Jeremiah 18

This is the message that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

1The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

2"Get up and go down to the potter's house. There I will let you hear what I have to say."

2Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.

NoteA potter made the storage jars, cooking pots, bowls and lamps that every household used; it was one of the commonest trades, and a potter's workshop needed space, water and clay, so it usually sat outside or below the built-up part of a city. "Go down" is literal, Jeremiah walks downhill from the temple area to the valley.

3So I went down to the potter's house. There he was, working at his wheel.

3Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.

NoteThe King James "wheels" is plural because the Hebrew word is a dual form: a potter's wheel was two stone disks on a shared upright axle, the lower one kicked by the foot to spin the upper one, on which the clay sat.

4But the pot he was shaping out of the clay was ruined in his hands. So he made the clay into a different pot, shaping it the way he thought best.

4And 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.

Note"Marred" in 1611 English meant spoiled or ruined, not merely blemished. A pot that goes wrong on the wheel is not thrown away, while the clay is still wet it is simply pressed back down and worked again.

5Then the word of the LORD came to me:

5Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

6"People of Israel, can I not do with you what this potter does with his clay? says the LORD. Look: just as the clay is in the potter's hand, so you are in my hand, people of Israel.

6O 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.

7At any moment I may announce that a nation or a kingdom is going to be pulled up by the roots, torn down, and destroyed.

7At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;

Note"Pull up by the roots, tear down, build, plant" is a fixed set of words used of Jeremiah's own commission at the start of the book. It borrows from farming and from building, and covers both halves of what the prophet is sent to announce.

8But if that nation I warned turns away from its evil, then I will change my mind about the disaster I had planned to bring on it.

8If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

NoteThe King James "repent of the evil" uses two words that have shifted. "Repent" here means to relent or change course, not to feel guilt; and the Hebrew word behind "evil" covers both moral wrong and physical disaster. The same word is used twice in this verse (for the nation's wrongdoing and for the harm God had planned) a pairing the Hebrew makes deliberately and English cannot hold in one word.

9And at any moment I may announce that a nation or a kingdom is going to be built up and planted.

9And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;

10But if it does what is evil in my sight and will not listen to me, then I will change my mind about the good I said I would do for it.

10If 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.

11So now go and speak to the men of Judah and to the people living in Jerusalem. Tell them this is what the LORD says: Look, I am shaping a disaster against you and working out a plan against you. Turn back now, every one of you, from your evil way. Make your ways and your actions good."

11Now 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.

NoteThe King James "I frame evil against you" uses the potter word: the Hebrew verb for shaping clay is the same root as the noun "potter" in verses 2–6. The image of the workshop is being applied directly to the audience.

12But they said, "It is no use. We will follow our own plans. Each of us will do whatever his stubborn, evil heart wants."

12And 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.

13So this is what the LORD says: "Ask around among the nations. Who has ever heard of anything like this? Virgin Israel has done a truly horrible thing.

13Therefore 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.

Note"Virgin Israel" is a standard poetic title, like "Lady Liberty", a nation or city spoken of as a young unmarried woman. It carries no claim about anyone's sexual history; it evokes a community that was expected to be untouched and secure. The King James "heathen" simply means the other nations, with no suggestion of savagery.

14Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave those rocky slopes? Do the cold streams that flow down from far away ever run dry?

14Will 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?

NoteLebanon's mountains hold snow on their heights year-round, and the meltwater feeds streams that stay cold in the summer heat, the point is that nature keeps its habits and does not desert its own place. The Hebrew of this verse is damaged or obscure at several points and ancient and modern translators differ widely on it; the general sense is secure, the details are not.

15Yet my people have forgotten me. They burn incense to worthless idols, which have made them trip as they walk. They have left the ancient roads to walk on rough side paths instead of a built-up highway.

15Because 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;

NoteBurning incense was an ordinary act of worship, the equivalent of saying they now serve other gods. "Vanity" in the King James means emptiness or worthlessness, not conceit. "A way not cast up" refers to how proper roads were made: earth heaped and packed into a raised, level causeway. The contrast is between a maintained highway and an unmade track that twists over rough ground.

16So their land becomes an empty ruin, something people will sneer at forever. Everyone who passes by will be shocked and will shake his head.

16To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.

Note"Hissing" was an audible reaction people made at the sight of a ruin, a sharp intake or whistle of shock and scorn, expected of anyone passing a destroyed place. Shaking or wagging the head went with it, a gesture that could mean horror or derision, or both at once.

17Like a wind out of the east, I will scatter them before their enemy. On the day their trouble comes, I will show them my back and not my face."

17I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.

NoteThe east wind is the sirocco off the desert: hot, dry and dust-laden, it withers crops in a day and scatters anything loose. Showing the back rather than the face reverses a familiar image of favor, a ruler who turns his face toward a petitioner receives him, and one who turns his back refuses to hear.

18Then some people said, "Come on, let us make plans against Jeremiah. The priest will still have the law to teach, the wise will still have advice to give, and the prophet will still have a word to speak. Come, let us attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says."

18Then 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.

NoteThree recognized sources of guidance are being listed: priests gave rulings on law and ritual, elder statesmen and sages gave practical counsel, and prophets delivered messages. The plotters' argument is that these will carry on regardless, so Jeremiah is expendable. "Smite him with the tongue" is ambiguous in the Hebrew: it may mean spread damaging talk about him, or bring a formal accusation against him, or take his own words and use them against him.

19Pay attention to me, LORD. Listen to what the people arguing against me are saying.

19Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.

20Should good be paid back with evil? Yet they have dug a pit to trap me. Remember how I stood before you and spoke up for their good, to turn your anger away from them.

20Shall 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.

NoteDigging a pit means the hunter's method: a hole cut in a track, covered over with brush, so the animal drops into it unawares. "I stood before you" is the posture of someone pleading a case on another's behalf, Jeremiah is reminding God that he has repeatedly argued for these same people.

21So hand their children over to hunger. Let the power of the sword be poured out on them. Let their wives lose their children and become widows. Let their men be put to death. Let their young men be cut down by the sword in battle.

21Therefore 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.

NoteThe King James "let their men be put to death" translates a Hebrew phrase that reads literally "killed of death," where "death" is often a term for plague; some translators therefore render it "struck down by disease." The list as a whole names the standard trio of catastrophes, famine, plague and the sword.

22Let a cry be heard from their houses when you suddenly bring a raiding band against them, because they dug a pit to catch me and hid traps for my feet.

22Let 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.

NoteA "troop" here is a raiding band rather than an army: a fast-moving group that falls on a settlement without warning. "Snares" are concealed cords or nooses set on a path to catch an animal by the foot.

23But you, LORD, know all their plotting to kill me. Do not forgive their guilt, and do not wipe their sin out of your sight. Let them be brought down in front of you. Deal with them like this when the time of your anger comes.

23Yet, 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.

Note"Blot out" is a writing image. Ink on a scroll was washed or scraped off the surface; to blot out a sin is to remove the entry from the record, as though the debt had never been written down.