Jeremiah 18-23

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.” ³So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, working away at the wheel.^[a] ⁴But 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)

⁵The 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) ⁷At one moment I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy it.^(D) ⁸However, 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) ⁹At another time I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it.^(F) ¹⁰However, 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) ¹¹So 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) ¹²But 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

¹³Therefore, 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)
¹⁴Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave the highland crags?
Or does cold water flowing from a distance ever fail?
¹⁵Yet 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.
¹⁶They 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)
¹⁷I 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

¹⁸Then 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.”

¹⁹Pay attention to me, Lord.
Hear what my opponents are saying!^(W)
²⁰Should 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.
²¹Therefore, 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.
²²Let 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)
²³But 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.

The Clay Jar

19 This is what the Lord says: “Go, buy a potter’s clay^(AB) jar. Take^[f] some of the elders of the people and some of the leading priests^(AC) ²and go out to Ben Hinnom Valley^(AD) near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. Proclaim there the words I speak to you. ³Say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, kings of Judah and residents of Jerusalem.^(AE) This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such a disaster on this place that everyone who hears about it will shudder^[g]^(AF) ⁴because they have abandoned me^(AG) and made this a foreign place. They have burned incense in it to other gods that they, their ancestors, and the kings of Judah have never known. They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.^(AH) ⁵They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, something I have never commanded or mentioned; I never entertained the thought.^[h]^(AI)

⁶“‘Therefore, look, the days are coming^(AJ)—this is the Lord’s declaration—when this place will no longer be called Topheth and Ben Hinnom Valley, but Slaughter Valley.^(AK) ⁷I will spoil the plans of Judah and Jerusalem in this place. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hand of those who intend to take their life. I will provide their corpses as food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.^(AL) ⁸I will make this city desolate, an object of scorn. Everyone who passes by it will be appalled and scoff because of all its wounds.^(AM) ⁹I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and they will eat each other’s flesh in the distressing siege inflicted on them by their enemies who intend to take their life.’^(AN)

¹⁰“Then you are to shatter the jar in the presence of the people going with you, ¹¹and you are to proclaim to them, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says: I will shatter these people and this city, like one shatters a potter’s jar that can never again be mended. They will bury the dead in Topheth because there is no other place for burials.^(AO) ¹²That is what I will do to this place—this is the declaration of the Lord—and to its residents, making this city like Topheth. ¹³The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will become impure like that place Topheth—all the houses on whose rooftops they have burned incense to all the stars in the sky^(AP) and poured out drink offerings to other gods.’”

¹⁴Jeremiah returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, stood in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple,^(AQ) and proclaimed to all the people, ¹⁵“This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to bring on this city—and on all its cities—every disaster that I spoke against it, for they have become obstinate, not obeying my words.’”^(AR)

Jeremiah Beaten by Pashhur

20 Pashhur the priest,^(AS) the son of Immer^(AT) and chief official in the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. ²So Pashhur had the prophet Jeremiah beaten and put him in the stocks^(AU) at the Upper Benjamin Gate^(AV) in the Lord’s temple. ³The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call you Pashhur, but Terror Is on Every Side,^[i] ⁴for this is what the Lord says, ‘I am about to make you a terror to both yourself and those you love.^(AW) They will fall by the sword of their enemies before your very eyes.^(AX) I will hand Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will deport them to Babylon and put them to the sword. ⁵I will give away all the wealth^(AY) of this city, all its products^(AZ) and valuables. Indeed, I will hand all the treasures of the kings of Judah over to their enemies. They will plunder them, seize them, and carry them off to Babylon.^(BA) ⁶As for you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, you will go into captivity. You will go to Babylon.^(BB) There you will die, and there you will be buried, you and all your friends to whom you prophesied lies.’”^(BC)

Jeremiah Compelled to Preach

⁷You deceived^(BD) me, Lord, and I was deceived.
You seized me and prevailed.
I am a laughingstock all the time;^(BE)
everyone ridicules me.
⁸For whenever I speak, I cry out,
I proclaim, “Violence and destruction!” ^(BF)
so the word of the Lord has become my
constant disgrace and derision.
⁹I say, “I won’t mention him
or speak any longer in his name.”^(BG)
But his message becomes a fire burning in my heart,^(BH)
shut up in my bones.
I become tired of holding it in,^(BI)
and I cannot prevail.
¹⁰For I have heard the gossip of many people,
“Terror is on every side!^(BJ)
Report him; let’s report him!”
Everyone I trusted^[j] watches for my fall.^(BK)
“Perhaps he will be deceived
so that we might prevail against him
and take our vengeance on him.”

