New Living Translation NLT
New International Version NIV
1 The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said,
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This 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.”
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“Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.”
3 So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel.
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So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel.
4 But 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.
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But 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.
5 Then the LORD gave me this message:
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Then the word of the LORD came to me.
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.
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He 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.
7 If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed,
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If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed,
8 but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned.
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and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.
9 And if I announce that I will plant and build up a certain nation or kingdom,
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And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted,
10 but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless it as I said I would.
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and 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.