The Potter and the Clay

18 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Arise, and go down to (A)the potter's house, and there I will let you hear[a] my words.” So I went down to (B)the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was (C)spoiled in the potter's hand, and (D)he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

Then the word of the Lord came to me: “O house of Israel, (E)can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. (F)Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will (G)pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, (H)turns from its evil, (I)I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will (J)build and plant it, 10 and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that 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 disaster against you and devising a plan against you. (K)Return, every one from his evil way, and (L)amend your ways and your deeds.’

12 “But they say, (M)‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to (N)the stubbornness of his evil heart.’

13 “Therefore thus says the Lord:
(O)Ask among the nations,
    Who has heard the like of this?
The virgin Israel
    has done (P)a very horrible thing.
14 Does the snow of Lebanon leave
    the crags of Sirion?[b]
Do the mountain waters run dry,[c]
    the cold flowing streams?
15 (Q)But my people have forgotten me;
    they make offerings to (R)false gods;
they made them stumble in their ways,
    (S)in the ancient roads,
and to walk into side roads,
    (T)not the highway,
16 making their land (U)a horror,
    a thing (V)to be hissed at forever.
(W)Everyone who passes by it is horrified
    (X)and shakes his head.
17 (Y)Like the east wind (Z)I will scatter them
    before the enemy.
(AA)I will show them my back, not my face,
    in the day of their calamity.”

18 Then they said, (AB)“Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, (AC)for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. (AD)Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.”

19 Hear me, O Lord,
    and (AE)listen to the voice of my adversaries.
20 (AF)Should good be repaid with evil?
    Yet (AG)they have dug a pit for my life.
(AH)Remember how I stood before you
    to speak good for them,
    to turn away your wrath from them.
21 Therefore (AI)deliver up their children to famine;
    give them over to the power of the sword;
let their wives become childless (AJ)and widowed.
    May their men meet death by pestilence,
    their youths be struck down by the sword in battle.
22 (AK)May a cry be heard from their houses,
    when you bring the plunderer suddenly upon them!
For (AL)they have dug a pit to take me
    (AM)and laid snares for my feet.
23 Yet (AN)you, O Lord, know
    all their plotting to kill me.
(AO)Forgive not their iniquity,
    nor blot out their sin from your sight.
Let them be overthrown before you;
    deal with them in the time of your anger.

The Broken Flask

19 Thus says the Lord, “Go, buy (AP)a potter's earthenware (AQ)flask, and take some of (AR)the elders of the people and some of (AS)the elders of the priests, and go out (AT)to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. You shall say, (AU)‘Hear the word of the Lord, (AV)O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that (AW)the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. (AX)Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; (AY)and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, (AZ)and have built the high places of Baal (BA)to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, (BB)which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind— therefore, (BC)behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or (BD)the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. And in this place (BE)I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, (BF)and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. (BG)I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth. And I will make this city (BH)a horror, (BI)a thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds. (BJ)And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor (BK)in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.’

10 “Then (BL)you shall break (BM)the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, 11 and shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, (BN)as one breaks a potter's vessel, (BO)so that it can never be mended. (BP)Men shall bury in Topheth because there will be no place else to bury. 12 Thus will I do to this place, declares the Lord, and to its inhabitants, making this city (BQ)like Topheth. 13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah—(BR)all the houses on whose (BS)roofs offerings have been offered (BT)to all the host of heaven, and (BU)drink offerings have been poured out to other gods—shall be defiled (BV)like the place of Topheth.’”

14 Then Jeremiah came from (BW)Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, (BX)and he stood in the court of the Lord's house and said to all the people: 15 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, (BY)because they have stiffened their neck, (BZ)refusing to hear my words.”

Jeremiah Persecuted by Pashhur

20 Now (CA)Pashhur the priest, the son of (CB)Immer, who was (CC)chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. Then (CD)Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him (CE)in the stocks that were in the upper (CF)Benjamin Gate of the house of the Lord. The next day, when (CG)Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call your name (CH)Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side. For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will make you (CI)a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall strike them down with the sword. Moreover, (CJ)I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its (CK)prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon. And you, (CL)Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. To Babylon you shall go, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, (CM)to whom you have prophesied falsely.”

O Lord, (CN)you have deceived me,
    and I was deceived;
(CO)you are stronger than I,
    and you have prevailed.
(CP)I have become a laughingstock all the day;
    everyone mocks me.
For whenever I speak, I cry out,
    I shout, (CQ)“Violence and destruction!”
For (CR)the word of the Lord has become for me
    (CS)a reproach and (CT)derision all day long.
If I say, “I will not mention him,
    or speak any more in his name,”
(CU)there is in my heart as it were a burning fire
    shut up in my bones,
and (CV)I am weary with holding it in,
    and I cannot.
10 (CW)For I hear many whispering.
    (CX)Terror is on every side!
“Denounce him! (CY)Let us denounce him!”
    say all my (CZ)close friends,
    (DA)watching for (DB)my fall.
“Perhaps he will be deceived;
    then (DC)we can overcome him
    and take our revenge on him.”
11 But (DD)the Lord is with me as a dread warrior;
    therefore my persecutors will stumble;
    (DE)they will not overcome me.
(DF)They will be greatly shamed,
    for they will not succeed.
Their (DG)eternal dishonor
    will never be forgotten.
12 O Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous,
    (DH)who sees the heart and the mind,[d]
let me see your vengeance upon them,
    for to you have I committed my cause.

