1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
2"Get up and go down to the potter's house. There I will let you hear my words."
3So I went down to the potter's house. Look, he was working at his wheel.
4The pot he was making out of clay was spoiled in the potter's hands. So he made it into another pot, shaping it as it seemed good to him.
5Then the word of the LORD came to me:
6"House of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" says the LORD. "Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel."
7"The moment I speak about a nation or a kingdom, saying that I will pull it up, pull it down and destroy it,"
8"if that nation I spoke against turns from its evil, then I will repent of the evil I planned to do to it."
9"And the moment I speak about a nation or a kingdom, saying that I will build it up and plant it,"
10"if it does evil in my sight and will not obey my voice, then I will repent of the good I said I would do for it."
11"So now go, speak to the men of Judah and to the people living in Jerusalem. Say to them, 'This is what the LORD says: Look, I am shaping evil against you, and making a plan against you. Turn back now, every one of you, from your evil way. Make your ways and your deeds good.'"
12But they said, "There is no hope. We will follow our own plans, and every one of us will do what his evil heart imagines."
13So this is what the LORD says: "Ask among the nations now: who has heard of such things? The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing."
14"Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon that comes from the rock of the field? Will the cold flowing waters that come from far away be forsaken?"
15"But my people have forgotten me. They have burned incense to worthless things. They have been made to stumble in their ways, off the ancient paths, and to walk on side paths, on a road that is not built up."
16"So their land will be left empty, a place people hiss at for ever. Everyone who passes by will be shocked and shake his head."
17"I will scatter them before their enemy like an east wind. I will show them my back, and not my face, on the day of their trouble."
18Then they said, "Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah. The law will not be lost from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with our tongues, and let us pay no attention to anything he says."
19Pay attention to me, LORD, and listen to the voice of those who argue against me.
20Should evil be paid back for good? For they have dug a pit for my life. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, and to turn your anger away from them.
21So hand their children over to famine, and pour out their blood by the power of the sword. Let their wives lose their children and become widows. Let their men be put to death, and their young men be killed by the sword in battle.
22Let a cry be heard from their houses, when you bring an army against them suddenly. For they have dug a pit to catch me, and hidden traps for my feet.
23Yet you, LORD, know all their plans against me, their plans to kill me. Do not forgive their wrongdoing, and do not blot out their sin from your sight. Let them be thrown down before you. Deal with them in the time of your anger.