Old/New Testament

The Potter and the Clay

18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, ² “Arise and ^(A)go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.” ³ Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the ^[a]wheel. ⁴ But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.

⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, ⁶ “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the ^(B)clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. ⁷ At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to ^(C)uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; ^8 (D)if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will ^[b](E)relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it. ⁹ Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to ^(F)build up or to plant it; ¹⁰ if it does ^(G)evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will ^[c](H)think better of the good with which I had promised to ^[d]bless it. ¹¹ So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am ^(I)fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh ^(J)turn back, each of you from his evil way, and ^[e]reform your ways and your deeds.”’ ¹² But ^(K)they will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the ^(L)stubbornness of his evil heart.’

¹⁸ Then they said, “Come and let us ^(AA)devise plans against Jeremiah. Surely the ^(AB)law is not going to be lost to the priest, nor ^(AC)counsel to the sage, nor the divine ^(AD)word to the prophet! Come on and let us ^(AE)strike at him with our tongue, and let us ^(AF)give no heed to any of his words.”

The Broken Jar

19 Thus says the Lord, “Go and buy a ^(AT)potter’s earthenware ^(AU)jar, and take some of the ^(AV)elders of the people and some of the ^[r](AW)senior priests. ² Then go out to the ^(AX)valley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entrance of the potsherd gate, and ^(AY)proclaim there the words that I tell you, ³ and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O ^(AZ)kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold I am about to bring a ^(BA)calamity upon this place, at which the ^(BB)ears of everyone that hears of it will tingle. ⁴ Because they have ^(BC)forsaken Me and have ^(BD)made this an alien place and have burned ^[s]sacrifices in it to ^(BE)other gods, that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and because they have filled this place with the ^(BF)blood of the innocent ⁵ and have built the ^(BG)high places of Baal to burn their ^(BH)sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My ^[t]mind; ⁶ therefore, behold, ^(BI)days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when this place will no longer be called ^(BJ)Topheth or ^(BK)the valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the valley of Slaughter. ⁷ I will ^(BL)make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and ^(BM)I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will give over their ^(BN)carcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. ⁸ I will also make this city a ^(BO)desolation and an object of hissing; ^(BP)everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its ^[u]disasters. ⁹ I will make them ^(BQ)eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life will distress them.”’

¹⁰ “Then you are to break the ^(BR)jar in the sight of the men who accompany you ¹¹ and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Just so will I ^(BS)break this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will ^(BT)bury in Topheth ^[v]because there is no other place for burial. ¹² This is how I will treat this place and its inhabitants,” declares the Lord, “so as to make this city like Topheth. ¹³ The ^(BU)houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be ^(BV)defiled like the place Topheth, because of all the ^(BW)houses on whose rooftops they burned ^[w]sacrifices to ^(BX)all the heavenly host and ^(BY)poured out drink offerings to other gods.”’”

¹⁴ Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the ^(BZ)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 about to bring on this city and all its towns the entire calamity that I have declared against it, because they have ^(CA)stiffened their necks so ^(CB)as not to heed My words.’”

“Difficult Times Will Come”

3 But realize this, that ^(A)in the last days difficult times will come. ² For men will be ^(B)lovers of self, ^(C)lovers of money, ^(D)boastful, ^(E)arrogant, ^(F)revilers, ^(G)disobedient to parents, ^(H)ungrateful, ^(I)unholy, ^3 (J)unloving, irreconcilable, ^(K)malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, ^[a](L)haters of good, ^4 (M)treacherous, ^(N)reckless, ^(O)conceited, ^(P)lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ holding to a form of ^[b](Q)godliness, although they have ^(R)denied its power; ^(S)Avoid such men as these. ⁶ For among them are those who ^[c](T)enter into households and captivate ^[d](U)weak women weighed down with sins, led on by ^(V)various impulses, ⁷ always learning and never able to ^(W)come to the ^[e]knowledge of the truth. ⁸ Just as ^(X)Jannes and Jambres ^(Y)opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, ^(Z)men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. ⁹ But they will not make further progress; for their ^(AA)folly will be obvious to all, just ^(AB)as ^[f]Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.

¹⁰ Now you ^(AC)followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, ^(AD)love, ^[g]perseverance, ^11 (AE)persecutions, and ^(AF)sufferings, such as happened to me at ^(AG)Antioch, at ^(AH)Iconium and at ^(AI)Lystra; what ^(AJ)persecutions I endured, and out of them all ^(AK)the Lord rescued me! ¹² Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus ^(AL)will be persecuted. ¹³ But evil men and impostors ^(AM)will proceed from bad to worse, ^(AN)deceiving and being deceived. ¹⁴ You, however, ^(AO)continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, ¹⁵ and that ^(AP)from childhood you have known ^(AQ)the sacred writings which are able to ^(AR)give you the wisdom that leads to ^(AS)salvation through faith which is in ^(AT)Christ Jesus. ^16 (AU)All Scripture is ^[h]inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for ^[i]training in righteousness; ¹⁷ so that ^(AV)the man of God may be adequate, ^(AW)equipped for every good work.