Jeremiah 18

The Potter and the Clay

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear My words.”

3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and he was working at his wheel.

4 But the jar he was forming from the clay was messed up in his hands, So the potter shaped it into another vessel, whatever he decided was best.

5 Then the word of the LORD came to me:

6 “House of Israel, can I not do with you just like this potter,” declares the LORD. “Look, you are in My hands like clay in the potter’s hands.”

God’s Sovereign Right to Uproot or Restore

7 “At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or kingdom to uproot, tear down, or destroy it.”

8 “But if that nation I warned turns from its evil, Then I will relent of the disaster I planned to do to it.”

9 “And at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or kingdom to build up and plant it.”

10 “But if it does evil in My sight and does not obey Me, Then I will relent of the good I intended to do for it.”

A Warning to Judah

11 “So now, speak to the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem. Say, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am preparing disaster against you; I am forming a plan against you. So turn back, each of you, from your evil ways, and change your actions.’”

12 But they will say, “There is no point! We will follow our own plans and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of our evil hearts.”

Israel’s Unnatural Rebellion

13 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “Ask among the nations, who has ever heard anything like this, The virgin Israel has done something utterly horrible.”

14 “Does snow ever vanish from the rocky slopes of Lebanon, Do cool waters from distant streams ever stop flowing?”

15 “But My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to worthless idols. They make themselves stumble in their ways, the ancient paths, And walk on side roads, not the highway.”

16 “They have made their land a horror, an object of scorn forever. Everyone who passes by will be appalled and shake their heads.”

17 “Like an east wind, I will scatter them before their enemies. I will show them My back, not My face, in their day of disaster.”

A Plot Against Jeremiah

18 Then they said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah. The priest still has the law, the wise still give counsel, and the prophet still speaks messages. Let us attack him with our tongues and ignore everything he says.”

Jeremiah’s Prayer for Vindication

19 “LORD, listen to me and hear what my opponents are saying!”

20 “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 away from them.”

21 “So give their children to famine; hand them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives be childless and widowed. Let their men be killed in battle and their young men struck down by the sword.”

22 “May a cry be heard from their houses When You suddenly bring raiders on them, For they dug a pit to capture me And laid traps for my feet.”

23 “But You, LORD, know all their murderous plans against me. Do not forgive their guilt or blot out their sin from Your sight. Let them stumble before You; Deal with them in the time of Your anger.”