Jeremiah 18 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Late seventh century BC, under Jehoiakim
Location
A potter's workshop in Jerusalem, likely in the lower city near the Hinnom valley clay beds
Audience
The people of Judah, and the officials and priests who ran the city
Situation
God sends Jeremiah to watch a potter at work, and when a vessel goes wrong on the wheel the potter reworks the same lump into something else. Jeremiah applies this to the nation, and his hearers respond by planning to trap him with false accusations.
Key Background
A potter used a pair of stacked stone wheels turned by foot, and the point of the scene is that clay stays workable and can be reshaped while it is still on the wheel, which is what makes the warning an offer rather than a sentence. The plotters' argument, that instruction from the priest, counsel from the wise, and a word from the prophet will not fail, names the three recognised channels of religious authority, and they are claiming the system is too well established for one dissenter to matter. Striking a man with the tongue means bringing a formal accusation before the elders, where a coordinated group of witnesses could secure a death sentence.
This is the that came to Jeremiah from
"Get up and go down to the I'll give you my message there."
So I went down to the potter's workshop, and there he was, working at his
But the pot he was shaping from the clay came out in his hands — so the potter it into a different pot, whatever seemed right to him.
Then Yahweh's message came to me:
"Can't I do with you what this potter does, of Yahweh. "Look — like clay in the potter's hands, that's what you are in my hands, of
"At any moment I might announce that a nation or kingdom will be down, and
"But if that nation I warned from its I'll the disaster I had planned for it."
"And at any moment I might announce that a nation or kingdom will be up and
"But if it does in my and refuses to listen to my voice, I'll reconsider the good I had planned for it."
"So now, tell the people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem: 'This is what Yahweh says: Look — I am disaster for you. I am a against you. Each one of you, from your destructive path. Fix your ways and your actions.'"
But they'll say, "It's no We're going to follow own plans. Each of us will act on the of own
So this is what Yahweh says: "Ask around among the nations — has anyone ever heard anything like this? The has done something
"Does the snow of ever vanish from its peaks? Do the cold streams flowing down from far-off mountains ever dry up?"
"But my people have me. They burn incense to idols that made them stumble off the — the well-worn roads — and wander down unmarked trails instead."
"They've turned their land into a wasteland, a target of endless scorn. Everyone who passes through will be shocked and their
"Like an I will scatter them before their enemies. I will them my not my face, on the day of their disaster."
Then they said, "Come on, let's make plans against Jeremiah. After all, won't disappear just because the priest is gone, and won't vanish just because the wise man is gone, and the message won't stop just because the prophet is gone. Come on — let's with and ignore everything he says."
to me, Yahweh! Listen to what my are saying!
Should good be repaid with destruction? They've a for me. Remember how I you and up for them, trying to turn your anger away from them.
So hand their children over to famine. Pour them out to the blade of the sword. Let their wives lose their children and become widows. Let their men be cut down by death, their young men struck by the sword in battle.
Let be heard from their houses when you suddenly bring against them. Because they dug a pit to capture me and hid for my feet.
But you, Yahweh — you know every one of their plans to kill me. Don't wipe away their guilt. Don't erase their from sight. Let them be brought down right in front of you. Deal with them in the of