18

1The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2“Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear my words.”

3Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was making something on the wheels. 4When the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

5Then Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 6“House of Israel, can’t I do with you as this potter?” says Yahweh. “Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel. 7At the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it, 8if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them. 9At the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, 10if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they not obey my voice, then I will repent of the good with which I said I would benefit them.

11“Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Yahweh says: “Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a plan against you. Everyone return from his evil way now, and amend your ways and your doings.”’ 12But they say, ‘It is in vain; for we will walk after our own plans, and we will each follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”

13Therefore Yahweh says:

“Ask now among the nations,

‘Who has heard such things?’

The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.

14Will the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field?

Will the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up?

15For my people have forgotten me.

They have burned incense to false gods.

They have been made to stumble in their ways

in the ancient paths,

to walk in byways, in a way not built up,

16to make their land an astonishment,

and a perpetual hissing.

Everyone who passes by it will be astonished,

and shake his head.

17I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy.

I will show them the back, and not the face,

in the day of their calamity.

18Then they said, “Come! Let’s devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law won’t perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let’s strike him with the tongue, and let’s not give heed to any of his words.”

19Give heed to me, Yahweh,

and listen to the voice of those who contend with me.

20Should evil be recompensed for good?

For they have dug a pit for my soul.

Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them,

to turn away your wrath from them.

21Therefore deliver up their children to the famine,

and give them over to the power of the sword.

Let their wives become childless and widows.

Let their men be killed

and their young men struck by the sword in battle.

22Let a cry be heard from their houses

when you bring a troop suddenly on them;

for they have dug a pit to take me

and hidden snares for my feet.

23Yet, Yahweh, you know all their counsel against me to kill me.

Don’t forgive their iniquity.

Don’t blot out their sin from your sight,

Let them be overthrown before you.

Deal with them in the time of your anger.

19

1Thus said Yahweh, “Go, and buy a potter’s earthen container, and take some of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests; 2and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I will tell you. 3Say, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word, kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says, “Behold, I will bring evil on this place, which whoever hears, his ears will tingle. 4Because they have forsaken me, and have defiled this place, and have burned incense in it to other gods that they didn’t know—they, their fathers, and the kings of Judah—and have filled this place with the blood of innocents, 5and have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I didn’t command, nor speak, which didn’t even enter into my mind. 6Therefore, behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that this place will no more be called ‘Topheth’, nor ‘The Valley of the son of Hinnom’, but ‘The valley of Slaughter’.

7“‘“I will make the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem void in this place. I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies to be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth. 8I will make this city an astonishment and a hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues. 9I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters. They will each eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies, and those who seek their life, will distress them.”’

10“Then you shall break the container in the sight of the men who go with you, 11and shall tell them, ‘Yahweh of Armies says: “Even so I will break this people and this city as one breaks a potter’s vessel, that can’t be made whole again. They will bury in Topheth until there is no place to bury. 12This is what I will do to this place,” says Yahweh, “and to its inhabitants, even making this city as Topheth. 13The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, will be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the army of the sky and have poured out drink offerings to other gods.”’”

14Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Yahweh had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the court of Yahweh’s house, and said to all the people: 15“Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says, ‘Behold, I will bring on this city and on all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have made their neck stiff, that they may not hear my words.’”

20

1Now Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in Yahweh’s house, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. 2Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in Yahweh’s house. 3On the next day, Pashhur released Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, “Yahweh has not called your name Pashhur, but Magormissabib. 4For Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes will see it. I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them captive to Babylon, and will kill them with the sword. 5Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all its gains, and all its precious things, yes, I will give all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies. They will make them captives, take them, and carry them to Babylon. 6You, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house will go into captivity. You will come to Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.’”

7Yahweh, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded.

You are stronger than I, and have prevailed.

I have become a laughingstock all day.

Everyone mocks me.

8For as often as I speak, I cry out;

I cry, “Violence and destruction!”

because Yahweh’s word has been made a reproach to me,

and a derision, all day.

9If I say that I will not make mention of him,

or speak any more in his name,

then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones.

I am weary with holding it in.

I can’t.

10For I have heard the defaming of many:

“Terror on every side!

Denounce, and we will denounce him!”

say all my familiar friends,

those who watch for my fall.

“Perhaps he will be persuaded,

and we will prevail against him,

and we will take our revenge on him.”

11But Yahweh is with me as an awesome mighty one.

Therefore my persecutors will stumble,

and they won’t prevail.

They will be utterly disappointed

because they have not dealt wisely,

even with an everlasting dishonor which will never be forgotten.

12But Yahweh of Armies, who tests the righteous,

who sees the heart and the mind,

let me see your vengeance on them,

for I have revealed my cause to you.

13Sing to Yahweh!

Praise Yahweh,

for he has delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evildoers.

14Cursed is the day in which I was born.

Don’t let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed.

15Cursed is the man who brought news to my father, saying,

“A boy is born to you,” making him very glad.

16Let that man be as the cities which Yahweh overthrew,

and didn’t repent.

Let him hear a cry in the morning,

and shouting at noontime,

17because he didn’t kill me from the womb.

So my mother would have been my grave,

and her womb always great.

18Why did I come out of the womb to see labor and sorrow,

that my days should be consumed with shame?

21

1The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying, 2“Please inquire of Yahweh for us; for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes war against us. Perhaps Yahweh will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may withdraw from us.”

3Then Jeremiah said to them, “Tell Zedekiah: 4‘Yahweh, the God of Israel says, “Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the walls; and I will gather them into the middle of this city. 5I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation. 6I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and animal. They will die of a great pestilence. 7Afterward,” says Yahweh, “I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants, and the people, even those who are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life. He will strike them with the edge of the sword. He will not spare them, have pity, or have mercy.”’

8“You shall say to this people, ‘Yahweh says: “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. 9He who remains in this city will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, but he who goes out and passes over to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he will live, and he will escape with his life. 10For I have set my face on this city for evil, and not for good,” says Yahweh. “It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.”’

11“Concerning the house of the king of Judah, hear Yahweh’s word: 12House of David, Yahweh says,

‘Execute justice in the morning,

and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor,

lest my wrath go out like fire,

and burn so that no one can quench it,

because of the evil of your doings.

13Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley,

and of the rock of the plain,’ says Yahweh.

‘You that say, “Who would come down against us?”

or, “Who would enter into our homes?”

14I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says Yahweh;

and I will kindle a fire in her forest,

and it will devour all that is around her.’”