This is the word that came to Jeremiah - ... from the LORD : ...
“ Go down at once to the potter’s house , and there I will reveal - My message to you.”
So I went down to the potter’s house and saw him working ... at the wheel.
But the vessel that he was shaping from the clay became flawed in (his) ... hand ; so he formed it into another vessel , as it seemed best for him to do.
Then the word of the LORD came to me , saying ,
“ O house of Israel , declares the LORD , can I not treat as this potter (treats his clay) ? Just like clay in the potter’s hand , so are you in My hand , O house of Israel.
At any time I might announce that a nation ... or kingdom will be uprooted , torn down , and destroyed.
But if that nation I warned turns from its evil , - then I will relent of the disaster - I had planned to bring
And if at another time I announce ... that I will build up and establish a nation ... or kingdom ,
and if it does evil in My sight and does not listen to My voice , then I will relent of the good - I had intended for it ... -.
Now therefore , tell ... the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem that this is what ... the LORD says : ‘ Behold , I am planning a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. Turn now , each of you , from your evil ways , and correct your ways and deeds. ’
But they will reply , ‘ It is hopeless. ... We will follow ... our own plans , and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart. ’”
Therefore this is what the LORD says : “ Inquire ... among the nations : Who has ever heard things like these ? Virgin Israel has done a most terrible thing.
Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave its rocky slopes ? Or do its cool waters flowing from a distance ever run dry ?
Yet My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to worthless idols that make them stumble in their ways , (leaving) the ancient roads to walk on rutted bypaths instead of on the highway.
They have made their land a desolation , a perpetual object of scorn ; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.
I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind. I will show them My back and not My face in the day of their calamity. ”
Then (some) said , “ Come , let us make plans ... against Jeremiah - , for the law will never be lost to the priest , nor counsel to the wise , nor an oracle to the prophet. Come , let us denounce him ... and pay no heed to any of his words.”
Attend to me , O LORD. Hear what my accusers are saying !
Should good be repaid with evil ? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf , to turn - Your wrath
Therefore , hand their children over - to famine ; pour out the power of the sword upon them. Let their wives become childless and widowed ; let their husbands ... be slain by disease , their young men struck down by the sword in battle.
Let a cry be heard from their houses when You suddenly bring raiders against them , for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet.
But You , O LORD , know - all their deadly plots against me. Do not wipe out ... their guilt (or) blot out ... their sin from Your sight. Let them be overthrown before You ; deal in the time of Your anger.