CHAPTER 18
But the vessel
that
he
was shaping
from the clay
became flawed
in his
hand;
so he formed
it into another
vessel,
as
it seemed
best
for him
to do.
“O house
of Israel,
can
I not
treat
you
as this
potter treats his clay?
declares
the LORD.
Just like clay
in the potter’s
hand,
so
are you
in My hand,
O house
of Israel.
But if that
nation
I warned
turns
from its evil,
then I will relent
of
the disaster
I had planned
to inflict.
and if it does
evil
in My sight
and does not
listen
to My voice,
I will relent
of
the good
I had intended for it.
Now therefore,
tell
the men
of Judah
and
residents
of Jerusalem
that this is what
the LORD
says:
‘Behold,
I
am planning
a disaster
for you
and devising
a plan
against you.
Turn
now,
each of you,
from your evil
ways,
and correct
your ways
and deeds.'
But they will reply,
‘It is hopeless.
We will follow
our own plans,
and each of us
will act
according to the stubbornness
of his evil
heart.’”
Therefore,
this is what
the LORD
says:
“Inquire
among the nations:
Who
has ever heard
things like these?
Virgin
Israel
has done
a most
terrible thing.
Does the snow
of Lebanon
ever leave
its rocky
slopes?
Or
do its cool
waters
flowing
from a distance
ever run dry?
Yet
My people
have forgotten Me.
They burn incense
to worthless idols
that make them stumble
in their ways
on the ancient
roads
and walk
on bypaths
instead of
the highway.
They have made
their land
a desolation,
a perpetual
object of scorn;
everyone
who passes
by
will be appalled
and shake
their heads.
I will scatter them
before
the enemy
like the east
wind.
I will show
them My back
and not
My face
in the day
of their calamity.”
Then some said,
“Come,
let us make plans
against
Jeremiah,
for
the law
will never
be lost
to the priest,
or counsel
to the wise,
or an oracle
to the prophet.
Come,
let us denounce
him and pay no
heed
to
any
of his words."
Should good
be repaid
with
evil?
Yet
they have dug
a pit
for me.
Remember
how I stood
before You
to speak
good
on their behalf,
to turn
Your wrath
from them.
Therefore,
hand their children
over
to famine,
pour out
the power
of the sword
upon them.
Let their wives
become
childless
and widowed,
their husbands
be slain
by disease,
and their young men
struck down
by the sword
in battle.
Let a cry
be heard
from their houses
when
You suddenly
bring
raiders
against them,
for
they have dug
a pit
to capture me
and have hidden
snares
for my feet.
But You,
O LORD,
know
all
their deadly
plots
against me.
Do not
wipe out
their guilt
or
blot out
their sin
from Your sight.
Let them be overthrown
before You;
deal
with them
in the time
of Your anger.