Our Father Shapes His People
At the potter's wheel a spoiled pot is simply reworked, and our Father says nations are handled the same way — announced disaster can be recalled if they turn. Judah answers that it is hopeless and they will follow their own plans. Then men plot against Jeremiah.
18 1The word that came to Jeremiah from our Father:
2"Get up, go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words."
3So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, working at the wheel. 4The clay vessel he shaped was ruined in his hand, so he reshaped it into another, as he saw fit.
5Then the word of our Father came to me:
6"Can I not do to you as this potter, house of Israel? declares your Father. Like clay in the potter's hand, so are you in mine, house of Israel. 7'At any moment I may speak about a nation or kingdom, to uproot, tear down, and destroy it, 8but if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I change my mind about the disaster I planned for it. 9At any moment I may speak about a nation or kingdom, to build and plant it, 10but if it does evil in my sight, ignoring my voice, then I will change my mind about the good I meant for it.
11"Now tell Judah's men and Jerusalem's people: This is what your Father says: I am shaping disaster against you, planning against you. Each of you, turn from your evil way; make your ways and deeds good.'" a a v11 The word for "shaping" here is the same one used for the potter at his wheel — our Father, the potter, warns that he is now shaping the consequences his people's own choices have set in motion.
12But they say, "Hopeless! We'll follow our own plans, each acting on his stubborn, evil heart."
13So our Father says: Ask the nations—who heard such a thing? Virgin Israel has done a most horrible thing. 14Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave the rocky slopes? Do the cool waters flowing from distant sources ever run dry? 15Yet my people have forgotten me; they burn incense to worthless idols, causing my people to stumble from the ancient paths and walk on side roads—rough, unbeaten tracks, 16making their land a desolation, an object of perpetual scorn; all who pass by it will be appalled and shake their heads. 17Like the east wind I will scatter them before the enemy; I will show them my back and not my face in the day of their disaster.
18They said, "Come, let's plot against Jeremiah—instruction won't perish from the priest, counsel from the wise, or word from the prophet. Come, strike him with the tongue; ignore all he says." 19Pay attention to me, my Father, and hear the voice of my accusers! 20Should evil be repaid for good? Yet they have dug a pit to take my life. Remember how I stood before you to speak good on their behalf, to turn your wrath away from them. 21So hand their children over to famine; give them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless and widowed; let their men be put to death, their young men struck down by the sword in battle. 22Let cries ring out 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, my Father, know all their plotting to kill me. Do not forgive their wrongdoing or blot out their sin from your sight. Let them be overthrown before you; deal with them in the time of your anger.
