Jeremiah 18
18:1The word coming to Jeremiah from the lord, saying,
18:2Rise up and go down unto the house of the potter! and there you shall hear my words.
18:3And I went down unto the house of the potter. And behold, he was making a work upon the stones.
18:4And the vessel failed which he was making with his hands. And again he made it into another vessel as was pleasing before him to make.
18:5And came to pass the word of the lord to me, saying,
18:6Shall as this potter I not be able to make you, O house of Israel, says the lord? Behold, as the mortar in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hands, O house of Israel.
18:7At end I shall speak unto a nation or unto a kingdom to lift them away, and to destroy them.
18:8But should that nation turn from their evils, then I shall change my mind concerning the bad things which I devised to do to them.
18:9And at end I shall speak unto a nation and unto a kingdom to rebuild and to plant,
18:10and they do the wicked things before me, to not hear my voice, then I will change my mind concerning the good things which I spoke to do for them.
18:11And now say to the men of Judah, and to the ones dwelling in Jerusalem! Thus says the lord, Behold, I shape against you bad things, and I devise against you a device! Let indeed each turn from his evil way, and make your practices good and your ways!
18:12And they said, We will be manly, for after our turning, we shall go and each shall do the things pleasing his evil heart.
18:13On account of this, Thus says the lord, Ask indeed among the nations! who heard such causes for shuddering which virgin Israel did exceedingly?
18:14Shall nipples fail from the rock, or snow from the Lebanon range? Will water being brought forcibly by a wind turn aside?
18:15For my people forgot me. They burned incense in vain, and they shall weaken in their ways -- eternal roads; to mount roads not having a way for going;
18:16to order up their land for extinction, and the everlasting hissing. All the ones traveling through it shall be amazed, and shall shake their head.
18:17As a burning wind I will scatter them in front of their enemies. The back and not the front I will show to them in a day of their destruction.
18:18And they said, Come, we should devise against Jeremiah a device, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the discerning, nor the word from the prophet. Come, for we should strike him in the tongue, and we shall not hear all his words.
18:19Hear me, O lord, and hear the voice of my right action!
18:20Shall evils be recompensed for good things, no. For they conversed together things against my soul. Remember my standing in front of you! to speak good for them, to turn your rage from them.
18:21On account of this, give their sons to famine, and gather them into the hands of swords! Let their women become childless and widows, and let their men become men being done away with in death, and their young men falling by sword in war!
18:22Let there become a cry in their houses! You shall bring upon them robbers suddenly; for they took in hand a word to seize me, and they hid snares against me.
18:23And you, O lord, knew all together their plan against me for death. You should not acquit their iniquities; and you should not wipe away their sins from in front of you. Let their weakness come before you! In the time of your rage deal with them!