At the Potter’s House

18 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 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.

Then the word of the Lord came to me. 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. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted,(C) torn down and destroyed, 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. 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:

“Inquire among the nations:
    Who has ever heard anything like this?(Q)
A most horrible(R) thing has been done
    by Virgin(S) Israel.
14 Does the snow of Lebanon
    ever vanish from its rocky slopes?
Do its cool waters from distant sources
    ever stop flowing?[a]
15 Yet my people have forgotten(T) me;
    they burn incense(U) to worthless idols,(V)
which made them stumble(W) in their ways,
    in the ancient paths.(X)
They made them walk in byways,
    on roads not built up.(Y)
16 Their land will be an object of horror(Z)
    and of lasting scorn;(AA)
all who pass by will be appalled(AB)
    and will shake their heads.(AC)
17 Like a wind(AD) from the east,
    I will scatter them before their enemies;
I will show them my back and not my face(AE)
    in the day of their disaster.”

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Notas al pie

  1. Jeremiah 18:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this sentence is uncertain.

The Potter and the Clay

18 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,[a] “Stand up and go down to the house of the potter, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the house of the potter and look, there he was doing work at the potter’s wheels. 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.

And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,[c] “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. One moment I speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom, to uproot, and to tear down, and to destroy it.[e] 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. 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.’”

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Notas al pie

  1. Jeremiah 18:1 Literally “to say”
  2. Jeremiah 18:4 Literally “he turned back and he made it”
  3. Jeremiah 18:5 Literally “to say”
  4. Jeremiah 18:6 Literally “a declaration of”
  5. Jeremiah 18:7 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  6. Jeremiah 18:9 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  7. Jeremiah 18:11 Literally “man”
  8. Jeremiah 18:11 Literally “to say”
  9. Jeremiah 18:13 Literally “like these”
  10. Jeremiah 18:14 Hebrew “crag”
  11. Jeremiah 18:15 Hebrew “idol”
  12. Jeremiah 18:15 Literally “paths of way”
  13. Jeremiah 18:17 Literally “to the face of”