Beginning

The Pot-Maker and the Clay

18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, ² “Go down to the pot-maker’s house, and there I will let you hear My words.” ³ So I went down to the pot-maker’s house, and saw him making one on the wheel. ⁴ But the pot he was making of clay did not come out like he wanted it. So the pot-maker used the clay to make another pot that pleased him.

⁵ Then the Word of the Lord came to me saying, ⁶ “O people of Israel, can I not do with you as this potmaker has done?” says the Lord. “Like the clay in the pot-maker’s hand, so are you in My hand, O people of Israel. ⁷ If at any time I speak about a nation, to pull up, and to break down and to destroy, ⁸ and if that nation I spoke against turns from its sin, then I will change My mind about the trouble I planned to bring upon it. ⁹ If at another time I speak about a nation, that I will build and plant it, ¹⁰ and if it does what is sinful in My eyes by not obeying My voice, then I will change My mind about the good I had promised to bring to it. ¹¹ So now speak to the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem. Tell them, ‘The Lord says, “See, I am making trouble for you and making a plan against you. So each of you turn from your sinful way. Change your ways and your works.”’ ¹² But they will say, ‘There is no hope! For we are going to follow our own plans. Each of us will act in the strong-will of his sinful heart.’

The People Turn from the Lord

¹³ “So the Lord says, ‘Ask now among the nations: Who has heard such things? Pure Israel has done a very sinful thing. ¹⁴ Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave its rocky mountains? Does the cold flowing water of other lands ever dry up? ¹⁵ But My people have forgotten Me. They burn special perfume to false gods of no worth. They have fallen in their ways, from the old paths, and have gone on side roads, not on the straight road. ¹⁶ They make their land a waste, a thing that is spoken against forever. Everyone who passes by it will be surprised and shake his head. ¹⁷ I will send them out everywhere like an east wind in front of those who hate them. I will show them My back and not My face in the day of their trouble.’”

Plans to Kill Jeremiah

¹⁸ They said, “Come and let us make plans against Jeremiah. For the Law is not going to be lost to the religious leader, or wise words to the wise man, or the Word of God to the man of God! Come and let us hurt him with our tongue, and let us not listen to any of his words.”

¹⁹ Think of me, O Lord, and listen to what those who hate me are saying! ²⁰ Should bad be given in return for good? Yet they have dug a deep hole for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good for them, to turn Your anger away from them. ²¹ So give their children over to hunger. Give them up to the power of the sword. Let their wives lose their children and husbands. Let their men be put to death. And let their young men be killed by the sword in battle. ²² May a cry be heard from their houses when You bring an army upon them by surprise. For they have dug a deep hole to take me, and have hidden traps for my feet. ²³ Yet You, O Lord, know all their plans to kill me. Do not forgive their wrong-doing or cover their sin from Your eyes. Let them be taken down before You. Punish them in the time of Your anger.

The Broken Jar

19 The Lord says, “Go and buy a pot-maker’s clay jar, and take some of the leaders of the people and some of the older religious leaders. ² Then go out to the valley of BenHinnom, by the Potsherd Gate, and there say the words that I will tell you. ³ Say, ‘Hear the Word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem. The Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, “See, I am about to bring much trouble to this place. The ears of everyone that hears of it will hurt. ⁴ The people have left Me and have made this a strange place. They have burned special perfume in it to other gods that they and their fathers and the kings of Judah had never known. They have filled this place with the blood of those who were not guilty. ⁵ They have built the high places of the false god Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt gifts to Baal. This is a thing which I never told them to do or spoke of. It did not even come to My mind. ⁶ So see, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of BenHinnom. Instead it will be called the Valley of Killing. ⁷ I will make the plans of Judah and Jerusalem come to nothing in this place. I will cause them to fall by the sword in front of those who hate them and by the hand of those who want to kill them. And I will feed their dead bodies to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth. ⁸ I will make this city a waste place, and people will make sounds of hate. Everyone who passes by it will be surprised and make strange noises because of all its troubles. ⁹ I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters. And they will eat each other’s flesh when the armies shut them in, and when those who want to kill them bring much trouble to them.”’

¹⁰ “Then you are to break the jar in front of the men who go with you. ¹¹ And say to them, ‘The Lord of All says, “In this way I will break these people and this city, even as one breaks a pot-maker’s jar, which cannot be put back together. Men will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no place left to bury. ¹² This is what I will do to this place and its people,” says the Lord. “I will make this city like Topheth. ¹³ The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be made unclean like Topheth. This will be because of all the houses on whose roofs they burned special perfume to all the false gods of the heavens and poured out drink gifts to other gods.”’”

