Jeremiah · Berean Standard Bible
Jeremiah 18 Berean Standard Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,
2 “Go down at once to the potter’s house, and there I will reveal My message to you.”
2 “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear my words.”
3 So I went down to the potter’s house and saw him working at the wheel.
3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was making something on the wheels.
4 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.
4 When 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.
5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
5 Then Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
6 “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.
6 “House of Israel, can’t I do with you as this potter?” says Yahweh. “Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.
7 At any time I might announce that a nation or kingdom will be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed.
7 At the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it,
8 But if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I will relent of the disaster I had planned to bring.
8 if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them.
9 And if at another time I announce that I will build up and establish a nation or kingdom,
9 At the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it,
10 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.
10 if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they don’t obey my voice, then I will repent of the good with which I said I would benefit them.
11 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.’
11 “Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Yahweh 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.”’
12 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.’”
12 But 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.’”
13 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.
13 Therefore Yahweh says: “Ask now among the nations, ‘Who has heard such things?’ The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.
14 Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave its rocky slopes? Or do its cool waters flowing from a distance ever run dry?
14 Will the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? Will the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up?
15 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.
15 For my people have forgotten me. They have burned 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,
16 They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.
16 to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished, and shake his head.
17 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.”
17 I 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.
18 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.”
18 Then 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.”
19 Attend to me, O LORD. Hear what my accusers are saying!
19 Give heed to me, Yahweh, and listen to the voice of those who contend with me.
20 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.
20 Should 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.
21 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.
21 Therefore 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.
22 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.
22 Let 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.
23 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.
23 Yet, Yahweh, 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.
Cross references (21)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 2 Hebrews 1:1; Acts 9:6; Jeremiah 23:22; Jeremiah 19:1–2; Ezekiel 4:1–5
- 3 John 15:14; Jonah 1:3; Acts 26:19
- 4 Romans 9:20–23; Jeremiah 18:6; Isaiah 45:9
- 6 Isaiah 64:8; Romans 9:20–21; Jeremiah 18:4; Isaiah 45:9; Matthew 20:15
- 7 Jeremiah 1:10; Jeremiah 12:14–17; Jeremiah 45:4; Jonah 3:4; Amos 9:8
- 8 Ezekiel 18:21; Jeremiah 26:13; Jonah 3:9–10; Hosea 11:8; Jeremiah 26:3
- 9 Jeremiah 31:28; Amos 9:11–15; Jeremiah 1:10; Jeremiah 11:17; Jeremiah 30:18
- 10 1 Samuel 2:30; Ezekiel 33:18; 1 Samuel 13:13; Ezekiel 18:24; 1 Samuel 15:11
- 11 2 Kings 17:13; Isaiah 55:6–7; Jeremiah 35:15; Jeremiah 7:3; Isaiah 1:16–19
- 12 Jeremiah 2:25; Jeremiah 16:12; Jeremiah 7:24; Deuteronomy 29:19; Isaiah 57:10
- 13 Jeremiah 5:30; Isaiah 66:8; Jeremiah 23:14; Hosea 6:10; Jeremiah 2:10–13
- 14 John 6:68
- 15 Jeremiah 6:16; Jeremiah 2:32; Isaiah 57:14; Hosea 11:2; Malachi 2:8
- 16 Psalm 22:7; Jeremiah 25:9; Jeremiah 19:8; Micah 6:16; Jeremiah 50:13
- 17 Jeremiah 13:24; Jeremiah 2:27; Hosea 13:15; Job 27:21; Psalm 48:7
- 18 Psalm 52:2; Jeremiah 11:19; Malachi 2:7; Jeremiah 18:11; Jeremiah 13:13–14
- 19 Nehemiah 6:9; Psalm 55:16–17; Micah 7:8; Psalm 109:28; Jeremiah 20:12
- 20 Psalm 35:7; Psalm 57:6; Psalm 106:23; Psalm 35:12; 1 Samuel 24:17–19
- 21 Psalm 109:9–20; Deuteronomy 32:25; Jeremiah 9:21; Jeremiah 16:3–4; Amos 4:10
- 22 Jeremiah 6:26; Psalm 140:5; Zephaniah 1:10–11; Jeremiah 25:34–36; Isaiah 10:30
- 23 Psalm 35:4; Psalm 69:22–28; Psalm 109:14–15; Isaiah 2:9; Nehemiah 4:4–5
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
) power, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?" Here it is not to do away with free-will that he says this, but to show, up to what point we ought to obey God.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 11 (1889)
… what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and kingdom to build and to plant it; and if they do evil in my sight, that they obey not my voice, I also will repent of the good, which I said I would do unto them." For the same custom do I observe with respect to the good things as well, …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)