¹¹But the Lord is with me like a violent warrior.^(BL)
Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.
Since they have not succeeded, they will be utterly shamed,
an everlasting humiliation that will never be forgotten.^(BM)
¹²Lord of Armies, testing the righteous
and seeing the heart^[k] and mind,
let me see your vengeance on them,
for I have presented my case to you.^(BN)
¹³Sing to the Lord!
Praise the Lord,
for he rescues the life of the needy
from evil people.

Jeremiah’s Lament

¹⁴May the day I was born
be cursed.^(BO)
May the day my mother bore me
never be blessed.
¹⁵May the man be cursed
who brought the news to my father, saying,
“A male child is born to you,”
bringing him great joy.
¹⁶Let that man be like the cities
the Lord demolished without compassion.^(BP)
Let him hear an outcry in the morning^(BQ)
and a war cry at noontime
¹⁷because he didn’t kill me in the womb^(BR)
so that my mother might have been my grave,
her womb eternally pregnant.

¹⁸Why did I come out of the womb
to see only struggle and sorrow,^(BS)
to end my life in shame?

Zedekiah’s Request Denied

21 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur^(BT) son of Malchijah and the priest Zephaniah^(BU) son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah, asking, ²“Inquire of the Lord on our behalf, since King Nebuchadnezzar^[l]^(BV) of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will perform for us something like all his past wondrous works so that Nebuchadnezzar will withdraw from us.”

³But Jeremiah answered, “This is what you are to say to Zedekiah: ⁴‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am about to repel the weapons of war in your hands,^(BW) those you are using to fight the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans^[m] who are besieging you outside the wall, and I will bring them into the center of this city.^(BX) ⁵I myself will fight against you^(BY) with an outstretched hand and a strong arm,^(BZ) with anger, fury, and intense wrath. ⁶I will strike the residents of this city, both people and animals. They will die in a severe plague. ⁷Afterward—this is the Lord’s declaration—King Zedekiah of Judah, his officers, and the people—those in this city who survive the plague, the sword, and the famine—I will hand over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,^(CA) to their enemies, yes, to those who intend to take their lives. He will put them to the sword; he won’t spare them or show pity or compassion.’^(CB)

A Warning for the People

⁸“But tell this people, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.^(CC) ⁹Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine, and plague, but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live and will retain his life like the spoils of war.^(CD) ¹⁰For I have set my face against this city to bring disaster and not good^(CE)—this is the Lord’s declaration. It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, who will burn it.’^(CF)

¹¹“And to the house of the king of Judah say this: ‘Hear the word of the Lord! ¹²House of David, this is what the Lord says:

Administer justice every morning,
and rescue the victim of robbery
from his oppressor,^(CG)
or my anger will flare up like fire
and burn unquenchably
because of your evil deeds.
¹³Beware! I am against you,^(CH)
you who sit above the valley,
you atop the rocky plateau—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
you who say, “Who can come down against us?^(CI)
Who can enter our hiding places?”
¹⁴I will punish you according to what you have done^(CJ)—
this is the Lord’s declaration.
I will kindle a fire in your forest^(CK)
that will consume everything around it.’”^(CL)

Judgment against Sinful Kings

22 This is what the Lord says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and announce this word there. ²You are to say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David^(CM)—you, your officers, and your people who enter these gates. ³This is what the Lord says: Administer justice and righteousness.^(CN) Rescue the victim of robbery from his oppressor.^(CO) Don’t exploit or brutalize the resident alien, the fatherless, or the widow.^(CP) Don’t shed innocent blood in this place. ⁴For if you conscientiously carry out this word, then kings sitting on David’s throne will enter through the gates of this palace^(CQ) riding on chariots and horses—they, their officers, and their people. ⁵But if you do not obey these words, then I swear by myself^(CR)—this is the Lord’s declaration—that this house will become a ruin.’”^(CS)

⁶For this is what the Lord says concerning the house of the king of Judah:

“You are like Gilead^(CT) to me,
or the summit of Lebanon,
but I will certainly turn you into a wilderness,
uninhabited cities.
⁷I will set apart destroyers^(CU) against you,
each with his weapons.
They will cut down the choicest of your cedars
and throw them into the fire.

⁸“Many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, ‘Why did the Lord do such a thing to this great city?’ ⁹They will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant^(CV) of the Lord their God and bowed in worship to other gods and served them.’”^(CW)

A Message concerning Shallum

¹⁰Do not weep for the dead;
do not mourn for him.
Weep bitterly for the one who has gone away,
for he will never return again
and see his native land.^(CX)

¹¹For this is what the Lord says concerning Shallum^(CY) son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in place of his father Josiah, and who has left this place: “He will never return here again, ¹²but he will die in the place where they deported him, never seeing this land again.”