13 (DI)Sing to the Lord;
    praise the Lord!
For he has delivered the life of the needy
    from the hand of evildoers.

14 (DJ)Cursed be the day
    on which I was born!
The day when my mother bore me,
    let it not be blessed!
15 Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father,
“A son is born to you,”
    (DK)making him very glad.
16 Let that man be like (DL)the cities
    that the Lord overthrew without pity;
(DM)let him hear a cry in the morning
    and an alarm at noon,
17 (DN)because he did not kill me in the womb;
    so my mother would have been my grave,
    and her womb forever great.
18 (DO)Why did I come out from the womb
    (DP)to see toil and sorrow,
    and spend my days in shame?

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 18:2 Or will cause you to hear
  2. Jeremiah 18:14 Hebrew of the field
  3. Jeremiah 18:14 Hebrew Are foreign waters plucked up
  4. Jeremiah 20:12 Hebrew kidneys

Greeting

Paul, (A)a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and (B)Timothy our brother,

To Philemon our beloved fellow worker and Apphia our sister and (C)Archippus our (D)fellow soldier, and (E)the church in your house:

(F)Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philemon's Love and Faith

(G)I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I (H)hear of your love and (I)of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full (J)knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.[a] For I have derived much joy and (K)comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints (L)have been refreshed through you.

Paul's Plea for Onesimus

Accordingly, (M)though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do (N)what is required, yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now (O)a prisoner also for Christ Jesus— 10 I appeal to you for (P)my child, (Q)Onesimus,[b] (R)whose father I became in my imprisonment. 11 (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) 12 I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. 13 I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me (S)on your behalf (T)during my imprisonment for the gospel, 14 but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be (U)by compulsion but of your own accord. 15 For this perhaps is why (V)he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, 16 (W)no longer as a bondservant[c] but more than a bondservant, as (X)a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, (Y)both in the flesh and in the Lord.

17 So if you consider me (Z)your partner, receive him as you would receive me. 18 If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. 19 (AA)I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self. 20 Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. (AB)Refresh my heart in Christ.

21 (AC)Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. 22 At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for (AD)I am hoping that (AE)through your prayers (AF)I will be graciously given to you.

Final Greetings

23 (AG)Epaphras, my (AH)fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, 24 and so do (AI)Mark, (AJ)Aristarchus, (AK)Demas, and (AL)Luke, my fellow workers.

25 (AM)The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Footnotes

  1. Philemon 1:6 Or for Christ's service
  2. Philemon 1:10 Onesimus means useful (see verse 11) or beneficial (see verse 20)
  3. Philemon 1:16 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface; twice in this verse

Bless the Lord, O My Soul

Of David.

103 (A)Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and all that is within me,
    bless his holy name!
(B)Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and (C)forget not all his benefits,
who (D)forgives all your iniquity,
    who (E)heals all your diseases,
who (F)redeems your life from the pit,
    who (G)crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who (H)satisfies you with good
    so that your youth is renewed like (I)the eagle's.

The Lord works (J)righteousness
    and justice for all who are oppressed.
He made known his (K)ways to Moses,
    his (L)acts to the people of Israel.
The Lord is (M)merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
(N)He will not always chide,
    nor will he (O)keep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us (P)according to our sins,
    nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For (Q)as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his (R)steadfast love toward (S)those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
    so far does he (T)remove our transgressions from us.
13 As (U)a father shows compassion to his children,
    so the Lord shows compassion (V)to those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame;[a]
    he (W)remembers that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are like (X)grass;
    he flourishes like (Y)a flower of the field;
16 for (Z)the wind passes over it, and (AA)it is gone,
    and (AB)its place knows it no more.
17 But (AC)the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on (AD)those who fear him,
    and his righteousness to (AE)children's children,
18 to those who (AF)keep his covenant
    and (AG)remember to do his commandments.
19 The Lord has (AH)established his throne in the heavens,
    and his (AI)kingdom rules over all.

20 Bless the Lord, O you (AJ)his angels,
    you (AK)mighty ones who (AL)do his word,
    obeying the voice of his word!
21 Bless the Lord, all his (AM)hosts,
    his (AN)ministers, who do his will!
22 (AO)Bless the Lord, all his works,
    in all places of his dominion.
(AP)Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 103:14 Or knows how we are formed

Like (A)a thorn that goes up into the hand of a drunkard
    is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
10 Like an archer who wounds everyone
    is one who hires a passing fool or drunkard.[a]
11 Like (B)a dog that returns to his vomit
    is (C)a fool who repeats his folly.
12 Do you see a man who is (D)wise in his own eyes?
    (E)There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 26:10 Or hires a fool or passersby

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