rsv Jeremiah:18:1-19 SEEK
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The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD :
* "
Arise ,
and go down to the potter '
s house ,
and there I will let you hear my words ."
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So I went down to the potter '
s house ,
and there he was working at his wheel .
*
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 .
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Then the word of the LORD came to me :
* "
O house of Israel ,
can I not do with you as this potter has done ?
says the LORD .
Behold ,
like the clay in the potter '
s hand ,
so are you in my hand ,
O house of Israel .
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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 ,
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and if that nation ,
concerning which I have spoken ,
turns from its evil ,
I will repent of the evil that I intended to do to it .
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And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it ,
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and if it does evil in my sight ,
not listening to my voice ,
then I will repent of the good which I had intended to do to it .
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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 evil against you and devising a plan against you .
Return ,
every one from his evil way ,
and amend your ways and your doings .'
* "
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 .'
* "
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 .
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Does the snow of Lebanon leave the crags of Si '
rion ?
Do the mountain waters run dry ,
the cold flowing streams ?
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But my people have forgotten me ,
they burn incense to false gods ;
they have stumbled in their ways ,
in the ancient roads ,
and have gone into bypaths ,
not the highway ,
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making their land a horror ,
a thing to be hissed at for ever .
Every one who passes by it is horrified and shakes his head .
*
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 ."
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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 smite him with the tongue ,
and let us not heed any of his words ."
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Give heed to me ,
O LORD ,
and hearken to my plea .