Jeremiah 18:1-10

1 This is the word the Lord spoke to Jeremiah:

2 "Go down to the potter's house, and I will give you my message there."

3 So I went down to the potter's house and saw him working at the potter's wheel.

4 He was using his hands to make a pot from clay, but something went wrong with it. So he used that clay to make another pot the way he wanted it to be.

5 Then the Lord spoke his word to me:

6 "Family of Israel, can't I do the same thing with you?" says the Lord. "You are in my hands like the clay in the potter's hands.

7 There may come a time when I will speak about a nation or a kingdom that I will pull up by its roots or that I will pull down to destroy it.

8 But if the people of that nation stop doing the evil they have done, I will change my mind and not carry out my plans to bring disaster to them.

9 There may come another time when I will speak about a nation that I will build up and plant.

10 But if I see it doing evil by not obeying me, I will change my mind and not carry out my plans to do good for them.

Jeremiah 18:1-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 18

This chapter expresses the sovereign power of God ever his creatures, and his usual methods of dealing with them; it threatens destruction to the Jews for their idolatry; and is closed with the prophet's complaint of his persecutors, and with imprecations upon them. The sovereign power of God is expressed under the simile of a potter working in his shop, and making and marring vessels at pleasure, Jer 18:1-4; the application of which to God, and the house of Israel, is in Jer 18:5,6; and is illustrated by his usual dealings with kingdoms and nations; for though he is a sovereign Being, yet he acts both in a kind and equitable way; and as the potter changes his work, so he changes the dispensations of his providence, of which two instances are given; the one is, that having threatened ruin to a nation, upon their repentance and good behaviour he revokes the threatening, Jer 18:7,8; and the other is, that having made a declaration of good to a people, upon their sin and disobedience he recalls it, and punishes them for their wickedness, Jer 18:9,10; then follows a prophecy of the destruction of the Jews in particular, in which they are exhorted to repentance to prevent it; their obstinacy is observed; their folly in departing from God, and worshipping idols, is exposed; and they are threatened with utter ruin, Jer 18:11-17; the conspiracy and evil designs of the Jews against the prophet, their malice and ingratitude, are complained of by him, Jer 18:18-20; his imprecations upon them, and prayers for their destruction, are delivered out in Jer 18:21-23.