Jeremiah 18
Christian Standard Bible
Parable of the Potter
18 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down at once to the potter’s house;(A) there I will reveal my words to you.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, working away at the wheel.[a] 4 But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed in the potter’s hand, so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do.(B)
5 The word of the Lord came to me: 6 “House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay?”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.(C) 7 At one moment I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy it.(D) 8 However, if that nation about which I have made the announcement turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the disaster I had planned to do to it.(E) 9 At another time I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it.(F) 10 However, if it does what is evil in my sight by not listening to me, I will relent concerning the good I had said I would do to it.(G) 11 So now, say to the men of Judah and to the residents of Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look, I am about to bring harm to you and make plans against you. Turn now, each from your evil way, and correct your ways and your deeds.’(H) 12 But they will say, ‘It’s hopeless.(I) We will continue to follow our plans, and each of us will continue to act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”
Deluded Israel
13 Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
Ask among the nations,
who has heard things like these?
Virgin Israel has done a most horrible thing.(J)
14 Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave the highland crags?
Or does cold water flowing from a distance ever fail?
15 Yet my people have forgotten me.(K)
They burn incense to worthless idols
that make them stumble in their ways(L)
on the ancient roads,(M)
and make them walk on new paths, not the highway.
16 They have made their land a horror,(N)
a perpetual object of scorn;[b](O)
all who pass by it will be appalled(P)
and shake their heads.(Q)
17 I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind.(R)
I will show them[c] my back and not my face(S)
on the day of their calamity.
Plot against Jeremiah
18 Then certain ones said, “Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah,(T) for instruction will never be lost from the priest,(U) or counsel from the wise, or a word from the prophet.(V) Come, let’s denounce him[d] and pay no attention to all his words.”
19 Pay attention to me, Lord.
Hear what my opponents are saying!(W)
20 Should good be repaid with evil?
Yet they have dug a pit for me.(X)
Remember how I stood before you
to speak good on their behalf,
to turn your anger from them.
21 Therefore, hand their children over to famine,(Y)
and give them over to the power of the sword.
Let their wives become childless and widowed,
their husbands slain by deadly disease,[e]
their young men struck down by the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry be heard from their houses
when you suddenly bring raiders against them,
for they have dug a pit to capture me
and have hidden snares for my feet.(Z)
23 But you, Lord, know
all their deadly plots against me.
Do not wipe out their iniquity;(AA)
do not blot out their sin before you.
Let them be forced to stumble before you;
deal with them in the time of your anger.
Jeremiah 18
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 18
The Potter’s Vessel.[a] 1 This word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 Arise and go down to the potter’s house; there you will hear my word. 3 I went down to the potter’s house and there he was, working at the wheel. 4 Whenever the vessel of clay he was making turned out badly in his hand, he tried again, making another vessel of whatever sort he pleased.(A) 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 Can I not do to you, house of Israel, as this potter has done?—oracle of the Lord. Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.(B) 7 (C)At one moment I may decree concerning a nation or kingdom that I will uproot and tear down and destroy it; 8 but if that nation against whom I have decreed turns from its evil, then I will have a change of heart regarding the evil which I have decreed.(D) 9 At another moment, I may decree concerning a nation or kingdom that I will build up and plant it; 10 but if that nation does what is evil in my eyes, refusing to obey my voice, then I will have a change of heart regarding the good with which I planned to bless it.(E)
11 And now, tell this to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the Lord: Look, I am fashioning evil against you and making a plan. Return, all of you, from your evil way; reform your ways and your deeds.(F) 12 But they will say, “No use! We will follow our own devices; each one of us will behave according to the stubbornness of our evil hearts!”(G)
Unnatural Apostasy
13 Therefore thus says the Lord:
Ask among the nations—
who has ever heard the like?
Truly horrible things
virgin Israel has done!(H)
14 Does the snow of Lebanon[b]
desert the rocky heights?
Do the gushing waters dry up
that flow fresh down the mountains?
15 Yet my people have forgotten me:
they offer incense in vain.
They stumble off their paths,
the ways of old,
Traveling on bypaths,
not the beaten track.(I)
16 Their land shall be made a waste,
an object of endless hissing:[c]
All passersby will be horrified,
shaking their heads.(J)
17 Like the east wind, I will scatter them
before their enemies;
I will show them my back, not my face,
in their day of disaster.(K)
Another Prayer for Vengeance. 18 “Come,” they said, “let us devise a plot against Jeremiah, for instruction will not perish from the priests, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. Come, let us destroy him by his own tongue. Let us pay careful attention to his every word.”(L)
19 Pay attention to me, O Lord,
and listen to what my adversaries say.
20 Must good be repaid with evil
that they should dig a pit to take my life?
Remember that I stood before you
to speak on their behalf,
to turn your wrath away from them.(M)
21 So now, give their children[d] to famine,(N)
deliver them to the power of the sword.
Let their wives be childless and widows;
let their husbands die of pestilence,
their youths be struck down by the sword in battle.
22 May cries be heard from their homes,
when suddenly you send plunderers against them.
For they have dug a pit to capture me,
they have hidden snares for my feet;
23 But you, Lord, know
all their planning for my death.
Do not forgive their crime,
and their sin do not blot out from your sight!
Let them stumble before you,
in the time of your anger act against them.(O)
Footnotes
- 18:1–12 The lesson of the potter is that God has the power to destroy or restore, changing his plans accordingly as these nations disobey him or fulfill his will. Cf. Jon 3:10.
- 18:14 Lebanon: here apparently including Mount Hermon, whose snow-capped peak can be seen from parts of Palestine all year round. The prophet contrasts the certainties of nature with Israel’s unnatural desertion of the Lord for idols (v. 15).
- 18:16 Hissing: in some ancient Near Eastern cultures hissing was not only a sign of derision but a magical means of keeping demons away; people hissed in order to ward off danger, like whistling in a cemetery.
- 18:21 Give their children: often an extended family is meant, to be rewarded or punished as a unit.
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