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¹ THE word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying.² Arise and go down to the potters house, and there I will cause you to hear my words.³ Then I went down to the potters house, according to the word of the LORD, and, behold, he was doing work on the wheel.⁴ And the vessel which he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he mixed the clay and made it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.⁵ Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,⁶ O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? says the LORD, Behold, as the clay is in the potters hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.⁷ If suddenly I should speak concerning a people and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it;⁸ And if that nation repent from its evil, I will turn away from it the evil which I thought to do to it.⁹ And if at another instant I should speak concerning a people and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;¹⁰ And if it does evil in my sight and does not obey my voice, then I will turn away from it the good which I said I would do to it.

¹¹ Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am bringing evil against you and I am devising a device against you; repent you now, and return every one from his evil way and make your ways and your doings good.¹² But they said, We shall become strong and we will walk after our own devices and we will every man do the imagination of his evil heart.¹³ Therefore thus says the LORD: Ask among the Gentiles, Who has done such things as these? The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.¹⁴ Does the green grass vanish from the mountain or the snow leave Lebanon? Does the cold water that gushes out and runs down cease from flowing?¹⁵ Yet my people have forsaken me and have burned incense to vanity and have stumbled in their ways, and have departed from the ancient paths to walk in a way which was not trodden.¹⁶ They have made their land desolate and a perpetual hissing; every one who passes through it shall be astonished and shake his head.¹⁷ I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them my back and not my face, in the day of their calamity.

¹⁸ Then they said, Come and let us devise plots against Jeremiah; so that the law shall not perish from the priests nor counsel from the wise nor the word from the prophets. Come and let us smite him in his tongue, and let us not listen to any of his words.¹⁹ Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the cry of my oppression.²⁰ Evil has been recompensed for good, for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee and spoke good for them to turn away thy wrath from them.²¹ Therefore give their children to famine and deliver them to the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and become widows; and let their men be put to death and their young men be slain by the sword in battle.²² Let wailing be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a band of raiders suddenly upon them; for they have digged a pit to take me and hid snares for my feet.²³ Yet, O LORD, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me; forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sins from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.