| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, | 1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: |
| 2“Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.” | 2“Go down at once to the potter’s house, and there I will reveal My message to you.” |
| 3So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. | 3So I went down to the potter’s house and saw him working at the wheel. |
| 4But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over. | 4But the vessel that he was shaping from the clay became flawed in his hand; so he formed it into another vessel, as it seemed best for him to do. |
| 5Then the LORD gave me this message: | 5Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, |
| 6“O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand. | 6“O house of Israel, declares the LORD, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay? Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. |
| 7If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, | 7At any time I might announce that a nation or kingdom will be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed. |
| 8but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned. | 8But if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I will relent of the disaster I had planned to bring. |
| 9And if I announce that I will plant and build up a certain nation or kingdom, | 9And if at another time I announce that I will build up and establish a nation or kingdom, |
| 10but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless it as I said I would. | 10and if it does evil in My sight and does not listen to My voice, then I will relent of the good I had intended for it. |
| 11“Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all Judah and Jerusalem. Say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am planning disaster for you instead of good. So turn from your evil ways, each of you, and do what is right.’” | 11Now therefore, tell the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘Behold, I am planning a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways, and correct your ways and deeds.’ |
| 12But the people replied, “Don’t waste your breath. We will continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our own evil desires.” | 12But they will reply, ‘It is hopeless. We will follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’ ” |
| 13So this is what the LORD says: “Has anyone ever heard of such a thing, even among the pagan nations? My virgin daughter Israel has done something terrible! | 13Therefore this is what the LORD says: “Inquire among the nations: Who has ever heard things like these? Virgin Israel has done a most terrible thing. |
| 14Does the snow ever disappear from the mountaintops of Lebanon? Do the cold streams flowing from those distant mountains ever run dry? | 14Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave its rocky slopes? Or do its cool waters flowing from a distance ever run dry? |
| 15But my people are not so reliable, for they have deserted me; they burn incense to worthless idols. They have stumbled off the ancient highways and walk in muddy paths. | 15Yet My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to worthless idols that make them stumble in their ways, leaving the ancient roads to walk on rutted bypaths instead of on the highway. |
| 16Therefore, their land will become desolate, a monument to their stupidity. All who pass by will be astonished and will shake their heads in amazement. | 16They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads. |
| 17I will scatter my people before their enemies as the east wind scatters dust. And in all their trouble I will turn my back on them and refuse to notice their distress.” A Plot against Jeremiah | 17I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind. I will show them My back and not My face in the day of their calamity.” |
| 18Then the people said, “Come on, let’s plot a way to stop Jeremiah. We have plenty of priests and wise men and prophets. We don’t need him to teach the word and give us advice and prophecies. Let’s spread rumors about him and ignore what he says.” | 18Then some said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise, nor an oracle to the prophet. Come, let us denounce him and pay no heed to any of his words.” |
| 19LORD, hear me and help me! Listen to what my enemies are saying. | 19Attend to me, O LORD. Hear what my accusers are saying! |
| 20Should they repay evil for good? They have dug a pit to kill me, though I pleaded for them and tried to protect them from your anger. | 20Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn Your wrath from them. |
| 21So let their children starve! Let them die by the sword! Let their wives become childless widows. Let their old men die in a plague, and let their young men be killed in battle! | 21Therefore, hand their children over to famine; pour out the power of the sword upon them. Let their wives become childless and widowed; let their husbands be slain by disease, their young men struck down by the sword in battle. |
| 22Let screaming be heard from their homes as warriors come suddenly upon them. For they have dug a pit for me and have hidden traps along my path. | 22Let a cry be heard 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. |
| 23LORD, you know all about their murderous plots against me. Don’t forgive their crimes and blot out their sins. Let them die before you. Deal with them in your anger. | 23But You, O LORD, know all their deadly plots against me. Do not wipe out their guilt or blot out their sin from Your sight. Let them be overthrown before You; deal with them in the time of Your anger. |
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