The Potter and the Clay

18 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” ³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. ⁴ And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁶ “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? says the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. ⁷ If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, ⁸ and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will repent of the evil that I intended to do to it. ⁹ And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, ¹⁰ and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will repent of the good which 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 evil against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.’

Israel’s Stubborn Idolatry

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

A Plot against Jeremiah

¹⁸ Then they said, “Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not heed any of his words.”

The Broken Earthenware Jug

19 Thus said the Lord, “Go, buy a potter’s earthen flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests, ² and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. ³ You shall say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon this place that the ears of every one who hears of it will tingle. ⁴ Because the people have forsaken me, and have profaned this place by burning incense in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, ⁵ and have built the high places of Ba′al to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Ba′al, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind; ⁶ therefore, behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when this place shall no more be called To′pheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of Slaughter. ⁷ And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth. ⁸ And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at; every one who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters. ⁹ And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and every one shall eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.’

¹⁰ “Then you shall break 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, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, so that it can never be mended. Men shall bury in To′pheth because there will be no place else to bury. ¹² Thus will I do to this place, says the Lord, and to its inhabitants, making this city like To′pheth. ¹³ The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah—all the houses upon whose roofs incense has been burned to all the host of heaven, and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods—shall be defiled like the place of To′pheth.’”

¹⁴ Then Jeremiah came from To′pheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, 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 evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their neck, refusing to hear my words.”

Water Flowing from the Temple

47 Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east); and the water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. ² Then he brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me round on the outside to the outer gate, that faces toward the east;^[a] and the water was coming out on the south side.

³ Going on eastward with a line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and then led me through the water; and it was ankle-deep. ⁴ Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water; and it was knee-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water; and it was up to the loins. ⁵ Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. ⁶ And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?”

Then he led me back along the bank of the river. ⁷ As I went back, I saw upon the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. ⁸ And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah; and when it enters the stagnant waters of the sea,^[b] the water will become fresh. ⁹ And wherever the river^[c] goes every living creature which swarms will live, and there will be very many fish; for this water goes there, that the waters of the sea^[d] may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. ¹⁰ Fishermen will stand beside the sea; from En-ge′di to En-eg′laim it will be a place for the spreading of nets; its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. ¹¹ But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. ¹² And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”

The New Boundaries of the Land

¹³ Thus says the Lord God: “These are the boundaries by which you shall divide the land for inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph shall have two portions. ¹⁴ And you shall divide it equally; I swore to give it to your fathers, and this land shall fall to you as your inheritance.

¹⁵ “This shall be the boundary of the land: On the north side, from the Great Sea by way of Hethlon to the entrance of Hamath, and on to Zedad,^{[e] 16} Bero′thah, Sib′raim (which lies on the border between Damascus and Hamath), as far as Hazer-hatticon, which is on the border of Hauran. ¹⁷ So the boundary shall run from the sea to Hazar-e′non, which is on the northern border of Damascus, with the border of Hamath to the north.^[f] This shall be the north side.

¹⁸ “On the east side, the boundary shall run from Hazar-e′non^[g] between Hauran and Damascus;^[h] along the Jordan between Gilead and the land of Israel; to the eastern sea and as far as Tamar.^[i] This shall be the east side.

¹⁹ “On the south side, it shall run from Tamar as far as the waters of Meri′bath-ka′desh, thence along the Brook of Egypt to the Great Sea. This shall be the south side.

²⁰ “On the west side, the Great Sea shall be the boundary to a point opposite the entrance of Hamath. This shall be the west side.

²¹ “So you shall divide this land among you according to the tribes of Israel. ²² You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the aliens who reside among you and have begotten children among you. They shall be to you as native-born sons of Israel; with you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. ²³ In whatever tribe the alien resides, there you shall assign him his inheritance, says the Lord God.

The Tribal Portions

48 “These are the names of the tribes: Beginning at the northern border, from the sea by way^[j] of Hethlon to the entrance of Hamath, as far as Hazar-e′non (which is on the northern border of Damascus over against Hamath), and^[k] extending from the east side to the west,^[l] Dan, one portion. ² Adjoining the territory of Dan, from the east side to the west, Asher, one portion. ³ Adjoining the territory of Asher, from the east side to the west, Naph′tali, one portion. ⁴ Adjoining the territory of Naph′tali, from the east side to the west, Manas′seh, one portion. ⁵ Adjoining the territory of Manas′seh, from the east side to the west, E′phraim, one portion. ⁶ Adjoining the territory of E′phraim, from the east side to the west, Reuben, one portion. ⁷ Adjoining the territory of Reuben, from the east side to the west, Judah, one portion.

