J.
Jehovah as the Potter and Israel as the pottery
18:1—20:18
1.
Jehovah as the sovereign Potter
18:1-10
Jer. 18
:1
18:1
The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
Jer. 18
:2
18:2
Arise and go down to the
1potter’s house, and there I will let you hear My words.
Jer. 18
:3
18:3
So I went down to the potter’s house, and he was there doing work at his wheel.
Jer. 18
:4
18:4
But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand; so he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good for the potter to make.
Jer. 18
:5
18:5
And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,
Jer. 18
:6
18:6
Am I not able to do with you, O house of Israel, as this potter does? declares Jehovah. Indeed, as the clay is in the hand of the
apotter, so you are in My hand, O house of Israel.
Jer. 18
:7
18:7
At the moment that I speak about a nation or about a kingdom, to pluck
it up or to break
it down or to destroy
it,
Jer. 18
:8
18:8
And if that nation concerning which I have spoken
aturns from its evil, I will
brepent of the evil that I intended to do to it.
Jer. 18
:9
18:9
And at the moment that I speak about a nation or a kingdom, to build
it up or to plant
it,
Jer. 18
:10
18:10
And if it does evil in My sight by not listening to My voice, then I will repent of the good with which I said I would benefit it.
2.
The evil condition of Israel
18:11-23
Jer. 18
:11
18:11
1And now speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Jehovah, Look, I am forming evil against you and devising a plan against you.
aReturn now, each one of you from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.
Jer. 18
:12
18:12
But they say, It is hopeless! For we will walk after our own devices and everyone will do
according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.
Jer. 18
:13
18:13
Therefore thus says Jehovah,
Ask now among the nations,
Who has heard such things?
The
1avirgin of Israel
Has done a very horrible thing.
Jer. 18
:14
18:14
Does the snow of Lebanon
Leave the rock of the field?
Or will the cold flowing waters
Coming from afar be dried up?
Jer. 18
:15
18:15
But My people have
aforgotten Me;
They burn incense to vanity,
And they have been stumbled in their ways
From the
1ancient paths
To walk on bypaths,
On a way which is not cast up,
Jer. 18
:16
18:16
aTo make their land an astonishment,
A thing to be hissed at forever.
Everyone who passes by will be astonished
And shake his head.
Jer. 18
:17
18:17
Like the east wind I will scatter them
Before the enemy;
I will show them
My aback and not
My face
In the day of their calamity.
Jer. 18
:18
18:18
Then they said, Come, let us
adevise plots against Jeremiah; for the law will not perish from the priest or counsel from the wise man or a word from the prophet. Come, let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
Jer. 18
:19
18:19
Give heed to me, O Jehovah,
And listen to the voice of those who contend with me.
Jer. 18
:20
18:20
Shall evil be recompensed with good?
For they have dug a pit for my life.
Remember how I stood before You
To speak good for their sake,
To turn away Your wrath from them.
Jer. 18
:21
18:21
Therefore 1deliver up their children to famine,
And give them over to the power of the sword;
And let their wives become
Bereaved of child and be widows;
And let their men be slaughtered to death,
Their young men struck by the sword in battle.
Jer. 18
:22
18:22
Let a cry be heard from their houses
When You suddenly bring upon them a troop;
For they have dug a pit to capture me
And have hidden snares for my feet.
Jer. 18
:23
18:23
Yet You, O Jehovah, know
All their counsel against me for
my death.
Do not be propitious to their iniquity,
And do not blot out their sin from before You;
But let them be overthrown before You;
Deal with them in the time of Your anger.
