At the Potter’s House

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.” 3So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working 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.

5Then the 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. 7If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 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.

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.’ 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.’ ”

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.

14Does the snow of Lebanon

ever vanish from its rocky slopes?

Do its cool waters from distant sources

ever stop flowing?

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.

16Their land will be an object of horror

and of lasting scorn;

all who pass by will be appalled

and will shake their heads.

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.”

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.”

19Listen to me, Lord;

hear what my accusers 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.

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.

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.

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.

1“Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool,

inscribed with a flint point,

on the tablets of their hearts

and on the horns of their altars.

2Even their children remember

their altars and Asherah poles

beside the spreading trees

and on the high hills.

3My mountain in the land

and your wealth and all your treasures

I will give away as plunder,

together with your high places,

because of sin throughout your country.

4Through your own fault you will lose

the inheritance I gave you.

I will enslave you to your enemies

in a land you do not know,

for you have kindled my anger,

and it will burn forever.”

5This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,

who draws strength from mere flesh

and whose heart turns away from the Lord.

6That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;

they will not see prosperity when it comes.

They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,

in a salt land where no one lives.

7“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,

whose confidence is in him.

8They will be like a tree planted by the water

that sends out its roots by the stream.

It does not fear when heat comes;

its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought

and never fails to bear fruit.”

9The heart is deceitful above all things

and beyond cure.

Who can understand it?

10“I the Lord search the heart

and examine the mind,

to reward each person according to their conduct,

according to what their deeds deserve.”

11Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay

are those who gain riches by unjust means.

When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them,

and in the end they will prove to be fools.

12A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning,

is the place of our sanctuary.

13 Lord, you are the hope of Israel;

all who forsake you will be put to shame.

Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust

because they have forsaken the Lord,

the spring of living water.

14Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed;

save me and I will be saved,

for you are the one I praise.

15They keep saying to me,

“Where is the word of the Lord?

Let it now be fulfilled!”

16I have not run away from being your shepherd;

you know I have not desired the day of despair.

What passes my lips is open before you.

17Do not be a terror to me;

you are my refuge in the day of disaster.

18Let my persecutors be put to shame,

but keep me from shame;

let them be terrified,

but keep me from terror.

Bring on them the day of disaster;

destroy them with double destruction.

Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy

19This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and stand at the Gate of the People, through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem. 20Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem who come through these gates. 21This is what the Lord says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. 22Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors. 23Yet they did not listen or pay attention; they were stiff-necked and would not listen or respond to discipline. 24But if you are careful to obey me, declares the Lord, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing any work on it, 25then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this city with their officials. They and their officials will come riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by the men of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever. 26People will come from the towns of Judah and the villages around Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin and the western foothills, from the hill country and the Negev, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the Lord. 27But if you do not obey me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying any load as you come through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses.’ ”

Day of Disaster

1Then the word of the Lord came to me: 2“You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place.” 3For this is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers: 4“They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like dung lying on the ground. They will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.”

5For this is what the Lord says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity from this people,” declares the Lord. 6“Both high and low will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, and no one will cut themselves or shave their head for the dead. 7No one will offer food to comfort those who mourn for the dead—not even for a father or a mother—nor will anyone give them a drink to console them.

8“And do not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink. 9For this is what the LordAlmighty, the God of Israel, says: Before your eyes and in your days I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in this place.

10“When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the Lord decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the Lord our God?’ 11then say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors forsook me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law. 12But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors. See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts instead of obeying me. 13So I will throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’

14“However, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’ 15but it will be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ For I will restore them to the land I gave their ancestors.

16“But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks. 17My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes. 18I will repay them double for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land with the lifeless forms of their vile images and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.”

19 Lord, my strength and my fortress,

my refuge in time of distress,

to you the nations will come

from the ends of the earth and say,

“Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods,

worthless idols that did them no good.

20Do people make their own gods?

Yes, but they are not gods!”

21“Therefore I will teach them—

this time I will teach them

my power and might.

Then they will know

that my name is the Lord.

1Then the Lord said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people. Send them away from my presence! Let them go! 2And if they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:

“ ‘Those destined for death, to death;

those for the sword, to the sword;

those for starvation, to starvation;

those for captivity, to captivity.’

