Jeremiah 18
The Lord instructs Jeremiah to visit a potter's house, where he observes the potter reshaping a vessel that had broken, illustrating God's power to shape and reshape nations. The Lord declares that He can uproot, destroy, or build and plant a nation, depending on its response to His warnings. The people of Judah and Jerusalem are warned to turn from their evil ways, but they refuse, saying they will follow their own thoughts. The Lord laments that His people have forgotten Him and will be dispersed and destroyed as a result. Jeremiah's enemies plot against him, but he prays for the Lord's protection and asks that they be punished for their evil plans.
1The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying2"Rise up and descend into the house of the potter, and there you will hear my words.3And I descended into the house of the potter, and behold, he was making a work on the wheel4And the vessel, which he was making with his hands out of clay, broke. And turning away, he made another vessel, for it had been pleasing in his eyes to make it5Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying6"Am I not able to do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done, says the Lord? Behold, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel7Suddenly, I will speak against a nation and against a kingdom, so that I may uproot, and destroy, and scatter it8If that nation, against which I have spoken, will repent from their evil, I too will repent from the evil that I have decided I would do to them9And soon, I will speak about a nation and about a kingdom, so that I may build and plant it10If it does evil in my sight, so as not to listen to my voice, I will repent of the good that I have said I would do to it11Now, therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am forming an evil against you, and I am considering a plan against you. Let each one of you return from his evil way, and direct your ways and your intentions well.12And they said: "We have lost hope. And so we will follow our own thoughts, and each of us will act according to the depravity of his own evil heart.13For this reason, thus says the Lord: "Inquire among the Gentiles. Who has heard of such horrible things as the virgin of Israel has done to excess14Do the snows of Lebanon fail to fall on the rocks of the field? Or are the cold waters, which burst forth and flow down, able to be rooted out15Yet my people have forgotten me, offering useless libations, and stumbling in their ways, in the paths of the world, so that they walk by these on an unmarked route16And so their land has been given over to desolation and to perpetual hissing. Each one who passes by will be astonished and will shake his head17Like a burning wind, I will disperse them in the sight the enemy. I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their perdition.18And they said: "Come, and let us devise a plan against Jeremiah. For the law will not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor a sermon from the prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us pay no attention to any of his words.19Attend to me, O Lord, and hear the voice of my adversaries20Should evil be rendered for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul! Remember that I have stood in your sight, so as to speak on their behalf for good, and to avert your indignation from them21Because of this, give their sons over to famine, and bring them to the hand of the sword. Let their wives be widows without children. And let their husbands be slain by death. Let their youths be stabbed with the sword in battle22Let an outcry be heard from their houses. For you will lead the robber upon them suddenly. For they have dug a pit, so that they may seize me, and they have hidden snares for my feet23But you, O Lord, know all their plans against me unto death. May you not forgive their iniquity, and do not allow their sin be taken away from your face. Let them be thrown down in your sight, in the time of your fury, so that you may destroy them
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