| New International Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: | 1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: |
| 2"Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." | 2"Go down at once to the potter's house; there I will reveal My words to you." |
| 3So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. | 3So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, working away at the wheel. |
| 4But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. | 4But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed in the potter's hand, so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do. |
| 5Then the word of the LORD came to me. | 5The word of the LORD came to me: |
| 6He said, "Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. | 6"House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay?"--this is the LORD's declaration. "Just like clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel. |
| 7If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, | 7At one moment I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy it. |
| 8and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. | 8However, if that nation I have made an announcement about turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the disaster I had planned to do to it. |
| 9And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, | 9At another time I announce that I will build and plant a nation or a kingdom. |
| 10and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it. | 10However, if it does what is evil in My sight by not listening to My voice, I will relent concerning the good I had said I would do to it. |
| 11"Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, 'This is what the LORD says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.' | 11So now, say to the men of Judah and to the residents of Jerusalem: This is what the LORD says: I am about to bring harm to you and make plans against you. Turn now, each from your evil way, and correct your ways and your deeds. |
| 12But they will reply, 'It's no use. We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.'" | 12But they will say, 'It's hopeless. We will continue to follow our plans, and each of us will continue to act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.'" |
| 13Therefore this is what the LORD says: "Inquire among the nations: Who has ever heard anything like this? A most horrible thing has been done by Virgin Israel. | 13Therefore, this is what the LORD says: Ask among the nations, Who has heard things like these? Virgin Israel has done a most terrible thing. |
| 14Does the snow of Lebanon ever vanish from its rocky slopes? Do its cool waters from distant sources ever stop flowing? | 14Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave the highland crags? Or does cold water flowing from a distance ever fail? |
| 15Yet my people have forgotten me; they burn incense to worthless idols, which made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths. They made them walk in byways, on roads not built up. | 15Yet My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to false idols that make them stumble in their ways on the ancient roads and walk on new paths, not the highway. |
| 16Their land will be an object of horror and of lasting scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will shake their heads. | 16They have made their land a horror, a perpetual object of scorn; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and shake his head. |
| 17Like a wind from the east, I will scatter them before their enemies; I will show them my back and not my face in the day of their disaster." | 17I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind. I will show them My back and not My face on the day of their calamity. |
| 18They said, "Come, let's make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let's attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says." | 18Then certain ones said, "Come, let's make plans against Jeremiah, for instruction will never be lost from the priest, or counsel from the wise, or an oracle from the prophet. Come, let's denounce him and pay no attention to all his words." |
| 19Listen to me, LORD; hear what my accusers are saying! | 19Pay attention to me, LORD. Hear what my opponents are saying! |
| 20Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember that I stood before you and spoke in their behalf to turn your wrath away from them. | 20Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn Your anger from them. |
| 21So give their children over to famine; hand them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives be made childless and widows; let their men be put to death, their young men slain by the sword in battle. | 21Therefore, hand their children over to famine, and pour the sword's power on them. Let their wives become childless and widowed, their husbands slain by deadly disease, their young men struck down by the sword in battle. |
| 22Let a cry be heard from their houses when you suddenly bring invaders against them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet. | 22Let a cry be heard from their houses when You suddenly bring raiders against them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet. |
| 23But you, LORD, know all their plots to kill me. Do not forgive their crimes or blot out their sins from your sight. Let them be overthrown before you; deal with them in the time of your anger. | 23But You, LORD, know all their deadly plots against me. Do not wipe out their guilt; do not blot out their sin before You. Let them be forced to stumble before You; deal with them in the time of Your anger. |
| New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. | Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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