< Jeremiah 18 >
1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
The word that hath been unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
2 “Go down at once to the potter’s house, and there I will reveal My message to you.”
Rise, and thou hast gone down [to] the potter's house, and there I cause thee to hear My words;
3 So I went down to the potter’s house and saw him working at the wheel.
and I go down [to] the potter's house, and lo, he is doing a 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 marred is the vessel that he is making, as clay in the hand of the potter, and he hath turned and he maketh it another vessel, as it was right in the eyes of the potter to make.
5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
And there is a word of Jehovah 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.
As this potter am I not able to do to you? O house of Israel, an affirmation of Jehovah. Lo, as clay in the hand of the potter, So [are] ye 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.
The moment I speak concerning a nation, And concerning a kingdom, To pluck up and to break down, and to destroy,
8 But if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I will relent of the disaster I had planned to bring.
And that nation hath turned from its evil, Because I have spoken against it, Then I have repented of the evil that I thought to do to it.
9 And if at another time I announce that I will build up and establish a nation or kingdom,
And the moment I speak concerning a nation, And concerning a kingdom, to build, and to plant,
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.
And it hath done the evil thing in Mine eyes, So as not to hearken to My voice, Then I have repented of the good That I have spoken of doing to 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.’
And now, speak, I pray thee, unto men of Judah, And against inhabitants of Jerusalem, Saying: Thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am framing against you evil, And devising against you a device, Turn back, I pray you, each from his evil way And amen your ways and your doings.
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 have said, It is incurable, For after our own devices we do go, And each the stubbornness of his evil heart we 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.
Therefore, thus said Jehovah: Ask, I pray you, among the nations, Who hath heard like these? A very horrible thing hath the virgin of Israel done.
14 Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave its rocky slopes? Or do its cool waters flowing from a distance ever run dry?
Doth snow of Lebanon Cease from the rock of the field? Failed are the cold strange waters that flow?
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.
But My people have forgotten Me, to a vain thing they make perfume, And they cause them to stumble in their ways — paths of old, To walk in paths — a way not raised 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.
To make their land become a desolation, A hissing age-during, Every passer by it is astonished, And bemoaneth with 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 an east wind I scatter them before an enemy, The neck, and not the face, I shew them, In the day of their calamity.'
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 say, Come, And we devise against Jeremiah devices, For law doth not perish from the priest, Nor counsel from the wise, Nor the word from the prophet, Come, and we smite him with the tongue, And we do not attend to any of his words.
19 Attend to me, O LORD. Hear what my accusers are saying!
Give attention, O Jehovah, unto me, And hearken to the voice of those contending with 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 recompensed instead of good, That they have dug a pit for my soul? Remember my standing before Thee to speak good of them, To turn back Thy wrath 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, give up their sons to famine, And cause them to run on the sides of the sword, And their wives are bereaved and widows, And their men are slain by death, Their young men smitten by 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.
A cry is heard from their houses, For Thou bringest against them suddenly a troop, For they dug a pit to capture me, And snares they have hidden 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.
And Thou, O Jehovah, Thou hast known, All their counsel against me [is] for death, Thou dost not cover over their iniquity, Nor their sin from before Thee blottest out, And they are made to stumble before Thee, In the time of Thine anger work against them!