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The Potter and the Clay

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,² "Arise and ^(C1)go down to the potter's house, and there I will announce My words to you."³ So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something on the wheel.⁴ But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.

⁵ Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,⁶ "Am I not able, house of Israel, to deal with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Behold, like the ^(C1)clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel.⁷ "At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to ^(C1)uproot it, to tear it down, or to destroy it;^8 (C1)if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will ^(C2)relent of the disaster that I planned to bring on it.⁹ "Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to ^(C1)build up or to plant it;¹⁰ if it does ^(C1)evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will ^(C2)relent of the good with which I said ^(F1)that I would bless it.¹¹ "So now, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, 'This is what the LORD says: "Behold, I am ^(C1)forming a disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Now ^(C2)turn back, each of you from his evil way, and ^(F1)correct your ways and your deeds!"'¹² "But ^(C1)they will say, 'It's hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will ^(F1)persist in the ^(C2)stubbornness of his evil heart.'

¹³ "Therefore this is what the LORD says:
'^(C1)Just ask among the nations,
Who ever heard anything like ^(F1)this?
The ^(C2)virgin of Israel
Has done a most ^(C3)appalling thing.

¹⁴ 'Does the snow of Lebanon leave the rock of the open country alone?
Or is the cold flowing water from a foreign land ever dried up?

¹⁵ 'For ^(C1)My people have forgotten Me,
^(C2)They burn incense ^(F1)to worthless gods.
And they ^(F2)have stumbled in their ways,
In the ^(C3)ancient roads,
To walk on paths,
Not on a ^(C4)highway,

¹⁶ To make their land a ^(C1)desolation,
An object of perpetual ^(C2)hissing;
Everyone who passes by it will be astonished
And ^(C3)shake his head.

¹⁷ 'Like an ^(C1)east wind I will ^(C2)scatter them
Before the enemy;
I will ^(F1)show them ^(C3)My back and not My face
^(C4)In the day of their disaster.'"

¹⁸ Then they said, "Come and let's ^(C1)devise plans against Jeremiah. Certainly the ^(C2)Law is not going to be lost by the priest, nor ^(C3)advice by the wise, nor the divine ^(C4)word by the prophet! Come, and let's ^(C5)strike at him with our tongue, and let's ^(C6)pay no attention to any of his words."

¹⁹ Give Your attention to me, LORD,
And listen to ^(F1)what my opponents are saying!

^20 (C1)Should good be repaid with evil?
For they have ^(C2)dug a pit for ^(F1)me.
Remember how I ^(C3)stood before You
To speak good in their behalf,
So as to turn Your wrath away from them.

²¹ Therefore, ^(C1)give their children over to famine
And turn them over to the ^(F1)power of the sword;
And let their wives become ^(C2)childless and ^(C3)widowed.
Let their men also be slaughtered to death,
Their ^(C4)young men struck and killed by the sword in battle.

²² May a ^(C1)cry be heard from their houses
When You suddenly bring raiders upon them;
^(C2)For they have dug a pit to capture me
And ^(C3)hidden snares for my feet.

²³ But You, LORD, know
All their ^(F1)deadly schemes against me;
^(C1)Do not ^(F2)forgive their wrongdoing
Or wipe out their sin from Your sight.
But may they be ^(F3)(C2)overthrown before You;
Deal with them in the ^(C3)time of Your anger!