Yirmiyahu - Chapter 18

1. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying:

2. Rise and go down to the house of the potter, and there I will let you hear My words.

3. So I went to the house of the potter, and behold, he was doing work on the wheels.

4. And the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he made it again another vessel, as it had pleased the potter to make.

5. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

6. As this potter can I not do to you, O house of Israel? says the Lord. Behold, as clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

7. One instant I may speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to uproot and to demolish and to destroy.

8. And when that nation repents of its evil for which I spoke concerning it, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to it.

9. And at one instant I may speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant,

10. And it will do what is evil in My eyes, not to hearken to My voice, I will repent of the good I said to benefit it.

11. And now, say now to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, So said the Lord: Behold I am devising evil upon you, and I am laying plans against you. Return now, each one from his evil way and improve your ways and your deeds.

12. But they shall say, "We despair, but after our thoughts we will go, and we will do each one the view of his evil heart.

13. Therefore, so said the Lord: Ask now among the nations, who heard of anything like these? The virgin of Israel committed a very disgraceful thing.

14. Shall one abandon [water flowing] from rocks of the field [that comes from] the snow of Lebanon? Shall strange cold flowing water be abandoned?

15. For My people have forgotten Me; they burn incense to vanity; and the ancient paths caused them to stumble in their ways, to walk [in] paths, [on] a way that is not trodden.

16. To make their land waste, a perpetual hissing, everyone who passes it will be astonished and shake his head.

17. Like an east wind I will scatter them before the enemy; I will look upon their back and not their face on the day of their misfortune.

18. And they said, "Come, let us devise plots against Jeremiah, for the Torah shall not be lost from the priest, neither counsel from the wise man, nor speech from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not listen to all his words."

19. Hearken, O Lord, to me, and hear the voice of those who quarrel with me.

20. Shall evil be paid instead of good, for they have dug a pit for my life. Remember when I stood before You to speak good for them, to bring back Your wrath from them.

21. Therefore, deliver their children to the famine and spill their blood by the sword, and let their wives be bereaved and widows, and their husbands slain by death, their youths struck by the sword in battle.

22. May an outcry be heard from their houses, for You shall bring a troop upon them suddenly, for they dug a pit to seize me and they hid snares at my feet to trap me.

23. And You, O Lord, know all their plan against me for death; do not atone for their iniquity, and let not their sin be erased from before You, and let them be made to stumble before You; at the time of Your anger do it to them.