The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah

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- Chapter 18 -

Yahweh gave another message to me. He said,

“Go to the shop of the man who makes clay pots. I will give you a message there.”

So I went to that shop, and I saw the man who makes pots. He was working at the wheel that he uses to form pots.

But when he finished making one jar, it was not as good as he hoped it to be. So, he took the clay and formed it into another jar, shaping it as he desired to.

Then Yahweh gave me this message:

“Perhaps the people of Israel think that I cannot do to them like this man who makes pots has done. But what they think is wrong. I can control what happens to them like this man controls what he does with the clay in his hands.

There may be a time when I proclaim that I will get rid of a nation or kingdom, like someone pulls up a plant with its roots, and smash it, and destroy it.

But if the people of that nation repent of doing evil things, I will not send to them the disasters that I planned to send.

And there may be a time when I proclaim that I will establish a nation or kingdom and cause it to be strong.

But if the people of that nation start to do evil things and refuse to obey me, then I will not bless them as I said that I would do.

Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all the people in Jerusalem and in other places in Judah. Say to them, ‘This is what Yahweh says: I am planning a disaster that I will send to you. So, each of you should turn from your evil behavior and start doing what is right, in order that good things will come to you instead!’

But the people will say back to you, ‘It is useless for you to say these things to us. We will continue to be stubborn and behave as wickedly as we want to.’”

So this is what Yahweh said in response: “Ask the people who live in other nations if they have ever heard of such a thing. My Israelite people, who have been pure like virgins, have done a terrible thing!

The snow certainly never completely disappears from the rocky slopes of the mountains in Lebanon. The cold streams that flow down from those distant mountains never cease flowing.

But my people are not as reliable as those streams: They have abandoned me. They burn incense to honor worthless idols. It is as though they have stumbled as they walked along well known and reliable roads and now, instead, they are walking on dirt paths.

Therefore, their land will become desolate, and people who see it will hiss to ridicule it from now on. All the people who pass by will be appalled; they will shake their heads to show that they are shocked.

I will scatter the people when their enemies attack them like dust is scattered by an east wind. And when they experience all these disasters, I will turn my back on them and refuse to help them.”

Another Plot against Jeremiah

(Jeremiah 11:18–23)

Then the people said, “Come, we should plan to attack Jeremiah. We have many priests who teach us God’s laws, wise men who give us good advice, and prophets who tell us what will happen. We do not need Jeremiah! So we should slander him and not pay attention to anything that he says.”

Then I prayed, “Yahweh, please listen to me! And listen to what my enemies are saying about me.

I am doing things that are good, so it is disgusting that they are paying me back by doing evil things to me. It is as though they have dug a pit for me to fall into and die. Do not forget that one time I stood in front of you and pleaded for you to help them, and I tried to prevent you from punishing them, even though you were very angry with them.

So now, allow their children to die from hunger! Or cause them to be killed by their enemies’ swords! Cause their wives to become widows, whose children are all dead! Cause their husbands to be killed in battles!

Cause people to scream in their homes when enemy soldiers suddenly come into their houses! Cause all these things to happen to them because they want to kill me. It is as though they have dug a pit for me to fall into, and they have hidden traps along my path.

Yahweh, you know all the things that they are planning to do to kill me. Do not forgive them for their crimes or blot out the record of their sins. Cause them to be destroyed; punish them because of your being angry with them!”

The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

“Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear my words.”

Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was making something on the wheels.

When the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Then the LORD’s word came to me, saying,

“House of Israel, can’t I do with you as this potter?” says the LORD. “Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.

At the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it,

if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them.

At the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it,

if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they not obey my voice, then I will repent of the good with which I said I would benefit them.

“Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘The LORD says: “Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a plan against you. Everyone return from his evil way now, and amend your ways and your doings.”’

But they say, ‘It is in vain; for we will walk after our own plans, and we will each follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”

Therefore the LORD says: “Ask now among the nations, ‘Who has heard such things?’ The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.

Will the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? Will the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up?

For my people have forgotten me. They have burned incense to false gods. They have been made to stumble in their ways in the ancient paths, to walk in byways, in a way not built up,

to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished, and shake his head.

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.

Another Plot against Jeremiah

(Jeremiah 11:18–23)

Then they said, “Come! Let’s devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law won’t perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let’s strike him with the tongue, and let’s not give heed to any of his words.”

Give heed to me, LORD, and listen to the voice of those who contend with me.

Should evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.

Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless and widows. Let their men be killed and their young men struck by the sword in battle.

Let a cry be heard from their houses when you bring a troop suddenly on them; for they have dug a pit to take me and hidden snares for my feet.

Yet, LORD, you know all their counsel against me to kill me. Don’t forgive their iniquity. Don’t blot out their sin from your sight, Let them be overthrown before you. Deal with them in the time of your anger.