¹⁴ Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to tell what would happen. And he stood in the open space of the Lord’s house and said to all the people, ¹⁵ “The Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, ‘See, I am about to bring to this city and to all its towns all the trouble that I have spoken about, because they have made their necks hard and would not listen to My Words.’”

Jeremiah and the Religious Leader Pashhur

20 Now Pashhur the religious leader, the son of Immer, was the head leader in the house of the Lord. When he heard Jeremiah saying these things, ² Pashhur had Jeremiah the man of God beaten. Then he put him in chains at the upper Benjamin Gate by the house of the Lord. ³ On the next day, when Pashhur set Jeremiah free from the chains, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call you Pashhur, but Fear Everywhere. ⁴ For the Lord says, ‘See, I am going to make you a fear to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of those who hate them while you look on. I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. And he will carry them away in chains to Babylon and will kill them with the sword. ⁵ I will give over all the riches of this city, all that its people have worked for, and all its things of much worth. Even all the riches of the kings of Judah I will give to those who hate them. They will take their things, and take hold of them, and carry them to Babylon. ⁶ And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will be taken away in chains. You will go to Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have told lies.’”

Jeremiah’s Complaint to the Lord

⁷ O Lord, You have lied to me and I was fooled. You are stronger than I, and have had power over me. I have been laughed at all day. Everyone makes fun of me. ⁸ For whenever I speak, I cry out. I tell of fighters and destroyers. For the Word of the Lord has become a shame and a cause of laughing at me all day long. ⁹ But if I say, “I will not remember Him or speak any more in His name,” then in my heart it is like a burning fire shut up in my bones. I am tired of holding it in, and I cannot do that. ¹⁰ For I have heard many speaking in secret, saying, “Fear and trouble is on every side! Speak against him! Yes, let us speak against him!” All my trusted friends, watching for my fall, say, “It may be that he will be fooled. Then we can get power over him and punish him.” ¹¹ But the Lord is with me like a powerful one who causes fear. So those who make it hard for me will fall and not have power over me. They will be put to much shame, because their plans have not gone well. Their shame will last forever and will not be forgotten. ¹² O Lord of All, You test those who are right and good. You see the mind and the heart. Let me see You punish them, for I have given my cause to You. ¹³ Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord! For He has taken the soul of the one in need from the hand of the sinful.

¹⁴ Cursed is the day when I was born! Let the day not be honored when my mother gave birth to me! ¹⁵ Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, saying, “A baby boy has been born to you!” and made him very happy. ¹⁶ Let that man be like the cities which the Lord destroyed without pity. Let him hear a cry in the morning and a call of danger at noon. ¹⁷ For he did not kill me before I was born, so that my mother’s body would have been my grave. ¹⁸ Why was I ever born to see trouble and sorrow, and spend my days in shame?

Jerusalem to Be Taken

21 This is the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the religious leader, the son of Maaseiah, saying, ² “Will you speak to the Lord about us? For King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is making war against us. It may be that the Lord will do something for us like He did in times past, and make him leave us.”

³ Then Jeremiah said to them, “Say this to Zedekiah: ⁴ ‘The Lord God of Israel says, “See, I will turn against you the objects of war you are using to fight with against the king of Babylon and the Babylonians who are gathered outside the wall to shut you in. And I will bring them into the center of this city. ⁵ I Myself will fight against you with My hand out and with a strong arm, in much anger. ⁶ I will kill both man and animal in this city. They will die of a bad disease. ⁷ After this,” says the Lord, “I will give over Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants, and the people who were not killed in this city by the disease, the sword, and hunger. I will give them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of those who hate them, and into the hand of those who want to kill them. And he will kill them with the sword. He will not let them live or have pity for them.”’

⁸ “Also tell the people, ‘The Lord says, “See, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. ⁹ He who lives in this city will die by the sword and by hunger and by disease. But he who goes out and gives himself up to the Babylonians whose armies shut you in will live, he will at least have his life. ¹⁰ For I have set My face against this city for trouble and not for good,” says the Lord. “It will be given to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.”’

