Common English Bible CEB
English Standard Version ESV
1 Jeremiah received the LORD's word:
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The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
2 Go down to the potter's house, and I'll give you instructions about what to do there.
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“Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words. ”
3 So I went down to the potter's house; he was working on the potter's wheel.
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So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel.
4 But the piece he was making was flawed while still in his hands, so the potter started on another, as seemed best to him.
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And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.
5 Then the LORD's word came to me:
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Then the word of the Lord came to me:
6 House of Israel, can't I deal with you like this potter, declares the LORD? Like clay in the potter's hand, so are you in mine, house of Israel!
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“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
7 At any time I may announce that I will dig up, pull down, and destroy a nation or kingdom;
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If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it,
8 but if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I'll relent and not carry out the harm I intended for it.
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and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it.
9 At the same time, I may announce that I will build and plant a nation or kingdom;
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And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it,
10 but if that nation displeases and disobeys me, then I'll relent and not carry out the good I intended for it.
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and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.
11 Now say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem: This is what the LORD says: I am a potter preparing a disaster for you; I'm working out a plan against you. So each one of you, turn from your evil ways; reform your ways and your actions.
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Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds. ’
12 But they said, "What's the use! We will follow our own plans and act according to our own willful, evil hearts."
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“But they say, ‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart. ’
13 Therefore, the LORD proclaims: Ask among the nations: Have you ever heard anything like this? Virgin Israel has done the most horrible thing.
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“Therefore thus says the Lord: Ask among the nations, Who has heard the like of this? The virgin Israel has done a very horrible thing.
14 Does the snow on the mountains of Lebanon ever melt entirely off their rocky cliffs? Do the cool mountain streams ever dry up?
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Does the snow of Lebanon leave the crags of Sirion? Do the mountain waters run dry, the cold flowing streams?
15 Yet my people have forgotten me; they have offered sacrifices to a lie. And so they have stumbled along the way, even along the ancient paths. They have taken side roads, not the main roads.
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But my people have forgotten me; they make offerings to false gods; they made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient roads, and to walk into side roads, not the highway,
16 They have ruined their country and brought utter shame on it. All who pass by are shocked and shake their heads.
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making their land a horror, a thing to be hissed at forever. Everyone who passes by it is horrified and shakes his head.
17 Like a strong east wind, I will scatter them before their enemy. When disaster strikes them, I will show them my back, not my face.
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Like the east wind I will scatter them before the enemy. I will show them my back, not my face, in the day of their calamity. ”
18 Then they said, "Come, let's unite against Jeremiah, for the priest's instruction won't fail, nor will the sage's counsel, nor the prophet's word. Come, let's silence him and pay no attention to his words."
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Then they said, “Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words. ”
19 Pay attention to me, LORD; listen to what my enemies are saying.
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Hear me, O Lord, and listen to the voice of my adversaries.
20 Should evil be returned for good? Yet they have set traps for me. Remember that I stood before you, begging you to be merciful and not to punish them.
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Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for my life. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.
21 Enough! Let their children starve; let them die by the sword. Let their wives be barren widows; let their men be slaughtered and their youth struck down in battle.
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Therefore deliver up their children to famine; give them over to the power of the sword; let their wives become childless and widowed. May their men meet death by pestilence, their youths be struck down by the sword in battle.
22 Let screams be heard from their homes when you suddenly bring armies against them. They have dug a pit to capture me, set traps for my feet.
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May a cry be heard from their houses, when you bring the plunderer suddenly upon them! For they have dug a pit to take me and laid snares for my feet.
23 But you, LORD, you know all their sinister plots to kill me. Don't overlook their wrongdoing; don't cleanse their sin from before you. May they stumble before you; when you become angry, do something about them.
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Yet you, O Lord, know all their plotting to kill me. Forgive not their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from your sight. Let them be overthrown before you; deal with them in the time of your anger.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025