The Book of Jeremiah
18: 1The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, 18:2Arise, and go
down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 18:3Then I
went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he was making a work on the
wheels. 18:4And when the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of
the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make
it. 18:5Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, 18:6O house of Israel, cannot I
do with you as this potter? saith Jehovah. Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand,
so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel. 18:7At what instant I shall speak
concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down
and to destroy it; 18:8if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their
evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. 18:9And at what instant
I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant
it; 18:10if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they obey not my voice, then I
will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them. 18:11Now therefore,
speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith
Jehovah: Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return
ye now every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.
18:12But they say, It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will
do every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart. 18:13Therefore thus saith
Jehovah: Ask ye now among the nations, who hath heard such things; the virgin
of Israel hath done a very horrible thing. 18:14Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from
the rock of the field? or shall the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried
up? 18:15For my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to false gods;
and they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in
bypaths, in a way not cast up; 18:16to make their land an astonishment, and a
perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and shake
his head. 18:17I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show
them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity. 18:18Then said they,
Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish
from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come,
and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
18:19Give heed to me, O Jehovah, and hearken to the voice of them that contend
with me. 18:20Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my
soul. Remember how I stood before thee to speak good for them, to turn away thy
wrath from them. 18:21Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give
them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives become childless, and
widows; and let their men be slain of death, and their young men smitten of the
sword in battle. 18:22Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a
troop suddenly upon them; for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares
for my feet. 18:23Yet, Jehovah, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me;
forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight; but let them be
overthrown before thee; deal thou with them in the time of thine anger.