At the Potter’s House

18 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” ³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴ But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me. ⁶ He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay^(A) in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand,^(B) Israel. ⁷ If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted,^(C) torn down and destroyed, ⁸ and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent^(D) and not inflict on it the disaster^(E) I had planned. ⁹ And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built^(F) up and planted, ¹⁰ and if it does evil^(G) in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider^(H) the good I had intended to do for it.^(I)

¹¹ “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster^(J) for you and devising a plan^(K) against you. So turn^(L) from your evil ways,^(M) each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’^{(N) 12} But they will reply, ‘It’s no use.^(O) We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.^(P)’”

¹³ Therefore this is what the Lord says:

¹⁸ They said, “Come, let’s make plans^(AF) against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest^(AG) will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise,^(AH) nor the word from the prophets.^(AI) So come, let’s attack him with our tongues^(AJ) and pay no attention to anything he says.”

19 This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter.^(AZ) Take along some of the elders^(BA) of the people and of the priests ² and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom,^(BB) near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you, ³ and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings^(BC) of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen! I am going to bring a disaster^(BD) on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.^{(BE) 4} For they have forsaken^(BF) me and made this a place of foreign gods^(BG); they have burned incense^(BH) in it to gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.^{(BI) 5} They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children^(BJ) in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.^{(BK) 6} So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call this place Topheth^(BL) or the Valley of Ben Hinnom,^(BM) but the Valley of Slaughter.^(BN)

⁷ “‘In this place I will ruin^[b] the plans^(BO) of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies,^(BP) at the hands of those who want to kill them, and I will give their carcasses^(BQ) as food^(BR) to the birds and the wild animals. ⁸ I will devastate this city and make it an object of horror and scorn;^(BS) all who pass by will be appalled^(BT) and will scoff because of all its wounds.^{(BU) 9} I will make them eat^(BV) the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh because their enemies^(BW) will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them.’

¹⁰ “Then break the jar^(BX) while those who go with you are watching, ¹¹ and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I will smash^(BY) this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury^(BZ) the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. ¹² This is what I will do to this place and to those who live here, declares the Lord. I will make this city like Topheth. ¹³ The houses^(CA) in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah will be defiled^(CB) like this place, Topheth—all the houses where they burned incense on the roofs^(CC) to all the starry hosts^(CD) and poured out drink offerings^(CE) to other gods.’”

¹⁴ Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court^(CF) of the Lord’s temple and said to all the people, ¹⁵ “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on this city and all the villages around it every disaster^(CG) I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked^(CH) and would not listen^(CI) to my words.’”

²³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth^(A) of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.^(B) You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. ²⁴ You blind guides!^(C) You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

²⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish,^(D) but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.^{(E) 26} Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

²⁷ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs,^(F) which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

²⁹ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets^(G) and decorate the graves of the righteous. ³⁰ And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.^{(H) 32} Go ahead, then, and complete^(I) what your ancestors started!^(J)

³³ “You snakes! You brood of vipers!^(K) How will you escape being condemned to hell?^{(L) 34} Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify;^(M) others you will flog in your synagogues^(N) and pursue from town to town.^{(O) 35} And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel^(P) to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah,^(Q) whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.^{(R) 36} Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.^(S)

³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you,^(T) how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,^(U) and you were not willing. ³⁸ Look, your house is left to you desolate.^{(V) 39} For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’^[a]”^(W)