Jer. 18:1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
Jer. 18:2 Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear My words.
Jer. 18:3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and he was there doing work at his wheel.
Jer. 18:4 But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand; so he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good for the potter to make.
Jer. 18:5 And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,
Jer. 18:6 Am I not able to do with you, O house of Israel, as this potter does? declares Jehovah. Indeed, as the clay is in the hand of the potter, so you are in My hand, O house of Israel.
Jer. 18:7 At the moment that I speak about a nation or about a kingdom, to pluck it up or to break it down or to destroy it,
Jer. 18:8 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.
Jer. 18:9 And at the moment that I speak about a nation or a kingdom, to build it up or to plant it,
Jer. 18:10 And if it does evil in My sight by not listening to My voice, then I will repent of the good with which I said I would benefit it.
Jer. 18:11 And now speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Jehovah, Look, I am forming evil against you and devising a plan against you. Return now, each one of you from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.
Jer. 18:12 But they say, It is hopeless! For we will walk after our own devices and everyone will do according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.
Jer. 18:13 Therefore thus says Jehovah, / Ask now among the nations, / Who has heard such things? / The virgin of Israel / Has done a very horrible thing.
Jer. 18:14 Does the snow of Lebanon / Leave the rock of the field? / Or will the cold flowing waters / Coming from afar be dried up?
Jer. 18:15 But My people have forgotten Me; / They burn incense to vanity, / And they have been stumbled in their ways / From the ancient paths / To walk on bypaths, / On a way which is not cast up,
Jer. 18:16 To make their land an astonishment, / A thing to be hissed at forever. / Everyone who passes by will be astonished / And shake his head.
Jer. 18:17 Like the east wind I will scatter them / Before the enemy; / I will show them My back and not My face / In the day of their calamity.
Jer. 18:18 Then they said, Come, let us devise plots against Jeremiah; for the law will not perish from the priest or counsel from the wise man or a word from the prophet. Come, let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
Jer. 18:19 Give heed to me, O Jehovah, / And listen to the voice of those who contend with me.
Jer. 18:20 Shall evil be recompensed for good? / For they have dug a pit for my life. / Remember how I stood before You / To speak good for their sake, / To turn away Your wrath from them.
Jer. 18:21 Therefore deliver up their children to famine, / And give them over to the power of the sword; / And let their wives become / Bereaved of child and be widows; / And let their men be slaughtered to death, / Their young men struck by the sword in battle.
Jer. 18:22 Let a cry be heard from their houses / When You suddenly bring upon them a troop; / For they have dug a pit to capture me / And have hidden snares for my feet.
Jer. 18:23 Yet You, O Jehovah, know / All their counsel against me for my death. / Do not be propitious to their iniquity, / And do not blot out their sin from before You; / But let them be overthrown before You; / Deal with them in the time of Your anger.