The Potter and the Clay

Jeremiah 18

1 The 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." 3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something at the 1 wheel. 4 And the vessel that he 2 made of clay was 3 marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.

5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: 6 "O house of Israel, a can I not do with you as this potter?" says the LORD. "Look, b as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel! 7 "The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to c pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, 8 d "if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, e I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. 9 "And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, 10 "if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it. 11 "Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the LORD: "Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. f Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings g good." ' "

12 And they said, h "That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one 4 obey the i dictates 5 of his evil heart."

13 Therefore thus says the LORD:
j "Ask now among the Gentiles,
Who has heard such things?
The virgin of Israel has done k a very horrible thing. 14 Will a man 6 leave the snow water of Lebanon,
Which comes from the rock of the field?
Will the cold flowing waters be forsaken for strange waters? 15 "Because My people have forgotten l Me,
They have burned incense to worthless idols.
And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways,
From the m ancient paths,
To walk in pathways and not on a highway, 16 To make their land n desolate and a perpetual o hissing;
Everyone who passes by it will be astonished
And shake his head. 17 p I will scatter them q as with an east wind before the enemy;
r I will 7 show them the back and not the face
In the day of their calamity."

18 Then they said, s "Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah; t for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us attack him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words."

19 Give heed to me, O LORD,
And listen to the voice of those who contend with me! 20 u Shall evil be repaid for good?
For they have v dug a pit for my life.
Remember that I w stood before You
To speak good 8 for them,
To turn away Your wrath from them. 21 Therefore x deliver up their children to the famine,
And pour out their blood
By the force of the sword;
Let their wives become widows
And y bereaved of their children.
Let their men be put to death,
Their young men be slain
By the sword in battle. 22 Let a cry be heard from their houses,
When You bring a troop suddenly upon them;
For they have dug a pit to take me,
And hidden snares for my feet. 23 Yet, LORD, You know all their counsel
Which is against me, to slay me.
z Provide no atonement for their iniquity,
Nor blot out their sin from Your sight;
But let them be overthrown before You.
Deal thus with them
In the time of Your a anger.

