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

18:2  "Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will announce My words to you."

18:3  Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something on the wheel.

18:4  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.

18:5  Then the word of the LORD came to me saying,

18:6  "Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter {does?} declares the LORD. "Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel."

18:7  "At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy {it;}

18:8  if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it.

18:9  "Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant {it;}

18:10  if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it.

18:11  "So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, `Thus says the LORD, "Behold, I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh turn back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds.'"

18:12  "But they will say, `It's hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.'

18:13  "Therefore thus says the LORD, `Ask now among the nations, Who ever heard the like of this? The virgin of Israel Has done a most appalling thing.

18:14  `Does the snow of Lebanon forsake the rock of the open country? Or is the cold flowing water {from} a foreign {land} ever snatched away?

18:15  `For My people have forgotten Me, They burn incense to worthless gods And they have stumbled from their ways, From the ancient paths, To walk in bypaths, Not on a highway,

18:16  To make their land a desolation, {An object of} perpetual hissing; Everyone who passes by it will be astonished And shake his head.

18:17  `Like an east wind I will scatter them Before the enemy; I will show them My back and not {My} face In the day of their calamity.'"

18:18  Then they said, "Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah. Surely the law is not going to be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the sage, nor the {divine} word to the prophet! Come on and let us strike at him with {our} tongue, and let us give no heed to any of his words."

18:19  Do give heed to me, O LORD, And listen to what my opponents are saying!

18:20  Should good be repaid with evil? For they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You To speak good on their behalf, So as to turn away Your wrath from them.

18:21  Therefore, give their children over to famine And deliver them up to the power of the sword; And let their wives become childless and widowed. Let their men also be smitten to death, Their young men struck down by the sword in battle.

18:22  May an outcry be heard from their houses, When You suddenly bring raiders upon them; For they have dug a pit to capture me And hidden snares for my feet.

18:23  Yet You, O LORD, know All their deadly designs against me; Do not forgive their iniquity Or blot out their sin from Your sight. But may they be overthrown before You; Deal with them in the time of Your anger!