AB - Jeremiah - 18

18:1  The word that came from the Lord to

18:2  Jeremiah, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there you shall hear My words.

18:3  So I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he was making a vessel on the stones.

18:4  And the vessel which he was making with his hands fell apart. So he made it into another vessel, as it seemed good to him.

18:5  And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

18:6  O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter? Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hands.

18:7  If I shall pronounce a decree upon a nation, or upon a kingdom, to cut them off, and to destroy them;

18:8  and that nation turn from all their sins, then will I relent of the disasters which I purposed to do to them.

18:9  And if I shall pronounce a decree upon a nation and kingdom, to rebuild and to plant it;

18:10  and they do evil before Me, so as not to heed My voice, then will I relent of the good which I spoke of, to do it to them.

18:11  And now, say to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Behold, I prepare disasters against you, and devise a plan against you: let everyone turn now from his evil way, and amend your practices.

18:12  And they said, We will quit ourselves like men, for we will pursue our perverse ways, and we will perform each the lusts of his evil heart.

18:13  Therefore thus says the Lord: Inquire now among the nations, who has heard such horrible things as what the virgin of Israel has done?

18:14  Will fertilizing streams fail to flow from a rock, or snow fail from Lebanon? Will water violently impelled by the wind turn aside?

18:15  For My people have forgotten Me, they have offered incense in vain, and they fail in their ways, leaving the ancient tracks, to enter upon impassable paths;

18:16  to make their land a desolation, and a perpetual hissing. All that go through it shall be amazed, and shall shake their heads.

18:17  I will scatter them before their enemies like an east wind. I will show them the day of their destruction.

18:18  Then they said, Come, and let us devise a plan against Jeremiah; 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 we will hear all his words.

18:19  Hear me, O Lord, and hear the voice of my pleading.

18:20  Forasmuch as evil is rewarded for good; for they have spoken words against my soul, and they have hidden the punishment they meant for me. Remember that I stood before Your face, to speak good concerning them, to turn away Your wrath from them.

18:21  Therefore deliver up their sons to famine, and gather them to the power of the sword. Let their women be childless and widows, and let their men be cut off by death, and their young men fall by the sword in war.

18:22  Let there be a cry in their houses: You shall bring upon them robbers suddenly- for they have formed a plan to take me, and have hidden snares for me.

18:23  And You, O Lord, know all their deadly counsel against me: provide no atonement for their iniquities, and do not blot out their sins from before You. Let their weakness come before You; deal with them in the time of Your wrath.