  1. Cross References
    Isaiah 45:9
    Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' Or shall your handiwork say, 'He has no hands'?
    Romans 9:20
    But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?
    Romans 9:21
    Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
  2. Cross References
    Isaiah 64:8
    But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.
  3. Cross References
    Jeremiah 1:10
    See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, To root out and to pull down, To destroy and to throw down, To build and to plant.
  4. Cross References
    Jeremiah 7:3 - 7
    Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
    Jeremiah 12:16
    And it shall be, if they will learn carefully the ways of My people, to swear by My name, 'As the LORD lives,' as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they shall be established in the midst of My people.
    Ezekiel 18:21
    But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die.
    Ezekiel 33:11
    "Say to them: ' As I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?'
  5. Cross References
    Psalms 106:45
    And for their sake He remembered His covenant, And relented according to the multitude of His mercies.
    Jeremiah 26:3
    'Perhaps everyone will listen and turn from his evil way, that I may relent concerning the calamity which I purpose to bring on them because of the evil of their doings.'
    Hosea 11:8
    How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred.
    Joel 2:13
    So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm.
    Jonah 3:10
    Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
  6. Cross References
    2 Kings 17:13
    Yet the LORD testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His prophets, every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.
    Isaiah 1:16 - 19
    Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil.
    Jeremiah 4:1
    If you will return, O Israel," says the LORD, "Return to Me; And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight, Then you shall not be moved.
    Acts 26:20
    But declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.
  7. Cross References
    Jeremiah 7:3 - 7
    Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
  8. Cross References
    Isaiah 57:10
    You are wearied in the length of your way; Yet you did not say, 'There is no hope.' You have found the life of your hand; Therefore you were not grieved.
    Jeremiah 2:25
    Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst. But you said, 'There is no hope. No! For I have loved aliens, and after them I will go.
  9. Cross References
    Jeremiah 3:17
    At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts.
    Jeremiah 23:17
    They continually say to those who despise Me, 'The LORD has said, "You shall have peace" '; And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, 'No evil shall come upon you.'
  10. Cross References
    Isaiah 66:8
    Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, She gave birth to her children.
    Jeremiah 2:10
    For pass beyond the coasts of Cyprus and see, Send to Kedar and consider diligently, And see if there has been such a thing.
    Jeremiah 2:11
    Has a nation changed its gods, Which are not gods? But My people have changed their Glory For what does not profit.
    1 Corinthians 5:1
    It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles - that a man has his father's wife!
  11. Cross References
    Jeremiah 5:30
    An astonishing and horrible thing Has been committed in the land:
    Hosea 6:10
    I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel: There is the harlotry of Ephraim; Israel is defiled.
  12. Cross References
    Jeremiah 2:13
    For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns - broken cisterns that can hold no water.
    Jeremiah 2:32
    Can a virgin forget her ornaments, Or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.
  13. Cross References
    Jeremiah 6:16
    Thus says the LORD: "Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.
  14. Cross References
    Jeremiah 19:8
    I will make this city desolate and a hissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.
  15. Cross References
    1 Kings 9:8
    "And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will hiss, and say, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?'
    Lamentations 2:15
    All who pass by clap their hands at you; They hiss and shake their heads At the daughter of Jerusalem: " Is this the city that is called 'The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth'?
    Micah 6:16
    For the statutes of Omri are kept; All the works of Ahab's house are done; And you walk in their counsels, That I may make you a desolation, And your inhabitants a hissing. Therefore you shall bear the reproach of My people.
  16. Cross References
    Jeremiah 13:24
    Therefore I will scatter them like stubble That passes away by the wind of the wilderness.
  17. Cross References
    Psalms 48:7
    As when You break the ships of Tarshish With an east wind.
  18. Cross References
    Jeremiah 2:27
    Saying to a tree, 'You are my father,' And to a stone, 'You gave birth to me.' For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble They will say, 'Arise and save us.
  19. Cross References
    Jeremiah 11:19
    But I was like a docile lamb brought to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised schemes against me, saying, "Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more.
  20. Cross References
    Leviticus 10:11
    "and that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD has spoken to them by the hand of Moses."
    Malachi 2:7
    For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, And people should seek the law from his mouth; For he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
    John 7:48
    Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?
  21. Cross References
    Psalms 109:4
    In return for my love they are my accusers, But I give myself to prayer.
  22. Cross References
    Psalms 35:7
    For without cause they have hidden their net for me in a pit, Which they have dug without cause for my life.
    Psalms 57:6
    They have prepared a net for my steps; My soul is bowed down; They have dug a pit before me; Into the midst of it they themselves have fallen. Selah
    Jeremiah 5:26
    For among My people are found wicked men; They lie in wait as one who sets snares; They set a trap; They catch men.
  23. Cross References
    Jeremiah 14:7
    O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, Do it for Your name's sake; For our backslidings are many, We have sinned against You.
    Jeremiah 15:1
    Then the LORD said to me, " Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth.
  24. Cross References
    Psalms 109:9 - 20
    Let his children be fatherless, And his wife a widow.
    Jeremiah 11:22
    Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine.
    Jeremiah 14:16
    'And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; they will have no one to bury them - them nor their wives, their sons nor their daughters - for I will pour their wickedness on them.'
  25. Cross References
    Jeremiah 15:7
    And I will winnow them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children; I will destroy My people, Since they do not return from their ways.
    Jeremiah 15:8
    Their widows will be increased to Me more than the sand of the seas; I will bring against them, Against the mother of the young men, A plunderer at noonday; I will cause anguish and terror to fall on them suddenly.
    Ezekiel 22:25
    The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured people; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst.
  26. Cross References
    Nehemiah 4:5
    Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You; for they have provoked You to anger before the builders.
    Psalms 35:14
    I paced about as though he were my friend or brother; I bowed down heavily, as one who mourns for his mother.
    Psalms 109:14
    Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
    Isaiah 2:9
    People bow down, And each man humbles himself; Therefore do not forgive them.
    Jeremiah 11:20
    But, O LORD of hosts, You who judge righteously, Testing the mind and the heart, Let me see Your vengeance on them, For to You I have revealed my cause.
  27. Cross References
    Jeremiah 7:20
    Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place - on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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