| Berean Study Bible | NET Bible |
| 1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: | 1The LORD said to Jeremiah: |
| 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. I will speak to you further there." |
| 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 found him working at his 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. | 4Now and then there would be something wrong with the pot he was molding from the clay with his hands. So he would rework the clay into another kind of pot as he saw fit. |
| 5Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, | 5Then the LORD said 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"I, the LORD, say: 'O nation of Israel, can I not deal with you as this potter deals with the clay? In my hands, you, O nation of Israel, are just like the clay in this potter's hand.' |
| 7At any time I might announce that a nation or kingdom will be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed. | 7There are times, Jeremiah, when I threaten to uproot, tear down, and destroy a nation or kingdom. |
| 8But if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I will relent of the disaster I had planned to bring. | 8But if that nation I threatened stops doing wrong, I will cancel the destruction I intended to do to it. |
| 9And if at another time I announce that I will build up and establish a nation or kingdom, | 9And there are times when I promise to build up and establish a nation or 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. | 10But if that nation does what displeases me and does not obey me, then I will cancel the good I promised to 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, tell the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem this: The LORD says, 'I am preparing to bring disaster on you! I am making plans to punish you. So, every one of you, stop the evil things you have been doing. Correct the way you have been living and do what is right.' |
| 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 just keep saying, 'We do not care what you say! We will do whatever we want to do! We will continue to behave wickedly and stubbornly!'" |
| 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, the LORD says, "Ask the people of other nations whether they have heard of anything like this. Israel should have been like a virgin. But she has done something utterly revolting! |
| 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 ever completely vanish from the rocky slopes of Lebanon? Do the cool waters from those distant mountains ever cease to flow? |
| 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 and offered sacrifices to worthless idols! This makes them stumble along in the way they live and leave the old reliable path of their fathers. They have left them to walk in bypaths, in roads that are not smooth and level. |
| 16They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads. | 16So their land will become an object of horror. People will forever hiss out their scorn over it. All who pass that way will be filled with horror and will shake their heads in derision. |
| 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 their enemies like dust blowing in front of a burning east wind. I will turn my back on them and not look favorably on them when disaster strikes them." |
| 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 some people said, "Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God's word. Come on! Let's bring charges against him and get rid of him! Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says." |
| 19Attend to me, O LORD. Hear what my accusers are saying! | 19Then I said, "LORD, pay attention to me. Listen to what my enemies 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 paid back with evil? Yet they are virtually digging a pit to kill me. Just remember how I stood before you pleading on their behalf to keep you from venting your anger on 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. | 21So let their children die of starvation. Let them be cut down by the sword. Let their wives lose their husbands and children. Let the older men die of disease and the younger men die 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 cries of terror be heard in their houses when you send bands of raiders unexpectedly to plunder them. For they have virtually dug a pit to capture me and have hidden traps for me to step into. |
| 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 plots to kill me. Do not pardon their crimes! Do not ignore their sins as though you had erased them! Let them be brought down in defeat before you! Deal with them while you are still angry! |
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