| 章 |
| 18:1 |
The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD saying,
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| 18:2 |
"Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I shall announce My words to you."
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| 18:3 |
Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something on the wheel.
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| 18:4 |
But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.
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| 18:5 |
Then the word of the LORD came to me saying,
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| 18:6 |
"Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter [does]?" declares the LORD. "Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.
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| 18:7 |
"At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy [it];
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| 18:8 |
if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it.
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| 18:9 |
"Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant [it];
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| 18:10 |
if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it.
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| 18:11 |
"So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, 'Thus says the LORD, "Behold, I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh turn back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds."'
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| 18:12 |
"But they will say, 'It's hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.'
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| 18:13 |
"Therefore thus says the LORD, 'Ask now among the nations, Who ever heard the like of this? The virgin of Israel Has done a most appalling thing.
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| 18:14 |
'Does the snow of Lebanon forsake the rock of the open country? Or is the cold flowing water [from] a foreign [land] ever snatched away?
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| 18:15 |
'For My people have forgotten Me, They burn incense to worthless gods And they have stumbled from their ways, From the ancient paths, To walk in bypaths, Not on a highway,
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| 18:16 |
To make their land a desolation, [An object of] perpetual hissing; Everyone who passes by it will be astonished And shake his head.
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| 18:17 |
'Like an east wind I will scatter them Before the enemy; I will show them My back and not [My] face In the day of their calamity.'"
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| 18:18 |
Then they said, "Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah. Surely the law is not going to be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the sage, nor the [divine] word to the prophet! Come on and let us strike at him with [our] tongue, and let us give no heed to any of his words."
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| 18:19 |
Do give heed to me, O LORD, And listen to what my opponents are saying!
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| 18:20 |
Should good be repaid with evil? For they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before Thee To speak good on their behalf, So as to turn away Thy wrath from them.
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| 18:21 |
Therefore, give their children over to famine, And deliver them up to the power of the sword; And let their wives become childless and widowed. Let their men also be smitten to death, Their young men struck down by the sword in battle.
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| 18:22 |
May an outcry be heard from their houses, When Thou suddenly bringest raiders upon them; For they have dug a pit to capture me And hidden snares for my feet.
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| 18:23 |
Yet Thou, O LORD, knowest All their deadly designs against me; Do not forgive their iniquity Or blot out their sin from Thy sight. But may they be overthrown before Thee; Deal with them in the time of Thine anger!
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