¹The word which 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 .”

³Then I went down to the potter ’s house , and behold , he was making something on the wheels.

⁴When the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter , he made it again another vessel , as seemed good to the potter to make it .

⁵Then the LORD ’s word came to me , saying ,

⁶“House of Israel , can ’t I do with you as this potter ?” says the LORD . “Behold , as the clay in the potter ’s hand , so are you in my hand , house of Israel .

⁷At the instant I speak concerning a nation , and concerning a kingdom , to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it ,

⁸if that nation , concerning which I have spoken , turns from their evil , I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them .

⁹At the instant I speak concerning a nation , and concerning a kingdom , to build and to plant it ,

¹⁰if they do that which is evil in my sight , that they not obey my voice , then I will repent of the good with which I said I would benefit them .

¹¹“Now therefore , speak to the men of Judah , and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem , saying, ‘The LORD says : “Behold , I frame evil against you , and devise a plan against you . Everyone return from his evil way now , and amend your ways and your doings .”’

¹²But they say, ‘It is in vain; for we will walk after our own plans , and we will each follow the stubbornness of his evil heart .’”

¹³Therefore the LORD says :

“Ask now amongst the nations ,

‘Who has heard such things ?’

The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing .

¹⁴Will the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field ?

Will the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up ?

¹⁵For my people have forgotten me .

They have burnt incense to false gods .

They have been made to stumble in their ways

in the ancient paths ,

to walk in byways, in a way not built up ,

¹⁶to make their land an astonishment ,

and a perpetual hissing .

Everyone who passes by it will be astonished ,

and shake his head .

¹⁷I 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.

¹⁸Then they said , “Come ! Let ’s devise plans against Jeremiah ; for the law won’t perish from the priest , nor counsel from the wise , nor the word from the prophet . Come , and let ’s strike him with the tongue , and let ’s not give heed to any of his words .”

¹⁹Give heed to me , LORD ,

and listen to the voice of those who contend with me .

²⁰Should evil be recompensed for good ?

For they have dug a pit for my soul .

Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them ,

to turn away your wrath from them .

²¹Therefore deliver up their children to the famine ,

and give them over to the power of the sword .

Let their wives become childless and widows.

Let their men be killed

and their young men struck by the sword in battle .

²²Let a cry be heard from their houses

when you bring a troop suddenly on them ;

for they have dug a pit to take me

and hidden snares for my feet .

²³Yet , LORD , you know all their counsel against me to kill me .

Don’t forgive their iniquity .

Don’t blot out their sin from your sight ,

Let them be overthrown before you .

Deal with them in the time of your anger .