Jeremiah:18-22

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* The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD , saying , * Arise , and go down to the potter 's house , and there I will cause thee to hear my words . * Then I went down to the potter 's house , and , behold , he wrought a work on the wheels . * 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 . * Then the word of the LORD came to me , saying , * 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 . * At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation , and concerning a kingdom , to pluck up , and to pull down , and to destroy it ; * 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 . * And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation , and concerning a kingdom , to build and to plant it ; * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * 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 ? * 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 ; * To make their land desolate , and a perpetual hissing ; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished , and wag his head . * 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 . * 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 . * Give heed to me , O LORD , and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me . * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * Thus saith the LORD , Go and get a potter 's earthen bottle , and take of the ancients of the people , and of the ancients of the priests ; * And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom , which is by the entry of the east gate , and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee , * And say , Hear ye the word of the LORD , O kings of Judah , and inhabitants of Jerusalem ; Thus saith the LORD of hosts , the God of Israel ; Behold , I will bring evil upon this place , the which whosoever heareth , his ears shall tingle . * Because they have forsaken me , and have estranged this place , and have burned incense in it unto other gods , whom neither they nor their fathers have known , nor the kings of Judah , and have filled this place with the blood of innocents ; * They have built also the high places of Baal , to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal , which I commanded not , nor spake it , neither came it into my mind : * Therefore , behold , the days come , saith the LORD , that this place shall no more be called Tophet , nor The valley of the son of Hinnom , but The valley of slaughter . * And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place ; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies , and by the hands of them that seek their lives : and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven , and for the beasts of the earth . * And I will make this city desolate , and an hissing ; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof . * And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters , and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness , wherewith their enemies , and they that seek their lives , shall straiten them . * Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee , * And shalt say unto them , Thus saith the LORD of hosts ; Even so will I break this people and this city , as one breaketh a potter 's vessel , that cannot be made whole again : and they shall bury them in Tophet , till there be no place to bury . * Thus will I do unto this place , saith the LORD , and to the inhabitants thereof , and even make this city as Tophet : * And the houses of Jerusalem , and the houses of the kings of Judah , shall be defiled as the place of Tophet , because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven , and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods . * Then came Jeremiah from Tophet , whither the LORD had sent him to prophesy ; and he stood in the court of the LORD 'S house ; and said to all the people , * Thus saith the LORD of hosts , the God of Israel ; Behold , I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it , because they have hardened their necks , that they might not hear my words . * Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest , who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD , heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things . * Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet , and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin , which was by the house of the LORD . * And it came to pass on the morrow , that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks . Then said Jeremiah unto him , The LORD hath not called thy name Pashur , but Magormissabib . * For thus saith the LORD , Behold , I will make thee a terror to thyself , and to all thy friends : and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies , and thine eyes shall behold it : and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon , and he shall carry them captive into Babylon , and shall slay them with the sword . * Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city , and all the labours thereof , and all the precious things thereof , and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies , which shall spoil them , and take them , and carry them to Babylon . * And thou , Pashur , and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity : and thou shalt come to Babylon , and there thou shalt die , and shalt be buried there , thou , and all thy friends , to whom thou hast prophesied lies . * O LORD , thou hast deceived me , and I was deceived : thou art stronger than I , and hast prevailed : I am in derision daily , every one mocketh me . * For since I spake , I cried out , I cried violence and spoil ; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me , and a derision , daily . * Then I said , I will not make mention of him , nor speak any more in his name . But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones , and I was weary with forbearing , and I could not stay . * For I heard the defaming of many , fear on every side . Report , say they , and we will report it . All my familiars watched for my halting , saying , Peradventure he will be enticed , and we shall prevail against him , and we shall take our revenge on him . * But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one : therefore my persecutors shall stumble , and they shall not prevail : they shall be greatly ashamed ; for they shall not prosper : their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten . * But , O LORD of hosts , that triest the righteous , and seest the reins and the heart , let me see thy vengeance on them : for unto thee have I opened my cause . * Sing unto the LORD , praise ye the LORD : for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers . * Cursed be the day wherein I was born : let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed . * Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father , saying , A man child is born unto thee ; making him very glad . * And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew , and repented not : and let him hear the cry in the morning , and the shouting at noontide ; * Because he slew me not from the womb ; or that my mother might have been my grave , and her womb to be always great with me . * Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow , that my days should be consumed with shame ? * The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD , when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah , and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest , saying , * Enquire , I pray thee , of the LORD for us ; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us ; if so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works , that he may go up from us . * Then said Jeremiah unto them , Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah : * Thus saith the LORD God of Israel ; Behold , I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands , wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon , and against the Chaldeans , which besiege you without the walls , and I will assemble them into the midst of this city . * And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm , even in anger , and in fury , and in great wrath . * And I will smite the inhabitants of this city , both man and beast : they shall die of a great pestilence . * And afterward , saith the LORD , I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah , and his servants , and the people , and such as are left in this city from the pestilence , from the sword , and from the famine , into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon , and into the hand of their enemies , and into the hand of those that seek their life : and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword ; he shall not spare them , neither have pity , nor have mercy . * And unto this people thou shalt say , Thus saith the LORD ; Behold , I set before you the way of life , and the way of death . * He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword , and by the famine , and by the pestilence : but he that goeth out , and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you , he shall live , and his life shall be unto him for a prey . * For I have set my face against this city for evil , and not for good , saith the LORD : it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon , and he shall burn it with fire . * And touching the house of the king of Judah , say , Hear ye the word of the LORD ; * O house of David , thus saith the LORD ; Execute judgment in the morning , and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor , lest my fury go out like fire , and burn that none can quench it , because of the evil of your doings . * Behold , I am against thee , O inhabitant of the valley , and rock of the plain , saith the LORD ; which say , Who shall come down against us ? or who shall enter into our habitations ? * But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings , saith the LORD : and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof , and it shall devour all things round about it . * Thus saith the LORD ; Go down to the house of the king of Judah , and speak there this word , * And say , Hear the word of the LORD , O king of Judah , that sittest upon the throne of David , thou , and thy servants , and thy people that enter in by these gates : * Thus saith the LORD ; Execute ye judgment and righteousness , and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor : and do no wrong , do no violence to the stranger , the fatherless , nor the widow , neither shed innocent blood in this place . * For if ye do this thing indeed , then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David , riding in chariots and on horses , he , and his servants , and his people . * But if ye will not hear these words , I swear by myself , saith the LORD , that this house shall become a desolation . * For thus saith the LORD unto the king 's house of Judah ; Thou art Gilead unto me , and the head of Lebanon : yet surely I will make thee a wilderness , and cities which are not inhabited . * And I will prepare destroyers against thee , every one with his weapons : and they shall cut down thy choice cedars , and cast them into the fire . * And many nations shall pass by this city , and they shall say every man to his neighbour , Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great city ? * Then they shall answer , Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God , and worshipped other gods , and served them . * Weep ye not for the dead , neither bemoan him : but weep sore for him that goeth away : for he shall return no more , nor see his native country . * For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah , which reigned instead of Josiah his father , which went forth out of this place ; He shall not return thither any more : * But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive , and shall see this land no more . * Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness , and his chambers by wrong ; that useth his neighbour 's service without wages , and giveth him not for his work ; * That saith , I will build me a wide house and large chambers , and cutteth him out windows ; and it is cieled with cedar , and painted with vermilion . * Shalt thou reign , because thou closest thyself in cedar ? did not thy father eat and drink , and do judgment and justice , and then it was well with him ? * He judged the cause of the poor and needy ; then it was well with him : was not this to know me ? saith the LORD . * But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness , and for to shed innocent blood , and for oppression , and for violence , to do it . * Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah ; They shall not lament for him , saying , Ah my brother ! or , Ah sister ! they shall not lament for him , saying , Ah lord ! or , Ah his glory ! * He shall be buried with the burial of an ass , drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem . * Go up to Lebanon , and cry ; and lift up thy voice in Bashan , and cry from the passages : for all thy lovers are destroyed . * I spake unto thee in thy prosperity ; but thou saidst , I will not hear . This hath been thy manner from thy youth , that thou obeyedst not my voice . * The wind shall eat up all thy pastors , and thy lovers shall go into captivity : surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness . * O inhabitant of Lebanon , that makest thy nest in the cedars , how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee , the pain as of a woman in travail ! * As I live , saith the LORD , though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand , yet would I pluck thee thence ; * And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life , and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest , even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon , and into the hand of the Chaldeans . * And I will cast thee out , and thy mother that bare thee , into another country , where ye were not born ; and there shall ye die . * But to the land whereunto they desire to return , thither shall they not return . * Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol ? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure ? wherefore are they cast out , he and his seed , and are cast into a land which they know not ? * O earth , earth , earth , hear the word of the LORD . * Thus saith the LORD , Write ye this man childless , a man that shall not prosper in his days : for no man of his seed shall prosper , sitting upon the throne of David , and ruling any more in Judah . * Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture ! saith the LORD .

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