Parable of the Potter
1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
2“Go down at once to the potter’s house;18:2 Is 29:16; Jr 19:1–2 there I will reveal my words to you.”
3So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, working away at the wheel.18:3 Lit pair of stones
5The word of the Lord came to me:
6“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.18:6 Gn 2:7–8; Is 43:1; 64:8
7At one moment I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy it.18:7 Jr 1:10; 24:6; 31:28
8However, if that nation about which I have made the announcement turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the disaster I had planned to do to it.18:8 2Sm 24:1; Jr 42:10; Jnh 3:10
9At another time I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it.18:9 Jr 1:10
10However, if it does what is evil in my sight by not listening to me, I will relent concerning the good I had said I would do to it.18:10 Ezk 18:25–29; 33:12–13
Deluded Israel
13Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
Ask among the nations,
who has heard things like these?
14Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave the highland crags?
Or does cold water flowing from a distance ever fail?
They burn incense to worthless idols
on the ancient roads,18:15 Jr 6:16
and make them walk on new paths, not the highway.
a perpetual object of scorn;18:16 Lit hissing18:16 Lm 2:15
I will show them18:17 LXX, Lat, Syr, Tg; MT reads will look at them my back and not my face18:17 2Ch 29:6; Jr 2:27; 32:33; Ezk 8:16
on the day of their calamity.
Plot against Jeremiah
18Then certain ones said, “Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah,18:18 Jr 11:19 for instruction will never be lost from the priest,18:18 Jr 2:8,26; 5:31; 6:13; 8:10; 13:13; 23:11,33; Ezk 7:26; Mc 3:11; Zph 3:4 or counsel from the wise, or a word from the prophet.18:18 Jr 5:13 Come, let’s denounce him18:18 Lit let’s strike him with the tongue and pay no attention to all his words.”
19Pay attention to me, Lord.
20Should good be repaid with evil?
Remember how I stood before you
to speak good on their behalf,
to turn your anger from them.
21Therefore, hand their children over to famine,18:21 Ps 109:9–20
and give them over to the power of the sword.
Let their wives become childless and widowed,
their husbands slain by deadly disease,18:21 Lit by death
their young men struck down by the sword in 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
23But you, Lord, know
all their deadly plots against me.
Do not wipe out their iniquity;18:23 Neh 4:5
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.
Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard
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