jeremiah 18
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
The Potter and the Clay
18 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? says the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will repent of the evil that I intended to do to it. 9 And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 10 and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will repent of the good which I had intended to do to it. 11 Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.’
Israel’s Stubborn Idolatry
12 “But they say, ‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’
13 “Therefore thus says the Lord:
Ask among the nations,
who has heard the like of this?
The virgin Israel
has done a very horrible thing.
14 Does the snow of Lebanon leave
the crags of Sir′ion?[a]
Do the mountain[b] waters run dry,[c]
the cold flowing streams?
15 But my people have forgotten me,
they burn incense to false gods;
they have stumbled[d] in their ways,
in the ancient roads,
and have gone into bypaths,
not the highway,
16 making their land a horror,
a thing to be hissed at for ever.
Every one who passes by it is horrified
and shakes his head.
17 Like the east wind I will scatter them
before the enemy.
I will show them my back, not my face,
in the day of their calamity.”
A Plot against Jeremiah
18 Then they said, “Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not heed any of his words.”
19 Give heed to me, O Lord,
and hearken to my plea.[e]
20 Is evil a recompense for good?
Yet they have dug a pit for my life.
Remember how I stood before thee
to speak good for them,
to turn away thy wrath from them.
21 Therefore deliver up their children to famine;
give them over to the power of the sword,
let their wives become childless and widowed.
May their men meet death by pestilence,
their youths be slain by the sword in battle.
22 May a cry be heard from their houses,
when thou bringest the marauder suddenly upon them!
For they have dug a pit to take me,
and laid snares for my feet.
23 Yet, thou, O Lord, knowest
all their plotting to slay me.
Forgive not their iniquity,
nor blot out their sin from thy sight.
Let them be overthrown before thee;
deal with them in the time of thine anger.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 18:14 Cn: Heb the field
- Jeremiah 18:14 Cn: Heb foreign
- Jeremiah 18:14 Cn: Heb Are . . . plucked up?
- Jeremiah 18:15 Gk Syr Vg: Heb they made them stumble
- Jeremiah 18:19 Gk Compare Syr Tg: Heb my adversaries
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The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.