At the potter’s house

1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2‘Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.’ 3So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

5Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6He said, ‘Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?’ declares the Lord. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. 7If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

11‘Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, “This is what the Lord says: look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.” 12But they will reply, “It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.” ’

13Therefore this is what the Lord says:

‘Enquire among the nations:

who has ever heard anything like this?

A most horrible thing has been done

by Virgin Israel.

14Does the snow of Lebanon

ever vanish from its rocky slopes?

Do its cool waters from distant sources

ever stop flowing?18:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this sentence is uncertain.

15Yet my people have forgotten me;

they burn incense to worthless idols,

which made them stumble in their ways,

in the ancient paths.

They made them walk in byways,

on roads not built up.

16Their land will be an object of horror

and of lasting scorn;

all who pass by will be appalled

and will shake their heads.

17Like a wind from the east,

I will scatter them before their enemies;

I will show them my back and not my face

in the day of their disaster.’

18They said, ‘Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let’s attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says.’

19Listen to me, Lord;

hear what my accusers are saying!

20Should good be repaid with evil?

Yet they have dug a pit for me.

Remember that I stood before you

and spoke on their behalf

to turn your wrath away from them.

21So give their children over to famine;

hand them over to the power of the sword.

Let their wives be made childless and widows;

let their men be put to death,

their young men slain by the sword in battle.

22Let a cry be heard from their houses

when you suddenly bring invaders against them,

for they have dug a pit to capture me

and have hidden snares for my feet.

23But you, Lord, know

all their plots to kill me.

Do not forgive their crimes

or blot out their sins from your sight.

Let them be overthrown before you;

deal with them in the time of your anger.