A Message concerning Jehoiakim

¹³Woe for the one who builds his palace
through unrighteousness,^(CZ)
his upstairs rooms through injustice,
who makes his neighbor serve without pay
and will not give him his wages,^(DA)
¹⁴who says, “I will build myself a massive palace,
with spacious upstairs rooms.”
He will cut windows^[n] in it,
and it will be paneled with cedar^(DB)
and painted bright red.
¹⁵Are you a king because you excel in cedar?
Didn’t your father eat and drink
and administer justice and righteousness?^(DC)
Then it went well with him.
¹⁶He took up the case of the poor and needy;^(DD)
then it went well.
Is this not what it means to know me?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
¹⁷But you have eyes and a heart for nothing
except your own dishonest profit,
shedding innocent blood
and committing extortion and oppression.^(DE)

¹⁸Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning Jehoiakim^(DF) son of Josiah, king of Judah:

They will not mourn for him, saying,
“Woe, my brother!” or “Woe, my sister!”
They will not mourn for him, saying,
“Woe, lord! Woe, his majesty!”
¹⁹He will be buried like a donkey,^(DG)
dragged off and thrown
outside Jerusalem’s gates.

²⁰Go up to Lebanon and cry out;
raise your voice in Bashan;
cry out from Abarim,^(DH)
for all your lovers^[o] have been crushed.^(DI)
²¹I spoke to you when you were secure.
You said, “I will not listen.”
This has been your way since youth;^(DJ)
indeed, you have never listened to me.
²²The wind will take charge of^[p] all your shepherds,
and your lovers will go into captivity.
Then you will be ashamed and humiliated^(DK)
because of all your evil.
²³You residents of Lebanon,
nestled among the cedars,
how you will groan^[q] when pains come on you,
agony like a woman in labor.^(DL)

A Message concerning Coniah

²⁴“As I live”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“though you, Coniah^[r]^(DM) son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were a signet ring^(DN) on my right hand, I would tear you from it. ²⁵In fact, I will hand you over to those you dread,^(DO) who intend to take your life, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Chaldeans. ²⁶I will hurl you and the mother who gave birth^(DP) to you into another land,^(DQ) where neither of you were born, and there you will both die. ²⁷They will never return to the land they long to return to.”

²⁸Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered pot,^(DR)
a jar no one wants?
Why are he and his descendants hurled out
and cast into a land they have not known?
²⁹Earth, earth, earth,
hear the word of the Lord!

³⁰This is what the Lord says:

Record this man as childless,^(DS)
a man who will not be successful in his lifetime.
None of his descendants will succeed
in sitting on the throne of David^(DT)
or ruling again in Judah.

The Lord and His Sheep

23 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” ^(DU) This is the Lord’s declaration. ²“Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend my people: You have scattered my flock,^(DV) banished them, and have not attended to them.^(DW) I am about to attend to you because of your evil acts”—this is the Lord’s declaration. ³“I will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands where I have banished them,^(DX) and I will return them to their grazing land. They will become fruitful and numerous.^(DY) ⁴I will raise up shepherds over them who will tend them.^(DZ) They will no longer be afraid or discouraged, nor will any be missing.”^(EA) This is the Lord’s declaration.

The Righteous Branch of David

⁵“Look, the days are coming”^(EB)—this is the Lord’s declaration—
“when I will raise up a Righteous Branch for David.^(EC)
He will reign wisely as king
and administer justice and righteousness in the land.^(ED)

⁶In his days Judah will be saved,
and Israel will dwell securely.^(EE)
This is the name he will be called:
The Lord Is Our Righteousness.^[s]^(EF)

⁷“Look, the days are coming”^(EG)—the Lord’s declaration—“when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives^(EH) who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,’ ⁸but, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other countries where I^[t] had banished them.’ They will dwell once more in their own land.”^(EI)

False Prophets Condemned

⁹Concerning the prophets:

My heart is broken within me,^(EJ)
and all my bones tremble.
I have become like a drunkard,
like a man overcome by wine,
because of the Lord,
because of his holy words.

¹⁰For the land is full of adulterers;^(EK)
the land mourns^(EL) because of the curse,^(EM)
and the grazing lands in the wilderness have dried up.
Their way of life^[u] has become evil,
and their power is not rightly used

¹¹because both prophet and priest are ungodly,^(EN)
even in my house^(EO) I have found their evil.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
¹²Therefore, their way will seem
like slippery paths in the gloom.^(EP)
They will be driven away and fall down there,
for I will bring disaster on them,
the year of their punishment.^(EQ)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
¹³Among the prophets of Samaria
I saw something disgusting:
They prophesied by Baal
and led my people Israel astray.^(ER)

¹⁴Among the prophets of Jerusalem also
I saw a horrible thing:^(ES)
They commit adultery and walk in lies.
They strengthen the hands of evildoers,
and none turns his back on evil.
They are all like Sodom^(ET) to me;
Jerusalem’s residents are like Gomorrah.