⁸ “Adjoining the territory of Judah, from the east side to the west, shall be the portion which you shall set apart, twenty-five thousand cubits in breadth, and in length equal to one of the tribal portions, from the east side to the west, with the sanctuary in the midst of it. ⁹ The portion which you shall set apart for the Lord shall be twenty-five thousand cubits in length, and twenty^[m] thousand in breadth. ¹⁰ These shall be the allotments of the holy portion: the priests shall have an allotment measuring twenty-five thousand cubits on the northern side, ten thousand cubits in breadth on the western side, ten thousand in breadth on the eastern side, and twenty-five thousand in length on the southern side, with the sanctuary of the Lord in the midst of it. ¹¹ This shall be for the consecrated priests, the sons^[n] of Zadok, who kept my charge, who did not go astray when the people of Israel went astray, as the Levites did. ¹² And it shall belong to them as a special portion from the holy portion of the land, a most holy place, adjoining the territory of the Levites. ¹³ And alongside the territory of the priests, the Levites shall have an allotment twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand in breadth. The whole length shall be twenty-five thousand cubits and the breadth twenty^[o] thousand. ¹⁴ They shall not sell or exchange any of it; they shall not alienate this choice portion of the land, for it is holy to the Lord.

¹⁵ “The remainder, five thousand cubits in breadth and twenty-five thousand in length, shall be for ordinary use for the city, for dwellings and for open country. In the midst of it shall be the city; ¹⁶ and these shall be its dimensions: the north side four thousand five hundred cubits, the south side four thousand five hundred, the east side four thousand five hundred, and the west side four thousand five hundred. ¹⁷ And the city shall have open land: on the north two hundred and fifty cubits, on the south two hundred and fifty, on the east two hundred and fifty, and on the west two hundred and fifty. ¹⁸ The remainder of the length alongside the holy portion shall be ten thousand cubits to the east, and ten thousand to the west, and it shall be alongside the holy portion. Its produce shall be food for the workers of the city. ¹⁹ And the workers of the city, from all the tribes of Israel, shall till it. ²⁰ The whole portion which you shall set apart shall be twenty-five thousand cubits square, that is, the holy portion together with the property of the city.

²¹ “What remains on both sides of the holy portion and of the property of the city shall belong to the prince. Extending from the twenty-five thousand cubits of the holy portion to the east border, and westward from the twenty-five thousand cubits to the west border, parallel to the tribal portions, it shall belong to the prince. The holy portion with the sanctuary of the temple in its midst, ²² and the property of the Levites and the property of the city,^[p] shall be in the midst of that which belongs to the prince. The portion of the prince shall lie between the territory of Judah and the territory of Benjamin.

²³ “As for the rest of the tribes: from the east side to the west, Benjamin, one portion. ²⁴ Adjoining the territory of Benjamin, from the east side to the west, Simeon, one portion. ²⁵ Adjoining the territory of Simeon, from the east side to the west, Is′sachar, one portion. ²⁶ Adjoining the territory of Is′sachar, from the east side to the west, Zeb′ulun, one portion. ²⁷ Adjoining the territory of Zeb′ulun, from the east side to the west, Gad, one portion. ²⁸ And adjoining the territory of Gad to the south, the boundary shall run from Tamar to the waters of Meri′bath-ka′desh, thence along the Brook of Egypt to the Great Sea. ²⁹ This is the land which you shall allot as an inheritance among the tribes of Israel, and these are their several portions, says the Lord God.

³⁰ “These shall be the exits of the city: On the north side, which is to be four thousand five hundred cubits by measure, ³¹ three gates, the gate of Reuben, the gate of Judah, and the gate of Levi, the gates of the city being named after the tribes of Israel. ³² On the east side, which is to be four thousand five hundred cubits, three gates, the gate of Joseph, the gate of Benjamin, and the gate of Dan. ³³ On the south side, which is to be four thousand five hundred cubits by measure, three gates, the gate of Simeon, the gate of Is′sachar, and the gate of Zeb′ulun. ³⁴ On the west side, which is to be four thousand five hundred cubits, three gates,^[q] the gate of Gad, the gate of Asher, and the gate of Naph′tali. ³⁵ The circumference of the city shall be eighteen thousand cubits. And the name of the city henceforth shall be, The Lord is there.”