| Chapter
18 |
| 1 | The
word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, |
|
2 | Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there
I will cause thee to hear my words. |
|
3 | Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a
work on the wheels. |
| 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 seemed good to the potter to make it. |
| 5 | Then the word of the LORD came
to me, saying, |
| 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 mine hand, O house of Israel. |
| 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; |
| 8 |
If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I
will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. |
| 9 | And at what instant I shall speak
concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; |
| 10 | If it do evil in my
sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I
said I would benefit them. |
| 11
| Now therefore go to, 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. |
|
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. |
| 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. |
|
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? |
| 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; |
| 16 |
To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth
thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head. |
|
17 | I will scatter them as with an east wind before the
enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their
calamity. |
| 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. |
| 19 |
Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with
me. |
| 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. |
| 21 | Therefore
deliver up 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. |
| 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. |
| 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 thine anger. |
