18:1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
18:2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will
cause thee to hear my words.
18:3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he
wrought a work on the wheels.
18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand
of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as it seemed
good to the potter to make [it].
18:5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
18:6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter?
saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay [is] in the potter's hand,
so [are] ye in my hand, O house of Israel.
18:7 [At what] instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and
concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to
destroy [it];
18:8 If that nation against which I have pronounced, shall turn
from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do
to them.
18:9 And [at what] instant I shall speak concerning a nation,
and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant [it];
18:10 If it shall do evil in my sight, that it obey not my
voice, then I will repent of the good, with which I said I
would benefit them.
18:11 Now therefore come, speak to the men of Judah, and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold,
I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you:
return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways
and your doings good.
18:12 And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after
our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of
his evil heart.
18:13 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ask ye now among the
heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath
done a very horrible thing.
18:14 Will [a man] leave the snow of Lebanon [which cometh] from
the rock of the field? [or] shall the cold flowing waters that
come from another place be forsaken?
18:15 Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned
incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in
their ways [from] the ancient paths, to walk in paths, [in] a
way not cast up;
18:16 To make their land desolate, [and] a perpetual hissing;
every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and wag his
head.
18:17 I 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.
18:18 Then 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.
18:19 Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them
that contend with me.
18:20 Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a
pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak
good for them, [and] to turn away thy wrath from them.
18:21 Therefore deliver their children to the famine, and pour
out their [blood] by the force of the sword; and let their
wives be bereaved of their children, and [be] widows; and let
their men be put to death; [let] their young men [be] slain by
the sword in battle.
18:22 Let 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.
18:23 Yet, LORD, 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 [thus] with them in the time of thy anger.
|