¹⁵Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies says concerning the prophets:

I am about to feed them wormwood^(EU)
and give them poisoned water to drink,^(EV)
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness^[v] has spread throughout the land.

¹⁶This is what the Lord of Armies says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are deluding you. They speak visions from their own minds,^(EW) not from the Lord’s mouth.^(EX) ¹⁷They keep on saying to those who despise me,^(EY) ‘The Lord has spoken: You will have peace.’^(EZ) They have said to everyone who follows the stubbornness of his heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’”

¹⁸For who has stood in the council^(FA) of the Lord
to see and hear his word?
Who has paid attention to his word and obeyed?
¹⁹Look, a storm from the Lord!^(FB)
Wrath has gone out,
a whirling storm.
It will whirl about the heads of the wicked.
²⁰The Lord’s anger will not turn away^(FC)
until he has completely fulfilled the purposes of his heart.
In time to come you will understand it clearly.^(FD)
²¹I did not send out these prophets,^(FE)
yet they ran.^(FF)
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.
²²If they had really stood in my council,
they would have enabled my people to hear my words
and would have turned them from their evil ways
and their evil deeds.^(FG)

²³“Am I a God who is only near”^(FH)—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and not a God who is far away? ²⁴Can a person hide in secret places where I cannot see him?” ^(FI)—the Lord’s declaration. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” ^(FJ)—the Lord’s declaration.

²⁵“I have heard what the prophets who prophesy a lie in my name have said: ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ ^(FK) ²⁶How long will this continue in the minds of the prophets prophesying lies, prophets of the deceit of their own minds? ²⁷Through their dreams that they tell one another, they plan to cause my people to forget my name as their ancestors forgot my name through Baal worship.^(FL) ²⁸The prophet who has only a dream should recount the dream, but the one who has my word should speak my word truthfully, for what is straw compared to grain?”—this is the Lord’s declaration. ²⁹“Is not my word like fire”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and like a hammer that pulverizes rock? ³⁰Therefore, take note! I am against the prophets”^(FM)—the Lord’s declaration—“who steal my words from each other. ³¹I am against the prophets”—the Lord’s declaration—“who use their own tongues to make a declaration. ³²I am against those who prophesy false dreams”^(FN)—the Lord’s declaration—“telling them and leading my people astray with their reckless lies. It was not I who sent or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all^(FO) to these people”—this is the Lord’s declaration.

The Burden of the Lord

³³“Now when these people or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden^[w] of the Lord?’ you will respond to them, ‘What is the burden? I will throw you away! This is the Lord’s declaration.’ ³⁴As for the prophet, priest, or people who say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ I will punish that man and his household. ³⁵This is what each man is to say to his friend and to his brother: ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁶But no longer refer to^[x] the burden of the Lord, for each man’s word becomes his burden and you pervert the words of the living God, the Lord of Armies, our God. ³⁷Say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁸But if you say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ then this is what the Lord says: Because you have said, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ and I specifically told you not to say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ ³⁹I will surely forget you.^[y] I will throw you away from my presence—both you and the city that I gave you and your ancestors. ⁴⁰I will bring on you everlasting disgrace and humiliation^(FP) that will never be forgotten.”

Footnotes

18:3 Lit pair of stones
18:16 Lit hissing
18:17 LXX, Lat, Syr, Tg; MT reads will look at them
18:18 Lit let’s strike him with the tongue
18:21 Lit by death
19:1 Syr, Tg; MT omits Take
19:3 Lit about it, his ears will tingle; Hb obscure
19:5 Lit mentioned, and it did not arise on my heart
20:3 = Magor-missabib
20:10 Lit Every man of my peace
20:12 Lit kidneys
21:2 Lit Nebuchadrezzar
21:4 = Babylonians
22:14 Lit my windows
22:20 Or friends, or allies, also in v. 22
22:22 Lit will shepherd
22:23 LXX, Syr, Vg; MT reads will be pitied
22:24 = Jehoiachin
23:6 = Yahweh-zidkenu
23:8 LXX reads he
23:10 Lit Their manner of running
23:15 Or pollution
23:33 The Hb word for burden (Ex 23:5; 2Sm 15:33) can also mean “oracle” (Is 13:1; Nah 1:10).
23:36 Or longer remember
23:39 Some Hb mss; other Hb mss, LXX, Syr, Vg read surely lift you up

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