Jeremiah 18:1-17
Holman 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 I have made an announcement about turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the disaster I had planned to do to it.(E) 9 At another time I announce that I will build and plant a nation or a kingdom.(F) 10 However, if it does what is evil in My sight by not listening to My voice, 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: 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 terrible 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 false idols
that make them stumble in their ways
on the ancient roads(L)
and walk on new paths, not the highway.
16 They have made their land a horror,(M)
a perpetual object of scorn;[b](N)
everyone who passes by it will be horrified(O)
and shake his head.(P)
17 I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind.(Q)
I will show them[c] My back and not My face
on the day of their calamity.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 18:3 Lit pair of stones
- Jeremiah 18:16 Lit hissing
- Jeremiah 18:17 LXX, Lat, Syr, Tg; MT reads will look at them
Jeremiah 18:1-17
Lexham English Bible
The Potter and the Clay
18 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,[a] 2 “Stand up and go down to the house of the potter, and there I will let you hear my words.” 3 So I went down to the house of the potter and look, there he was doing work at the potter’s wheels. 4 And the vessel that he was making with the clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter, so he made again[b] another vessel, as it was right in the eyes of the potter to make.
5 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,[c] 6 “Like this potter, am I not able to do to you, O house of Israel?” declares[d] Yahweh. “Look, like the clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 One moment I speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom, to uproot, and to tear down, and to destroy it.[e] 8 But if that nation turns back from its evil that I have threatened against it, then I will relent concerning the disaster that I planned to do to it. 9 And the next moment I speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom, to build, and to plant it.[f] 10 But if it does evil in my sight, to not listen to my voice, then I will relent concerning the good that I said I would do to it.
11 “So now then, say, please, to the people[g] of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,[h] ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Look, I am preparing evil against you, and I am planning a plan against you. Please turn back, each one from his evil way, and walk rightly in your ways and your deeds.”’ 12 But they will say, ‘It is hopeless, for we will go after our own plans, and each one of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’
13 “Therefore thus says Yahweh,
‘Please ask among the nations, “Who has heard the like of this?”[i]
The virgin of Israel has done something very horrible.
14 Does the snow of Lebanon leave from the crags[j] of Sirion?
Or are the cold waters flowing from distant mountains dried up?
15 But my people have forgotten me.
They make smoke offerings to the idols,[k]
and they caused them to stumble in their ways, the ancient ways,
to go into bypaths,[l] not one that is built up.
16 To make their land a horror,
an object of whistling for eternity.
All who pass by it will be appalled,
and he will shake his head.
17 Like the wind from the east
I will scatter them before[m] the enemy.
I will show them my back and not my face
in the day of their disaster.’”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 18:1 Literally “to say”
- Jeremiah 18:4 Literally “he turned back and he made it”
- Jeremiah 18:5 Literally “to say”
- Jeremiah 18:6 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 18:7 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
- Jeremiah 18:9 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
- Jeremiah 18:11 Literally “man”
- Jeremiah 18:11 Literally “to say”
- Jeremiah 18:13 Literally “like these”
- Jeremiah 18:14 Hebrew “crag”
- Jeremiah 18:15 Hebrew “idol”
- Jeremiah 18:15 Literally “paths of way”
- Jeremiah 18:17 Literally “to the face of”
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