| NET Bible | English Standard Version |
| 1The LORD said to Jeremiah: | 1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: |
| 2"Go down at once to the potter's house. I will speak to you further there." | 2“Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” |
| 3So I went down to the potter's house and found him working at his wheel. | 3So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. |
| 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. | 4And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. |
| 5Then the LORD said to me, | 5Then the word of the LORD came to me: |
| 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.' | 6“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. |
| 7There are times, Jeremiah, when I threaten to uproot, tear down, and destroy a nation or kingdom. | 7If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, |
| 8But if that nation I threatened stops doing wrong, I will cancel the destruction I intended to do to it. | 8and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. |
| 9And there are times when I promise to build up and establish a nation or kingdom. | 9And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant 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. | 10and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. |
| 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.' | 11Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the LORD, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.’ |
| 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!'" | 12“But they say, ‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’ |
| 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! | 13“Therefore thus says the LORD: Ask among the nations, Who has heard the like of this? The virgin Israel has done a very horrible thing. |
| 14Does the snow ever completely vanish from the rocky slopes of Lebanon? Do the cool waters from those distant mountains ever cease to flow? | 14Does the snow of Lebanon leave the crags of Sirion? Do the mountain waters run dry, the cold flowing streams? |
| 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. | 15But my people have forgotten me; they make offerings to false gods; they made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient roads, and to walk into side roads, not the highway, |
| 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. | 16making their land a horror, a thing to be hissed at forever. Everyone who passes by it is horrified and shakes his head. |
| 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." | 17Like the east wind I will scatter them before the enemy. I will show them my back, not my face, in the day of their calamity.” |
| 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." | 18Then they said, “Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.” |
| 19Then I said, "LORD, pay attention to me. Listen to what my enemies are saying. | 19Hear me, O LORD, and listen to the voice of my adversaries. |
| 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. | 20Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for my life. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them. |
| 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. | 21Therefore deliver up their children to famine; give them over to the power of the sword; let their wives become childless and widowed. May their men meet death by pestilence, their youths be struck down by the sword in battle. |
| 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. | 22May a cry be heard from their houses, when you bring the plunderer suddenly upon them! For they have dug a pit to take me and laid snares for my feet. |
| 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! | 23Yet you, O LORD, know all their plotting to kill me. Forgive not their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from your sight. Let them be overthrown before you; deal with them in the time of your anger. |
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