The Message Bible MSG
King James Version KJV
1 God told Jeremiah,
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The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2 "Up on your feet! Go to the potter's house. When you get there, I'll tell you what I have to say."
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Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
3 So I went to the potter's house, and sure enough, the potter was there, working away at his wheel.
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Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
4 Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot.
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And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
5 Then God's Message came to me:
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Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
6 "Can't I do just as this potter does, people of Israel?" God's Decree! "Watch this potter. In the same way that this potter works his clay, I work on you, people of Israel.
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O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
7 At any moment I may decide to pull up a people or a country by the roots and get rid of them.
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At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;
8 But if they repent of their wicked lives, I will think twice and start over with them.
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If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
9 At another time I might decide to plant a people or country,
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And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
10 but if they don't cooperate and won't listen to me, I will think again and give up on the plans I had for them.
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If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
11 "So, tell the people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem my Message: 'Danger! I'm shaping doom against you, laying plans against you. Turn back from your doomed way of life. Straighten out your lives.'
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Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.
12 "But they'll just say, 'Why should we? What's the point? We'll live just the way we've always lived, doom or no doom.'"
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And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.
13 God's Message: "Ask around. Survey the godless nations. Has anyone heard the likes of this? Virgin Israel has become a slut!
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Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.
14 Does snow disappear from the Lebanon peaks? Do alpine streams run dry?
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Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?
15 But my people have left me to worship the Big Lie. They've gotten off the track, the old, well-worn trail, And now bushwhack through underbrush in a tangle of roots and vines.
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Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;
16 Their land's going to end up a mess - a fool's memorial to be spit on. Travelers passing through will shake their heads in disbelief.
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To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.
17 I'll scatter my people before their enemies, like autumn leaves in a high wind. On their day of doom, they'll stare at my back as I walk away, catching not so much as a glimpse of my face."
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I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
18 Some of the people said, "Come on, let's cook up a plot against Jeremiah. We'll still have the priests to teach us the law, wise counselors to give us advice, and prophets to tell us what God has to say. Come on, let's discredit him so we don't have to put up with him any longer."
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Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
19 And I said to God: "God, listen to me! Just listen to what my enemies are saying.
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Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.
20 Should I get paid evil for good? That's what they're doing. They've made plans to kill me! Remember all the times I stood up for them before you, speaking up for them, trying to soften your anger?
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Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.
21 But enough! Let their children starve! Let them be massacred in battle! Let their wives be childless and widowed, their friends die and their proud young men be killed.
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Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.
22 Let cries of panic sound from their homes as you surprise them with war parties! They're all set to lynch me. The noose is practically around my neck!
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Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.
23 But you know all this, God. You know they're determined to kill me. Don't whitewash their crimes, don't overlook a single sin! Round the bunch of them up before you. Strike while the iron of your anger is hot!"
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Yet, LORD, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The King James Version is in the public domain.