Jeremiah 18
The Lesson from the
Potter Working the Clay |
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The word which came to Jeremiah from the
LORD, saying,
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Arise, and go down to the potter's house,
and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
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Then I went down to the potter's house,
and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
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And the vessel that he made of clay was
marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another
vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
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Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
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O house of Israel, cannot I do with you
as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the
clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand,
O house of Israel.
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At what instant I shall speak
concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to
pull down, and to destroy it;
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if that nation, against whom I have
pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I
thought to do unto them.
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And at what instant I shall speak
concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
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if it do evil in my sight, that it obey
not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I
would benefit them.
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Now therefore go to, speak to the men of
Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the
LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and
devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil
way, and make your ways and your doings good.
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And they said, There is no hope: but we
will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the
imagination of his evil heart.
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Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard
such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible
thing.
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Will a man leave the snow of
Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be
forsaken?
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Because my people hath forgotten me, they
have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble
in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;
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to make their land desolate, and a
perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be
astonished, and wag his head.
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I will scatter them as with an east wind
before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in
the day of their calamity.
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The People's Plots and
Jeremiah's Prayer |
18 |
Then said they, Come, and let us devise
devices 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 smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed
to any of his words.
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Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend
with me.
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Shall evil be recompensed for good? for
they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before
thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from
them.
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Therefore deliver up their children to
the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the
sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.
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Let a cry be heard from their houses,
when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have
digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.
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Yet, LORD, thou
knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not
their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let
them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the
time of thine anger.
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