The Potter and the Clay
The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh saying, 2 “Arise and ago down to the potter’s house, and there I will make you hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was making something on the wheel. 4 But the vessel that he was making of clay was ruined in the hand of the potter, so he turned around and made it into another vessel, according to what was right in the eyes of the potter to make.
5 Then the word of Yahweh came to me saying, 6 “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares Yahweh. “Behold, like the aclay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. 7 At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to auproot, to tear down, or to make it perish; 8 abut if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will brelent concerning the calamity I planned to do against it. 9 Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to abuild up or to plant it; 10 but if it does aevil in My sight by not listening to My voice, then I will brelent concerning the good which I promised, to do good to it. 11 So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I am aforming calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh bturn back, each of you from his evil way, and do good in your ways and your deeds.”’ 12 But athey will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the bstubbornness of his evil heart.’
13 “Therefore thus says Yahweh,
‘aAsk now among the nations,
Who ever heard the like of this?
The bvirgin of Israel
Has done a most cappalling thing.
14 Does the snow of Lebanon forsake the rock of the open country?
Or is the cold flowing water from a strange land ever uprooted?
15 For aMy people have forgotten Me;
bThey burn incense to worthless gods,
And they have stumbled from their ways,
From the cancient paths,
To walk in bypaths,
Not on a dhighway,
16 To make their land an aobject of horror,
An object of perpetual bhissing;
Everyone who passes by it will be horrified
And cshake his head.
17 Like an aeast wind I will bscatter them
Before the enemy;
I will show them cMy back and not My face
dIn the day of their disaster.’”
18 Then they said, “Come and let us adevise plans against Jeremiah. Surely the blaw is not going to perish from the priest, nor ccounsel to the wise man, nor the divine dword to the prophet! Come on and let us estrike at him with our tongue, and let us fgive no heed to any of his words.”
19 Do give heed to me, O Yahweh,
And listen to the voice of those who contend against me!
20 aShould good be repaid with evil?
For they have bdug a pit for me.
Remember how I cstood before You
To speak good on their behalf,
So as to turn away Your wrath from them.
21 Therefore, agive their children over to famine
And deliver them up to the power of the sword;
And let their wives become bchildless and cwidowed.
Let their men also be smitten to death,
Their dyoung men struck down by the sword in battle.
22 May an aoutcry be heard from their houses,
When You suddenly bring raiders upon them;
bFor they have dug a pit to capture me
And chidden snares for my feet.
23 Yet You, O Yahweh, know
All their deadly counsel against me;
aDo not atone for their iniquity
Or blot out their sin from before You.
But may they be boverthrown before You;
Deal with them in the ctime of Your anger!
The Broken Jar
Thus says Yahweh, “Go and buy a apotter’s earthenware bjar, and take some of the celders of the people and some of the delders of the priests. 2 Then go out to the avalley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entrance of the potsherd gate, and there bcall out the words that I tell you 3 and say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, O akings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold, I am about to bring a bcalamity upon this place, at which the cears of everyone that hears of it will tingle. 4 Because they have aforsaken Me and have bmade this a foreign place and have burned incense in it to cother gods, that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and because they have filled this place with the dblood of the innocent 5 and have built the ahigh places of Baal to burn their bsons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever come upon My heart, 6 therefore, behold, adays are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when this place will no longer be called bTopheth or cthe valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the valley of Slaughter. 7 I will aempty out the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem to the point of destruction in this place, and bI will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will give over their ccarcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. 8 I will also make this city an aobject of horror and of hissing; beveryone who passes by it will be horrified and hiss because of all its slaughtering. 9 I will make them aeat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life will distress them.”’
10 “Then you are to break the ajar in the sight of the men who accompany you, 11 and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “Just so will I abreak this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will bbury in Topheth because there is no other place for burial. 12 This is what I will do to this place and its inhabitants,” declares Yahweh, “so as to make this city like Topheth. 13 And the ahouses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be bdefiled like the place Topheth because of all the chouses on whose rooftops they burned incense to dall the heavenly host and epoured out drink offerings to other gods.”’”
14 Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Yahweh had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the acourt of the house of Yahweh and said to all the people: 15 “Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am about to bring on this city and all its towns the entire calamity that I have spoken against it because they have astiffened their necks so bas not to hear My words.’”