| Berean Study Bible | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: | 1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: |
| 2“Go down at once to the potter’s house, and there I will reveal My message to you.” | 2"Go down at once to the potter's house; there I will reveal My words to you." |
| 3So I went down to the potter’s house and saw him working at the wheel. | 3So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, working away at the wheel. |
| 4But 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. | 4But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed in the potter's hand, so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do. |
| 5Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, | 5The word of the LORD came to me: |
| 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 I not treat you as this potter treats his clay?"--this is the LORD's declaration. "Just like clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel. |
| 7At any time I might announce that a nation or kingdom will be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed. | 7At one moment I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy it. |
| 8But if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I will relent of the disaster I had planned to bring. | 8However, if that nation I have made an announcement about turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the disaster I had planned to do to it. |
| 9And if at another time I announce that I will build up and establish a nation or kingdom, | 9At another time I announce that I will build and plant a nation or a kingdom. |
| 10and 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. | 10However, if it does what is evil in My sight by not listening to My voice, I will relent concerning the good I had said I would do to it. |
| 11Now 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.’ | 11So now, say to the men of Judah and to the residents of Jerusalem: This is what the LORD says: I am about to bring harm to you and make plans against you. Turn now, each from your evil way, and correct your ways and your deeds. |
| 12But 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.’ ” | 12But they will say, 'It's hopeless. We will continue to follow our plans, and each of us will continue to act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.'" |
| 13Therefore 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. | 13Therefore, this is what the LORD says: Ask among the nations, Who has heard things like these? Virgin Israel has done a most terrible thing. |
| 14Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave its rocky slopes? Or do its cool waters flowing from a distance ever run dry? | 14Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave the highland crags? Or does cold water flowing from a distance ever fail? |
| 15Yet 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. | 15Yet My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to false idols that make them stumble in their ways on the ancient roads and walk on new paths, not the highway. |
| 16They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads. | 16They have made their land a horror, a perpetual object of scorn; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and shake his head. |
| 17I 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.” | 17I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind. I will show them My back and not My face on the day of their calamity. |
| 18Then 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.” | 18Then certain ones said, "Come, let's make plans against Jeremiah, for instruction will never be lost from the priest, or counsel from the wise, or an oracle from the prophet. Come, let's denounce him and pay no attention to all his words." |
| 19Attend to me, O LORD. Hear what my accusers are saying! | 19Pay attention to me, LORD. Hear what my opponents are saying! |
| 20Should 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. | 20Should 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 anger from them. |
| 21Therefore, 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. | 21Therefore, hand their children over to famine, and pour the sword's power on them. Let their wives become childless and widowed, their husbands slain by deadly disease, their young men struck down by the sword in battle. |
| 22Let 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. | 22Let 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. |
| 23But 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. | 23But You, LORD, know all their deadly plots against me. Do not wipe out their guilt; do not blot out their sin before You. Let them be forced to stumble before You; deal with them in the time of Your anger. |
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