3“I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,” declares the Lord, “the sword to kill and the dogs to drag away and the birds and the wild animals to devour and destroy. 4I will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.

5“Who will have pity on you, Jerusalem?

Who will mourn for you?

Who will stop to ask how you are?

6You have rejected me,” declares the Lord.

“You keep on backsliding.

So I will reach out and destroy you;

I am tired of holding back.

7I will winnow them with a winnowing fork

at the city gates of the land.

I will bring bereavement and destruction on my people,

for they have not changed their ways.

8I will make their widows more numerous

than the sand of the sea.

At midday I will bring a destroyer

against the mothers of their young men;

suddenly I will bring down on them

anguish and terror.

9The mother of seven will grow faint

and breathe her last.

Her sun will set while it is still day;

she will be disgraced and humiliated.

I will put the survivors to the sword

before their enemies,”

declares the Lord.

10Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth,

a man with whom the whole land strives and contends!

I have neither lent nor borrowed,

yet everyone curses me.

11The Lordsaid,

“Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose;

surely I will make your enemies plead with you

in times of disaster and times of distress.

12“Can a man break iron—

iron from the north—or bronze?

13“Your wealth and your treasures

I will give as plunder, without charge,

because of all your sins

throughout your country.

14I will enslave you to your enemies

in a land you do not know,

for my anger will kindle a fire

that will burn against you.”

15 Lord, you understand;

remember me and care for me.

Avenge me on my persecutors.

You are long-suffering—do not take me away;

think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.

16When your words came, I ate them;

they were my joy and my heart’s delight,

for I bear your name,

LordGod Almighty.

17I never sat in the company of revelers,

never made merry with them;

I sat alone because your hand was on me

and you had filled me with indignation.

18Why is my pain unending

and my wound grievous and incurable?

You are to me like a deceptive brook,

like a spring that fails.

19Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“If you repent, I will restore you

that you may serve me;

if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,

you will be my spokesman.

Let this people turn to you,

but you must not turn to them.

20I will make you a wall to this people,

a fortified wall of bronze;

they will fight against you

but will not overcome you,

for I am with you

to rescue and save you,”

declares the Lord.

21“I will save you from the hands of the wicked

and deliver you from the grasp of the cruel.”

Drought, Famine, Sword

1This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:

2“Judah mourns,

her cities languish;

they wail for the land,

and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.

3The nobles send their servants for water;

they go to the cisterns

but find no water.

They return with their jars unfilled;

dismayed and despairing,

they cover their heads.

4The ground is cracked

because there is no rain in the land;

the farmers are dismayed

and cover their heads.

5Even the doe in the field

deserts her newborn fawn

because there is no grass.

6Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights

and pant like jackals;

their eyes fail

for lack of food.”

7Although our sins testify against us,

do something, Lord, for the sake of your name.

For we have often rebelled;

we have sinned against you.

8You who are the hope of Israel,

its Savior in times of distress,

why are you like a stranger in the land,

like a traveler who stays only a night?

9Why are you like a man taken by surprise,

like a warrior powerless to save?

You are among us, Lord,

and we bear your name;

do not forsake us!

10This is what the Lord says about this people:

“They greatly love to wander;

they do not restrain their feet.

So the Lord does not accept them;

he will now remember their wickedness

and punish them for their sins.”

11Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people. 12Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague.”

13But I said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! The prophets keep telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place.’ ”

14Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds. 15Therefore this is what the Lord says about the prophets who are prophesying in my name: I did not send them, yet they are saying, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land.’ Those same prophets will perish by sword and famine. 16And the people they are prophesying to will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and sword. There will be no one to bury them, their wives, their sons and their daughters. I will pour out on them the calamity they deserve.

17“Speak this word to them:

“ ‘Let my eyes overflow with tears

night and day without ceasing;

for the Virgin Daughter, my people,

has suffered a grievous wound,

a crushing blow.

18If I go into the country,

I see those slain by the sword;

if I go into the city,

I see the ravages of famine.

Both prophet and priest

have gone to a land they know not.’ ”

19Have you rejected Judah completely?

Do you despise Zion?

Why have you afflicted us

so that we cannot be healed?

We hoped for peace

but no good has come,

for a time of healing

but there is only terror.

