Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying. ] While he was in the potter's house, and after he had observed his manner of working, and the change he had made in his work, the Lord spoke to him, and applied it in the following manner.
3
And I went down into the house of a potter, and lo! he made a work on a wheel.
4
And the vessel was destroyed, which he made of clay with his hands; and he turned it, and made it another vessel, as it pleased in his eyes to make. (And when the vessel, which he made out of clay with his hands, was not acceptable, he turned it again, and made it into another vessel, which did please his eyes.)
5
And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,
6
Whether as this potter doeth, I may not do to you, the house of Israel? saith the Lord. Lo! as clay is in the hand of a potter, so ye, the house of Israel, be in mine hand (Lo! like clay is in a potter's hands, so ye, the house of Israel, be in my hands).
7
Suddenly I shall speak against a folk, and against a realm, that I draw (it) out, and destroy (it), and lose it.