Bible Commentaries
Jeremiah 18

Verses 1-23

Jeremiah 18:1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

Jeremiah 18:2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.

Jeremiah 18:2 Comments - The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah while he was watching the potter work the clay.

Jeremiah 18:3-4 Comments - The Potter and the Clay The potter represents the Lord, the clay represents human life, and the wheel represents circumstances in life.

Jeremiah 18:3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.

Jeremiah 18:3 Word Study on “the wheels” Strong says the Hebrew word “wheels” ( אֹבֶן ) (H70) literally means, “a stone,” but used in the dual, it refers to “a pair of stones,” or “a potter’s wheel.”

Jeremiah 18:3 Comments - The work of the potter is his craft, his job, his task. In the making of pottery, the clay is placed on a flat stone, spun with the foot as the clay was shaped with the potter’s hands.

Jeremiah 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Jeremiah 18:4 Word Study on “was marred” - Strong says the Hebrew word “marred” ( שָׁחַת ) (H7843) means, “to decay, to ruin, corrupt, destroy, perish.”

Jeremiah 18:4 “as seemed good to the potter to make it” Comments - Circumstances may not always seem good to us, though it is good to God, or even necessary. For example, Job’s trial was a terrible event to experience, but had a divine purpose in God’s overall plan of redemption for mankind.

Jeremiah 18:4 Comments - A vessel has as much value as it has been shaped to have by its Maker. When this vessel becomes marred with sin (Jeremiah 18:10), God purges sin when He sees it is necessary (John 15:2, 2 Timothy 2:21).

Jeremiah 18:10, “If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.”

John 15:2, “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”

2 Timothy 2:21, “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.”

Jeremiah 18:8 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

Jeremiah 18:8 Word Study on “I will repent” - Strong says the Hebrew word “repent” ( נָחַם ) (H5162) means, “to sigh, or breath strongly,” and by implication it means, “to pity, console”; and to comfort, to repent, to ease (oneself).” Holladay says it means, “to have a change of heart, to allow oneself a change of heart.”

Jeremiah 18:8 Comments - God has a heart that can be moved by prayers of faith.

Jeremiah 18:8 Illustration - God repented at the destruction of Nineveh.

Jonah 3:4 - “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”

Jonah 3:8 - “Cry mightily into God”. We need to pray like this also.

Jonah 3:10 “God repented” The same Hebrew word is used here.

Jeremiah 18:9 And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;

Jeremiah 18:9 “to build and to plant it” Scripture Reference - Note:

Psalms 127:1, “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”

Jeremiah 18:9 Comments - Deuteronomy 28:0 describes the building and destruction of a nation. God speaks to a nation through the office of the prophet (Jeremiah 1:10).

Jeremiah 1:10, “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.”.

Jeremiah 18:10 If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.

Jeremiah 18:10 “wherewith I said I would benefit them” Comments - God can make things go well for a person or a nation. He does them good, and treats kindly and graciously.

Jeremiah 18:10 Comments - If a vessel becomes marred with sin, God will make it anew (Jeremiah 18:4). He destroyed all but a remnant of Israel and began anew.

Jeremiah 18:4, “And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.”

Jeremiah 18:11 Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.

Jeremiah 18:11 Comments - God speaks concerning a nation through the office of a prophet (Jeremiah 1:10; Jeremiah 18:7).

Jeremiah 1:10, “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.”.

Jeremiah 18:7, “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;”

Jeremiah 18:13 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.

Jeremiah 18:13 “the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing” Comments - Virginity represents purity from sin.

Jeremiah 18:14 Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?

Jeremiah 18:14 Comments - Lebanon was a high mount aim range with snow-capped peaks. Easton says it Lebanon is called the “white mountain of Syria,” perhaps because it is the only one with snow on it in that particular region (Deuteronomy 1:7; Deuteronomy 11:24, Joshua 1:4).

Deuteronomy 1:7, “Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.”

Deuteronomy 11:24, “Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.”

Joshua 1:4, “From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.”

Jeremiah 18:15 Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;

Jeremiah 18:15 Comments - God had told Joshua that he was to mediate in God’s Word day and night (Joshua 1:8), but the children of Israel had put God out of their minds.

Joshua 1:8, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”