20We acknowledge our wickedness, Lord,

and the guilt of our ancestors;

we have indeed sinned against you.

21For the sake of your name do not despise us;

do not dishonor your glorious throne.

Remember your covenant with us

and do not break it.

22Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain?

Do the skies themselves send down showers?

No, it is you, Lord our God.

Therefore our hope is in you,

for you are the one who does all this.

A Linen Belt

1This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.” 2So I bought a belt, as the Lord directed, and put it around my waist.

3Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time: 4“Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks.” 5So I went and hid it at Perath, as the Lord told me.

6Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.” 7So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.

8Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9“This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless! 11For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the Lord, ‘to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.’

Wineskins

12“Say to them: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.’ And if they say to you, ‘Don’t we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’ 13then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem. 14I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike, declares the Lord. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.’ ”

Threat of Captivity

15Hear and pay attention,

do not be arrogant,

for the Lord has spoken.

16Give glory to the Lord your God

before he brings the darkness,

before your feet stumble

on the darkening hills.

You hope for light,

but he will turn it to utter darkness

and change it to deep gloom.

17If you do not listen,

I will weep in secret

because of your pride;

my eyes will weep bitterly,

overflowing with tears,

because the Lord’s flock will be taken captive.

18Say to the king and to the queen mother,

“Come down from your thrones,

for your glorious crowns

will fall from your heads.”

19The cities in the Negev will be shut up,

and there will be no one to open them.

All Judah will be carried into exile,

carried completely away.

20Look up and see

those who are coming from the north.

Where is the flock that was entrusted to you,

the sheep of which you boasted?

21What will you say when the Lord sets over you

those you cultivated as your special allies?

Will not pain grip you

like that of a woman in labor?

22And if you ask yourself,

“Why has this happened to me?”—

it is because of your many sins

that your skirts have been torn off

and your body mistreated.

23Can an Ethiopian change his skin

or a leopard its spots?

Neither can you do good

who are accustomed to doing evil.

24“I will scatter you like chaff

driven by the desert wind.

25This is your lot,

the portion I have decreed for you,”

declares the Lord,

“because you have forgotten me

and trusted in false gods.

26I will pull up your skirts over your face

that your shame may be seen—

27your adulteries and lustful neighings,

your shameless prostitution!

I have seen your detestable acts

on the hills and in the fields.

Woe to you, Jerusalem!

How long will you be unclean?”

Jeremiah’s Complaint

1You are always righteous, Lord,

when I bring a case before you.

Yet I would speak with you about your justice:

Why does the way of the wicked prosper?

Why do all the faithless live at ease?

2You have planted them, and they have taken root;

they grow and bear fruit.

You are always on their lips

but far from their hearts.

3Yet you know me, Lord;

you see me and test my thoughts about you.

Drag them off like sheep to be butchered!

Set them apart for the day of slaughter!

4How long will the land lie parched

and the grass in every field be withered?

Because those who live in it are wicked,

the animals and birds have perished.

Moreover, the people are saying,

“He will not see what happens to us.”

God’s Answer

5“If you have raced with men on foot

and they have worn you out,

how can you compete with horses?

If you stumble in safe country,

how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?

6Your relatives, members of your own family—

even they have betrayed you;

they have raised a loud cry against you.

Do not trust them,

though they speak well of you.

7“I will forsake my house,

abandon my inheritance;

I will give the one I love

into the hands of her enemies.

8My inheritance has become to me

like a lion in the forest.

She roars at me;

therefore I hate her.

9Has not my inheritance become to me

like a speckled bird of prey

that other birds of prey surround and attack?

Go and gather all the wild beasts;

bring them to devour.

10Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard

and trample down my field;

they will turn my pleasant field

into a desolate wasteland.

11It will be made a wasteland,

parched and desolate before me;

the whole land will be laid waste

because there is no one who cares.

12Over all the barren heights in the desert

destroyers will swarm,

for the sword of the Lord will devour

from one end of the land to the other;

no one will be safe.

13They will sow wheat but reap thorns;

they will wear themselves out but gain nothing.

They will bear the shame of their harvest

because of the Lord’s fierce anger.”

14This is what the Lord says: “As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands and I will uproot the people of Judah from among them. 15But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to their own inheritance and their own country. 16And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’—even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among my people. 17But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it,” declares the Lord.