Jeremiah · Catholic Public Domain Version
Jeremiah 18 Catholic Public Domain Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (3)
- Esther and Daniel are the Vulgate books (Esther 1–16 with the Greek additions as chapters 10:4–16; Daniel 1–14 with the Song of the Three, Susanna and Bel). Baruch 6 is the Letter of Jeremiah.
- The translator's footnotes, cross-references, chapter summaries and book introductions in the CrossWire module are not shown.
- No imprimatur; single translator.
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying:
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,
2 “Rise up and descend into the house of the potter, and there you will hear my words.”
2 “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear my words.”
3 And I descended into the house of the potter, and behold, he was making a work on the wheel.
3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was making something on the wheels.
4 And the vessel, which he was making with his hands out of clay, broke. And turning away, he made another vessel, for it had been pleasing in his eyes to make it.
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 “Am I not able to do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done, says the Lord? Behold, like clay in the hand of the potter, 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 Suddenly, I will speak against a nation and against a kingdom, so that I may uproot, and destroy, and scatter it.
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 If that nation, against which I have spoken, will repent from their evil, I too will repent from the evil that I have decided I would do to them.
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 soon, I will speak about a nation and about a kingdom, so that I may build and plant it.
9 At 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 as not to listen to my voice, I will repent of the good that I have said I would do to 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, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am forming an evil against you, and I am considering a plan against you. Let each one of you return from his evil way, and direct your ways and your intentions well.”
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 And they said: “We have lost hope. And so we will follow our own thoughts, and each of us will act according to the depravity of his own 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 For this reason, thus says the Lord: “Inquire among the Gentiles. Who has heard of such horrible things as the virgin of Israel has done to excess?
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 Do the snows of Lebanon fail to fall on the rocks of the field? Or are the cold waters, which burst forth and flow down, able to be rooted out?
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, offering useless libations, and stumbling in their ways, in the paths of the world, so that they walk by these on an unmarked route.
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 And so their land has been given over to desolation and to perpetual hissing. Each one who passes by will be astonished and will shake his head.
16 to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished, and shake his head.
17 Like a burning wind, I will disperse them in the sight the enemy. I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their perdition.”
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 And they said: “Come, and let us devise a plan against Jeremiah. For the law will not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor a sermon from the prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us pay no attention 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, and hear the voice of my adversaries.
19 Give heed to me, Yahweh, and listen to the voice of those who contend with me.
20 Should evil be rendered for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul! Remember that I have stood in your sight, so as to speak on their behalf for good, and to avert your indignation 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 Because of this, give their sons over to famine, and bring them to the hand of the sword. Let their wives be widows without children. And let their husbands be slain by death. Let their youths be stabbed with 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 an outcry be heard from their houses. For you will lead the robber upon them suddenly. For they have dug a pit, so that they may seize me, and they 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 plans against me unto death. May you not forgive their iniquity, and do not allow their sin be taken away from your face. Let them be thrown down in your sight, in the time of your fury, so that you may destroy them.
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)