Jeremiah 18:1-17 (KJV) (2024)

At the Potter’s House

18This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” ³So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me. ⁶He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay^(A) in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand,^(B) Israel. ⁷If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted,^(C) torn down and destroyed, ⁸and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent^(D) and not inflict on it the disaster^(E) I had planned. ⁹And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built^(F) up and planted, ¹⁰and if it does evil^(G) in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider^(H) the good I had intended to do for it.^(I)

¹¹“Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster^(J) for you and devising a plan^(K) against you. So turn^(L) from your evil ways,^(M) each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’^{(N) 12}But they will reply, ‘It’s no use.^(O) We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.^(P)’”

¹³Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“Inquire among the nations:
Who has ever heard anything like this?^(Q)
A most horrible^(R) thing has been done
by Virgin^(S) Israel.
¹⁴Does the snow of Lebanon
ever vanish from its rocky slopes?
Do its cool waters from distant sources
ever stop flowing?^[a]
15Yet my people have forgotten^(T) me;
they burn incense^(U) to worthless idols,^(V)
which made them stumble^(W) in their ways,
in the ancient paths.^(X)
They made them walk in byways,
on roads not built up.^(Y)
16Their land will be an object of horror^(Z)
and of lasting scorn;^(AA)
all who pass by will be appalled^(AB)
and will shake their heads.^(AC)
17Like a wind^(AD) from the east,
I will scatter them before their enemies;
I will show them my back and not my face^(AE)
in the day of their disaster.”

Footnotes

1. Jeremiah 18:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this sentence is uncertain.

Cross references

1. Jeremiah 18:6 : S Isa 29:16; 45:9; Ro 9:20-21
2. Jeremiah 18:6 : S Ge 2:7
3. Jeremiah 18:7 : Jer 1:10
4. Jeremiah 18:8 : S Ex 32:14; Ps 25:11; Jer 26:13; 36:3; Jnh 3:8-10
5. Jeremiah 18:8 : Jer 31:28; 42:10; Da 9:14; Hos 11:8-9; Joel 2:13; Jnh 4:2
6. Jeremiah 18:9 : Jer 1:10; 31:28
7. Jeremiah 18:10 : Eze 33:18
8. Jeremiah 18:10 : 1Sa 2:29-30; 13:13
9. Jeremiah 18:10 : S Jer 1:10
10. Jeremiah 18:11 : S 2Ki 22:16; S Jer 4:6
11. Jeremiah 18:11 : ver 18
12. Jeremiah 18:11 : S Dt 4:30; S 2Ki 17:13; Isa 1:16-19
13. Jeremiah 18:11 : S Jer 7:3
14. Jeremiah 18:11 : S Job 16:17
15. Jeremiah 18:12 : S Isa 57:10
16. Jeremiah 18:12 : S Jer 3:17
17. Jeremiah 18:13 : S Isa 66:8
18. Jeremiah 18:13 : S Jer 5:30
19. Jeremiah 18:13 : S 2Ki 19:21
20. Jeremiah 18:15 : S Isa 17:10
21. Jeremiah 18:15 : S Isa 1:13; Jer 44:15, 19
22. Jeremiah 18:15 : Jer 10:15; 51:18; Hos 11:2
23. Jeremiah 18:15 : Eze 44:12; Mal 2:8
24. Jeremiah 18:15 : Jer 6:16
25. Jeremiah 18:15 : S Isa 57:14; 62:10
26. Jeremiah 18:16 : S Dt 28:37; Jer 25:9; Eze 33:28-29
27. Jeremiah 18:16 : Jer 19:8; 42:18
28. Jeremiah 18:16 : S Lev 26:32
29. Jeremiah 18:16 : S 2Ki 19:21; S Job 16:4; Ps 22:7; La 1:12
30. Jeremiah 18:17 : S Job 7:10; Jer 13:24
31. Jeremiah 18:17 : S 2Ch 29:6; S Jer 2:27