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Jeremiah 18

18 This message came to Jeremiah from the Eternal: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear what I have to say.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house. He was at work with his wheel; 4 and whenever any vessel he was making got spoiled in his hands, he re-moulded it to please himself, till he was satisfied. 5 Then the Eternal’s word came to me, 6 “O house of Israel, cannot I do to you as this potter does? Why, as the clay in the potter’s hands, so you are in my hands. 7 [[At one time I may speak of tearing up a nation or kingdom, breaking it down and destroying it; 8 but if that nation turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the evil that I thought of inflicting upon it. 9 Again, I may speak of building up a nation or kingdom, of planting it; 10 but if that nation does evil in my sight by refusing to listen to my voice, then I will change my mind about the benefits which I meant to bestow upon it. 11 So give the men of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem this message from the Eternal: I am shaping a calamity for you and devising a plan against you; ah, turn every one of you from your evil courses, amend your life and work!’ 12 They will say, ‘It is no use to talk; we mean to live as we choose, and follow, every man of us, our own evil, stubborn minds.’]]”

13 This is what the Eternal says:

“Inquire among the nations

if the like of this was ever heard,

the awful, the appalling thing

that maiden Israel has done?

Does hoar-frost ever leave mount Sirion,

or snow Lebanon?

Do cold streams from the hills

ever run dry?

And yet my people have forgotten me,

and sacrificed to no-gods!

So they stumble as they pass

along the old path,

and then take to bypaths of their own,

badly made;

till their country goes to ruin,

a scorn and horror for all time,

at which the passer-by is shocked

and openly derides.

Like a sirocco will I scatter them

in flight before their foe;

my back and not my face I turn to them,

upon their day of woe.” * * * 18 “Come on,” they said, “let us contrive a plot against Jeremiah; we shall not fail to get advice about it from the priests, or counsel from the sages, or some inspiration from the prophets. Come on, let us undermine him with some slander; let us note any word he utters.”

Note them, O Eternal,

listen to my foes!

Is good to be repaid by evil?

They have dug a pit to take my life,

men for whom once (remember) I made intercession,

pleading in thy presence

to avert thy wrath from them!

Leave their children to fall by famine,

throw them to the sword!

May their wives be childless and widows,

their men die by the pestilence,

their young men be slain in war!

Let shrieks rise from their homes,

when suddenly thou bringest on them the raiders!

For they have dug a pit to capture me,

and hidden traps to catch my feet.

But, O Eternal, well thou knowest

all their murderous moves against me;

never pardon their iniquity,

never blot out their sin;

trip them till they crash before thee,

deal with them in thy day of anger!