Keraia
Major Prophets

Jeremiah 18

The Potter and the Clay

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

1The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH, saying:

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

2“Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.

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

3And I went down to the potter’s house, and behold—he was making a work at the wheel.

4But 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.

4And the vessel that he was making with the clay was marred in the hand of the potter; and he went back and he made it into another vessel, as seemed right in the eyes of the potter to make.

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

5The word of YHWH 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.

6O house of Israel, “Can I not do to you as this potter? A declaration of YHWH. Behold, like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

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

7The moment I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to uproot and to tear down and to destroy,

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

8and if that nation turns back from its evil, about which I have spoken against, then I will relent concerning the evil that I thought to bring upon it.

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

9And the moment I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it,

10and 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.

10and if it does evil in My eyes so that it does not listen to My voice, then I will relent concerning the good that I had said I would benefit them.

11Now 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.’

11And now speak, please, to the men of Judah and to those dwelling in Jerusalem, saying, thus says YHWH: ‘Behold, I am fashioning against you a disaster and devising against you a plan! Return now, each man from his evil way, and make good your ways and your deeds.’

12But 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.’”

12And they said, ‘It is hopeless! For according to our own plans we will walk, and each man will do the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”

13Therefore 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.

13Therefore, thus says YHWH: “Ask, please, among the nations, who has heard these things? The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.

14Does the snow of Lebanon

ever leave its rocky slopes?

Or do its cool waters flowing from a distance

ever run dry?

14Does it leave its rocky slopes—the snow of Lebanon? Or from a distance be forsaken the cold flowing waters?

15Yet 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.

15Yet My people have forgotten Me, they have burned incense to a vain thing; and they made them stumble in their ways, the paths of old, to walk in sideroads of the way, and not raised up,

16They have made their land a desolation,

a perpetual object of scorn;

all who pass by will be appalled

and shake their heads.

16to make their land desolate, an everlasting hissing; all passing by it will be astonished and will nod at it with his head.

17I 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.”

17I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; and I will show them the back and not the face, in the day of their calamity!”

Another Plot against Jeremiah

18Then 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.”

18And they said, “Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, and counsel from the wise, and the word from the prophet. Come and let us strike him with the tongue, and we will not pay attention to any of his words!

19Attend to me, O LORD.

Hear what my accusers are saying!

19Pay attention, O YHWH, to me, and listen to the voice of my opponents!

20Should 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.

20Shall evil be repaid for good? Yet they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before You to speak good for them, to turn away Your wrath from them.

21Therefore, 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.

21Therefore give over their children to the famine, and pour out by the hand of the sword; and let their wives become childless, and widows, and let their men be put to death, and their young men struck down by the sword in the battle!

22Let 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.

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

23But 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.

23And You, O YHWH, know all their counsel against me to kill me. And do not cover over their iniquity, and do not blot out their sin from before Your face; and let them be overthrown before Your face. In the time of Your anger, deal against them.