Jeremiah 18

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

2 “Go down at once to the potter’s house, and there I will reveal My message to you.”

Up! go down to the potter's house, and there I will let my words come to your ears.

3 So I went down to the potter’s house and saw him working at the wheel.

Then I went down to the potter's house, and he was doing his work on the stones.

4 But the vessel that he was shaping from the clay became flawed in his hand; so he formed it into another vessel, as it seemed best for him to do.

And when the vessel, which he was forming out of earth, got damaged in the hand of the potter, he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make it.

5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

6 “O house of Israel, declares the LORD, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay? Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

O Israel, am I not able to do with you as this potter does? says the Lord. See, like earth in the potter's hand are you in my hands, O Israel.

7 At any time I might announce that a nation or kingdom will be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed.

Whenever I say anything about uprooting a nation or a kingdom, and smashing it and sending destruction on it;

8 But if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I will relent of the disaster I had planned to bring.

If, in that very minute, that nation of which I was talking is turned away from its evil, my purpose of doing evil to them will be changed.

9 And if at another time I announce that I will build up and establish a nation or kingdom,

And whenever I say anything about building up a nation or a kingdom, and planting it;

10 and if it does evil in My sight and does not listen to My voice, then I will relent of the good I had intended for it.

If, in that very minute, it does evil in my eyes, going against my orders, then my good purpose, which I said I would do for them, will be changed.

11 Now therefore, tell the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘Behold, I am planning a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways, and correct your ways and deeds.’

Now, then, say to the men of Judah and to the people of Jerusalem, This is what the Lord has said: See, I am forming an evil thing against you, and designing a design against you: let every man come back now from his evil way, and let your ways and your doings be changed for the better.

12 But they will reply, ‘It is hopeless. We will follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”

But they will say, There is no hope: we will go on in our designs, and every one of us will do what he is moved by the pride of his evil heart to do.

13 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “Inquire among the nations: Who has ever heard things like these? Virgin Israel has done a most terrible thing.

So this is what the Lord has said: Make search among the nations and see who has had word of such things; the virgin of Israel has done a very shocking thing.

14 Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave its rocky slopes? Or do its cool waters flowing from a distance ever run dry?

Will the white snow go away from the top of Sirion? will the cold waters flowing from the mountains become dry?

15 Yet My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to worthless idols that make them stumble in their ways, leaving the ancient roads to walk on rutted bypaths instead of on the highway.

For my people have put me out of their memory, burning perfumes to that which is nothing; and because of this, I will put a cause of falling in their ways, even in the old roads, and will make them go on side-roads, in a way not lifted up;

16 They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.

Making their land a thing of wonder, causing sounds of surprise for ever; everyone who goes by will be overcome with wonder, shaking his head.

17 I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind. I will show them My back and not My face in the day of their calamity.”

I will send them in flight, as from an east wind, before the attacker; I will let them see my back and not my face on the day of their downfall.

18 Then some said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise, nor an oracle to the prophet. Come, let us denounce him and pay no heed to any of his words.”

Then they said, Come, let us make a design against Jeremiah; for teaching will never be cut off from the priest, or wisdom from the wise, or the word from the prophet. Come, let us make use of his words for an attack on him, and let us give attention with care to what he says.

19 Attend to me, O LORD. Hear what my accusers are saying!

Give thought to me, O Lord, and give ear to the voice of those who put forward a cause against me.

20 Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn Your wrath from them.

Is evil to be the reward of good? for they have made a deep hole for my soul. Keep in mind how I took my place before you, to say a good word for them so that your wrath might be turned away from them.

21 Therefore, hand their children over to famine; pour out the power of the sword upon them. Let their wives become childless and widowed; let their husbands be slain by disease, their young men struck down by the sword in battle.

For this cause, let their children be without food, and give them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives be without children and become widows; let their men be overtaken by death, and their young men be put to the sword in the fight.

22 Let a cry be heard from their houses when You suddenly bring raiders against them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet.

Let a cry for help go up from their houses, when you send an armed band on them suddenly: for they have made a hole in which to take me, and have put nets for my feet secretly.

23 But You, O LORD, know all their deadly plots against me. Do not wipe out their guilt or blot out their sin from Your sight. Let them be overthrown before You; deal with them in the time of Your anger.

But you, Lord, have knowledge of all the designs which they have made against my life; let not their evil-doing be covered or their sin be washed away from before your eyes: but let it be a cause of falling before you: so do to them in the time of your wrath.