Words against Judah

¹¹ “Then say to those of the house of the king of Judah, ‘Hear the Word of the Lord, ¹² O house of David, the Lord says, “Do what is right every morning. Take the person who has been robbed away from the one who has made it hard for him. So My anger will not go out like fire and burn with no one to put it out, because of the sinful things you have done.

¹³ “See, I am against you, O you who live in the valley, O rock of the plain,” says the Lord, “you who say, ‘Who will come down against us? Or who will come into our houses?’ ¹⁴ I will punish you for what has come of what you have done,” says the Lord. “I will start a fire among your trees, and it will destroy all that is around it.”’”

Jeremiah’s Words to the Kings of Judah

22 The Lord says, “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak this word there. ² Say, ‘Hear the Word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on David’s throne, you and your servants and your people who come through these gates. ³ The Lord says, “Do what is right and fair and good, and take the one who has been robbed away from the power of the one who has made it hard for him. Do not hurt or do wrong to the stranger, the one whose parents have died, or the woman whose husband has died. And do not kill those who are not guilty in this place. ⁴ For if you will obey this word, then kings will come through the gates of this house and sit on the throne of David. They will be in war-wagons and on horses, together with their servants and their people. ⁵ But if you will not obey these words, I promise by Myself,” says the Lord, “that this house will be destroyed.”’” ⁶ For the Lord says about the house of the king of Judah: “You are like Gilead to Me, or like the top of Lebanon. Yet I will be sure to make you like a desert, like cities without people. ⁷ I will send destroyers against you, each with his things for fighting. And they will cut down your best cedar trees and throw them on the fire. ⁸ Many nations will pass by this city, and they will say to one another, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this great city?’ ⁹ And they will answer, ‘Because they did not keep the agreement of the Lord their God. They worshiped other gods and served them.’”

Words about Shallum

¹⁰ Do not cry for the one who is dead or have sorrow for him. But cry all the time for the one who goes away, for he will never return or see the land of his birth again. ¹¹ For the Lord says about Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who ruled in the place of Josiah his father, and who left this place: “He will never return. ¹² He will die in the place where they took him, and he will not see this land again.”

Words about Jehoiakim

¹³ “It is bad for him who builds his house by wrong-doing, and his upper rooms by not being fair, who has his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not pay him, ¹⁴ who says, ‘I will build myself a big house with large upper rooms. I will cut out its windows, cover it with cedar and color it bright red.’ ¹⁵ Do you become a king by trying to build better houses of cedar? Did not your father eat and drink? He did what was right and fair and good, so all went well with him. ¹⁶ He spoke strong words in the cause of the poor and those in need, and so all went well. Is not that what it means to know Me?” says the Lord. ¹⁷ “But your eyes and heart are set only on what you can get by wrong-doing, and on killing those who are not guilty, and on making it hard for people and on hurting others.” ¹⁸ So the Lord says about Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, “They will not cry in sorrow for him, saying, ‘It is bad, my brother!’ or, ‘It is bad, my sister!’ They will not cry in sorrow for him, saying, ‘O lord!’ or, ‘O, how great he was!’ ¹⁹ He will be buried like they bury a donkey, pulled away and thrown out on the other side of the gates of Jerusalem.

The Future of Jerusalem

²⁰ “Go up to Lebanon and cry out. And let your voice be heard in Bashan. Cry out from Abarim also. For all your lovers have been destroyed. ²¹ I spoke to you when things were going well for you, but you said, ‘I will not listen!’ This has been your way since you were young. You have not obeyed My voice. ²² The wind will take away all your shepherds, and your lovers will be taken away in chains. Then you will be ashamed and troubled because of all your sin. ²³ O you people of Lebanon, who make your nest among the cedars, how you will cry inside yourselves when pain comes upon you! It will be pain like a woman giving birth.”

Words against Coniah

²⁴ “As I live,” says the Lord, “even if Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were a marking ring on My right hand, I would still pull you off. ²⁵ I will give you over to those who want to kill you, to those whom you fear. I will give you to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and to the Babylonians. ²⁶ I will throw you and your mother who gave birth to you into another country where you were not born, and there you will die. ²⁷ You will want to return to this land again but you will not return.” ²⁸ Is this man Coniah a hated, broken jar? Is he a pot that no one cares for? Why have he and his children been thrown out into a land that they had not known? ²⁹ O land, land, land, hear the Word of the Lord! ³⁰ The Lord says, “Write this man down as one who has no children, a man who will not do well in his days. For none of his children or children’s children will do well sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah.”