1The message that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh said:
2"Get up and go down to the potter's house. There I will give you my message."
3So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at his pottery wheel.
4When the pot he was shaping from the clay was ruined in his hands, the potter reshaped it into another pot, doing whatever seemed best to him.
5Then Yahweh's message came to me:
6"House of Israel, can't I do with you what this potter does?" asks Yahweh. "Look, you are in my hand, House of Israel, just like clay in the potter's hand.
7If I announce that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy a nation or a kingdom,
8but that nation turns from its evil, then I will change my mind about the disaster I planned for it.
9And if I announce that I will build up and plant a nation or a kingdom,
10but they do evil in my sight and do not obey my voice, then I will change my mind about the good I said I would do for them.
11"So now, say to the people of Judah and to the residents of Jerusalem, 'Yahweh says: "Look, I am preparing disaster for you and making plans against you. Everyone, turn now from your evil way and change your ways and actions."'"
12But they will say, 'It's pointless! We will follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to our stubborn, evil hearts.'"
13Therefore, Yahweh says: "Ask among the nations—who has heard such a thing? The virgin Israel has done something utterly horrible.
14Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave its rocky peaks? Do its cool, flowing waters ever dry up?
15Yet my people have forgotten me. They burn incense to worthless idols. These idols have made them stumble in their ways, leaving the age-old paths, and walking instead on unpaved roads, on a path not built up.
16They will make their land a desolate waste, a cause for constant scorn. Everyone who passes by will be shocked and shake their head.
17I will scatter them before their enemies like an east wind. In the day of their disaster, I will show them my back, not my face."
18Then they said, "Come, let's make plans against Jeremiah! For the law will not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let's attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says."
19Yahweh, pay attention to me, and listen to the voice of those who argue with me.
20Should evil be repaid for good? For they have dug a pit to catch me. Remember how I stood before you to speak good on their behalf, to turn your anger away from them.
21Therefore, hand their children over to famine and give them to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless and widows. Let their men be killed by death, and their young men struck down by the sword in battle.
22Let a cry be heard from their houses when you suddenly bring raiding parties on them, for they have dug a pit to catch me and hidden snares for my feet.
23Yet, Yahweh, you know all their plots against me to kill me. Do not forgive their wickedness or blot out their sin from your sight. Instead, let them be overthrown before you. Deal with them in the time of your anger.