The Lord Considers the Heart

The Potter and the Clay

18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: ² “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” ³ Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the ^[a]wheel. ⁴ And the vessel that he ^[b]made of clay was ^[c]marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.

⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ⁶ “O house of Israel, ^(A)can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, ^(B)as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!

²⁴ And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the Lord, ^(A)have brought down the high tree and exalted the low tree, dried up the green tree and made the dry tree flourish; ^(B)I, the Lord, have spoken and have done it.”

²² What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering ^(A)the vessels of wrath ^(B)prepared for destruction, ²³ and that He might make known ^(C)the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had ^(D)prepared beforehand for glory,

³³ Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

³⁶ For ^(D)of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, ^(E)to whom be glory forever. Amen.