1 ARST Yahweh gave another message to me. He said, BSB BSB: This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
2 ARST “Go to the shop of the man who makes clay pots. I will give you a message there.” BSB BSB: “Go down at once to the potter’s house, and there I will give you My message.”
3 ARST So I went to that shop, and I saw the man who makes pots. He was working at the wheel that he uses to form pots. BSB BSB: So I went down to the potter’s house and saw him working at the wheel.
4 ARST But when he finished making one jar, it was not as good as he hoped it to be. So, he took the clay and formed it into another jar, shaping it as he desired to. BSB BSB: 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.
5 ARST Then Yahweh gave me this message: BSB BSB: Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
6 ARST “Perhaps the people of Israel think that I cannot do to them like this man who makes pots has done. But what they think is wrong. I can control what happens to them like this man controls what he does with the clay in his hands. BSB BSB: “O house of Israel, declares the LORD, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay? Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.
7 ARST There may be a time when I proclaim that I will get rid of a nation or kingdom, like someone pulls up a plant with its roots, and smash it, and destroy it. BSB BSB: At any time I might announce that a nation or kingdom will be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed.
8 ARST But if the people of that nation repent of doing evil things, I will not send to them the disasters that I planned to send. BSB BSB: But if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I will relent of the disaster I had planned to bring.
9 ARST And there may be a time when I proclaim that I will establish a nation or kingdom and cause it to be strong. BSB BSB: And if at another time I announce that I will build up and establish a nation or kingdom,
10 ARST But if the people of that nation start to do evil things and refuse to obey me, then I will not bless them as I said that I would do. BSB BSB: and if it does evil in My sight and does not listen to My voice, then I will relent of the good I had intended for it.
11 ARST Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all the people in Jerusalem and in other places in Judah. Say to them,‘This is what Yahweh says: I am planning a disaster that I will send to you. So, each of you should turn from your evil behavior and start doing what is right, in order that good things will come to you instead!’ BSB BSB: Now therefore, tell the men of Judah and the 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.’
12 ARST But the people will say back to you,‘It is useless for you to say these things to us. We will continue to be stubborn and behave as wickedly as we want to.’” BSB BSB: 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.’”
13 ARST So this is what Yahweh said in response:“Ask the people who live in other nations if they have ever heard of such a thing. My Israelite people, who have been pure like virgins, have done a terrible thing! BSB BSB: 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.
14 ARST The snow certainly never completely disappears from the rocky slopes of the mountains in Lebanon. The cold streams that flow down from those distant mountains never cease flowing. BSB BSB: Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave its rocky slopes? Or do its cool waters flowing from a distance ever run dry?
15 ARST But my people are not as reliable as those streams: They have abandoned me. They burn incense to honor worthless idols. It is as though they have stumbled as they walked along well known and reliable roads and now, instead, they are walking on dirt paths. BSB BSB: Yet My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to worthless idols that make them stumble in their ways, leaving the ancient roads to walk on rutted bypaths instead of on the highway.
16 ARST Therefore, their land will become desolate, and people who see it will hiss to ridicule it from now on. All the people who pass by will be appalled; they will shake their heads to show that they are shocked. BSB BSB: They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.
17 ARST I will scatter the people when their enemies attack them like dust is scattered by an east wind. And when they experience all these disasters, I will turn my back on them and refuse to help them.” BSB BSB: 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.”
18 ARST Then the people said,“Come, we should plan to attack Jeremiah. We have many priests who teach us God’ s laws, wise men who give us good advice, and prophets who tell us what will happen. We do not need Jeremiah! So we should slander him and not pay attention to anything that he says.” BSB BSB: Then some said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise, nor an oracle to the prophet. Come, let us denounce him and pay no heed to any of his words.”
19 ARST Then I prayed,“Yahweh, please listen to me! And listen to what my enemies are saying about me. BSB BSB: Attend to me, O LORD. Hear what my accusers are saying!
20 ARST I am doing things that are good, so it is disgusting that they are paying me back by doing evil things to me. It is as though they have dug a pit for me to fall into and die. Do not forget that one time I stood in front of you and pleaded for you to help them, and I tried to prevent you from punishing them, even though you were very angry with them. BSB BSB: 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.
21 ARST So now, allow their children to die from hunger! Or cause them to be killed by their enemies’ swords! Cause their wives to become widows, whose children are all dead! Cause their husbands to be killed in battles! BSB BSB: Therefore, hand their children over to famine; pour out the power of the sword upon them. Let their wives become childless and widowed; let their husbands be slain by disease, their young men struck down by the sword in battle.
22 ARST Cause people to scream in their homes when enemy soldiers suddenly come into their houses! Cause all these things to happen to them because they want to kill me. It is as though they have dug a pit for me to fall into, and they have hidden traps along my path. BSB BSB: 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.
23 ARST Yahweh, you know all the things that they are planning to do to kill me. Do not forgive them for their crimes or blot out the record of their sins. Cause them to be destroyed; punish them because of your being angry with them!” BSB BSB: 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.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.