Jeremiah 18:1-17

1The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2“Arise and 1go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.” 3So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. 4But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.

5Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 6“Am I not able, house of Israel, to deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the 2clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel. 7At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to 3uproot it, to tear it down, or to destroy it; 84if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will 5relent of the disaster that I planned to bring on it. 9Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to 6build up or to plant it; 10if it does 7evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will 8relent of the good with which I said 9that I would bless it. 11So now, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Behold, I am 10forming a disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Now 11turn back, each of you from his evil way, and 12correct your ways and your deeds!”’ 12But 13they will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will 14persist in the 15stubbornness of his evil heart.’

13“Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘16Just ask among the nations, Who ever heard anything like 17this? The 18virgin of Israel Has done a most 19appalling thing.14Does the snow of Lebanon leave the rock of the open country alone? Or is the cold flowing water from a foreign land ever dried up?15For 20My people have forgotten Me, 21They burn incense 22to worthless gods. And they 23have stumbled in their ways, In the 24ancient roads, To walk on paths, Not on a 25highway,16To make their land a 26desolation, An object of perpetual 27hissing; Everyone who passes by it will be astonished And 28shake his head.17Like an 29east wind I will 30scatter them Before the enemy; I will 31show them 32My back and not My face 33In the day of their disaster.’”