Jeremiah 18

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

The word that came from Jeremias to the Lord, saying:

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

Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there thou shalt hear my words.

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

And I went down into the potter’s house, and behold he was doing a work on the wheel.

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 the vessel was broken which he was making with clay with his hands: and turning he made another vessel, as it seemed good in his eyes 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.

Cannot I do with you as this potter, saith the Lord? behold as clay is in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

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

I will suddenly speak against a nation, and against a kingdom, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy 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 that nation against which I have spoken, shall repent of their evil, I also will repent of the evil that I have thought to do to them.

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

And I will suddenly speak of a nation and of a kingdom, to build up and plant 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 it shall do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice: I will repent of the good that I have spoken to do unto it.

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 therefore tell the men of Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: let every man of you return from his evil way, and make ye your ways and your doings good.

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.’”

And they said: We have no hopes: for we will go after our own thoughts, and we will do every one according to the perverseness of his evil heart.

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.

Therefore thus saith the Lord: Ask among the nations: Who hath heard such horrible things, as the virgin of Israel hath done to excess?

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

Shall now the snow of Libanus fail from the rock of the field? or can the cold waters that gush out and run down, be taken away?

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.

Because my people have forgotten me, sacrificing in vain, and stumbling in their ways, in ancient paths, to walk by them in a way not trodden:

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

That their land might be given up to desolation, and to a perpetual hissing: every one that shall pass by it, shall be astonished, and wag 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.”

As a burning will I scatter them before the enemy: I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their destruction.

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.”

And they said: Come, and let us invent devices against Jeremias: for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet: come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us give no heed to all his words.

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

Give heed to me, O Lord, and hear the voice of my adversaries.

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.

Shall evil be rendered for good, because they have digged a pit for my soul? Remember that I have stood in thy sight, so speak good for them, and turn away thy indignation 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.

Therefore deliver up their children to famine, and bring them into the hands of the sword: let their wives be bereaved of children and widows: and let their husbands be slain by death: let their young men be stabbed with the sword in battle.

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 be heard out of their houses: for thou shalt bring the robber upon them suddenly: because they have digged a pit to take me, and have hid snares for my feet.

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 thou, O Lord, knowest all their counsel against me unto death: forgive not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from thy sight: let them be overthrown before thy eyes, in the time of thy wrath do thou destroy them.