18[This is] the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:H1697H3414H3068H5592"Go down at once to the potter's house; there I will reveal My words to you."H6965H3381H3335H1004H8085H16973So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, working away at the wheel.H3381H3335H1004H2009H6213H4399H704But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed in the potter's hand, so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do.H3627H6213H2563H7843H3027H3335H6213H7725H312H3627H5869H3474H3335H62135The word of the LORD came to me:H1697H3068H5596"House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter [treats his clay]?"— [this is] the LORD's declaration. "Just like clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel.H1004H3478H3201H6213H3335H5002H3068H2563H3335H3027H3027H1004H34787At one moment I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy [it].H7281H1696H1471H4467H5428H5422H68However, if that nation I have made an announcement about, turns from its evil, I will not bring the disaster on it I had planned.H1471H1696H7725H7451H5162H7451H2803H62139At [another] time I announce that I will build and plant a nation or a kingdom.H7281H1696H1471H4467H1129H519310However, if it does what is evil in My sight by not listening to My voice, I will not bring the good I had said I would do to it.H6213H7451H5869H8085H6963H5162H2896H559H319011So now, say to the men of Judah and to the residents of Jerusalem: This is what the LORD says: I am about to bring harm to you and make plans against you. Turn now, each from your evil way, and correct your ways and your deeds.H559H376H3063H3427H3389H559H559H3068H3335H7451H2803H4284H7725H376H7451H1870H1870H4611H319012But they will say: It's hopeless. We will continue to follow our plans, and each of us will continue to act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart."H559H2976H3212H310H4284H376H6213H8307H7451H3820
Deluded Israel
13Therefore, this is what the LORD says: Ask among the nations, Who has heard [things] like these? Virgin Israel has done a most terrible thing.H559H3068H7592H1471H8085H1330H3478H6213H3966H818614Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave the highland crags? Or does cold water flowing from a distance ever fail?H5800H7950H3844H6697H7704H7119H5140H4325H2114H542815Yet My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to false [idols] that make them stumble in their ways— in the ancient roads— to walk on [new] paths, not the highway.H5971H7911H6999H7723H3782H1870H5769H7635H7635H3212H5410H1870H554916They have made their land a horror, a perpetual object of scorn; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and shake his head.H7760H776H8047H5769H8292H8292H5674H8074H5110H721817I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind. I will show them [My] back and not [My] face on the day of their calamity.H6327H6921H7307H6440H341H7200H6203H6440H3117H343
Plot against Jeremiah
18Then certain ones said, "Come, let's make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost from the priest, or counsel from the wise, or an oracle from the prophet. Come, let's denounce him and pay no attention to all his words."H559H3212H2803H4284H3414H8451H6H3548H6098H2450H1697H5030H3212H5221H3956H7181H169719Pay attention to me, LORD. Hear what my opponents are saying!H7181H3068H8085H6963H340120Should 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 anger from them.H7451H7999H2896H3738H7745H5315H2142H5975H6440H1696H2896H7725H253421Therefore, hand their children over to famine, and pour the sword's power on them. Let their wives become childless and widowed, their husbands slain by deadly disease, their young men struck down by the sword in battle.H5414H1121H7458H5064H3027H2719H802H7909H490H582H2026H4194H970H5221H2719H442122Let 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.H2201H8085H1004H935H1416H6597H3738H7745H7882H3920H2934H6341H727223But You, LORD, know all their deadly plots against me. Do not wipe out their guilt; do not blot out their sin before You. Let them be forced to stumble before You; deal with them in the time of Your anger.H3068H3045H6098H4194H3722H5771H4229H2403H6440H3782H6440H6213H6256H639