God sends Jeremiah to the potter's house, where a pot is reworked, to show that he can shape nations as the potter shapes clay. The people say they will follow their own plans, and plot against Jeremiah.
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD , saying ,
2 Arise , and go down to the potter's house , and there I will cause thee to hear my words .
3 Then I went down to the potter's house , and, behold , he wrought a work on the wheels .
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.
5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying ,
6 O house of Israel , cannot I do with you as this potter ? saith the LORD . Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand , so are ye in mine hand , O house of Israel .
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;
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.
9 And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation , and concerning a kingdom , to build and to plant it;
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.
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 .
12 And they said , There is no hope : but we will walk after our own devices , and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart .
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 .
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 ?
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 ;
16 To make their land desolate , and a perpetual hissing ; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished , and wag his head .
17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy ; I will shew them the back , and not the face , in the day of their calamity .
18 Then said they, Come , and let us devise devices against Jeremiah ; for the law shall not perish from the priest , nor counsel from the wise , nor the word from the prophet . Come , and let us smite him with the tongue , and let us not give heed to any of his words .
19 Give heed to me, O LORD , and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.
20 Shall evil be recompensed for good ? for they have digged a pit for my soul . Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.
21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine , and pour out their blood by the force of the sword ; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows ; and let their men be put to death ; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle .
22 Let a cry be heard from their houses , when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet .
23 Yet, LORD , thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity , neither blot out their sin from thy sight , but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger .