| Holman Christian Standard 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; there I will reveal My words 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 there he was, working away at the wheel. | 3So I went down to the potter's house and found him working at his wheel. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 5The word of the LORD came to me: | 5Then the LORD said to me, |
| 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. | 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 one moment I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy it. | 7There are times, Jeremiah, when I threaten to uproot, tear down, and destroy a nation or kingdom. |
| 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. | 8But if that nation I threatened stops doing wrong, I will cancel the destruction I intended to do to it. |
| 9At another time I announce that I will build and plant a nation or a kingdom. | 9And there are times when I promise to build up and establish a nation or kingdom. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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 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.'" | 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: Ask among the nations, Who has 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 the highland crags? Or does cold water flowing from a distance ever fail? | 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 false idols that make them stumble in their ways on the ancient roads and walk on new paths, not 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 horror, a perpetual object of scorn; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and shake his head. | 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 on 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 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." | 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." |
| 19Pay attention to me, LORD. Hear what my opponents 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 anger 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, 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. | 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, 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. | 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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