JER-18:1  The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

JER-18:2  Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I

will cause

thee to hear my words.

JER-18:3  Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold,

he wrought a

work on the wheels.

JER-18:4  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].

JER-18:5  Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

JER-18:6  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.

JER-18:7  [At what] instant I shall speak concerning a nation,

and concerning

a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy [it];

JER-18:8  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.

JER-18:9  And [at what] instant I shall speak concerning a

nation, and

concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant [it];

JER-18:10  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.

JER-18:11  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.

JER-18:12  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.

JER-18:13  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.

JER-18:14  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?

JER-18:15  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;

JER-18:16  To make their land desolate, [and] a perpetual

hissing; every one

that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.

JER-18:17  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.

JER-18:18  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.

JER-18:19  Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of

them that

contend with me.

JER-18:20  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.

JER-18:21  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.

JER-18:22  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.

JER-18:23  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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