 1 The Word came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, 2 Arise and go down to the potter's house and there I will cause you to hear my words. 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he was working a work on the wheel. 4 The vessel that he made in clay was ruined 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, can I not do with you as this potter? says the Lord. Behold, As the clay in the potter's hands, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 The instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck it up and to pull it down, and to destroy it; 8 if that nation, against whom I have spoken, will turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them. 9 The instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build it and to plant it; 10 if it does evil in my sight, not to obey my voice, then I will repent of the good with which I said I would do them good. 11 Now then please, speak to the men of Judah, and to the people of Jerusalem saying, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am forming evil against you, and devising a plan against you. Return now, each one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good. 12 They said, There is no hope. But we will walk after our own ways, and we will each one do according to the stubbornness of his evil heart. 13 Therefore thus says the Lord, Ask now among the nations. Who has heard the like of this? The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing. 14 Does the snow of Lebanon forsake the rock of the field? Or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken? 15 Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity. They have caused themselves to stumble in their ways from the old paths, to walk in by paths, not in the highway. 16 They make their land desolate and hissing forever. Everyone who passes by will be amazed and will wag his head. 17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them the back and not the face, in the day of their calamity. 18 Then they said, Come. Let us plot schemes against Jeremiah. For the law will not perish from the priest, nor wisdom from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us strike him with the tongue. Let us pay no attention to any of his words. 19 Pay attention to me, O Lord, and attend to the voice of my foes. 20 Should evil be repaid for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before you to do good for them, and to turn away your wrath from them. 21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine and give them over to the hand of the sword. Let their wives be anguished+ and widowed and their men be slain to death. Let their young men be struck by the sword in battle. 22 Let a cry be heard from their houses, when you suddenly bring a raiding party on them. For they have dug a pit to take me, and have hidden snares for my feet. 23 Yet, Lord, you know all their counsel against me to kill me. Do not forgive their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from your sight. But let them be overthrown before you. Deal with them in the time of your anger.
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