Jer 18
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The word which came to Jeremiah from YHWH, saying,
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Arise, and go down to the potter`s house, and there I will cause you to hear my words.
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Then I went down to the potter`s house, and, behold, he was making a work on the wheels.
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And when the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter,
he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
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Then the word of YHWH came to me, saying,
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O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? says YHWH. Behold, as the
clay in the potter`s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
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At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck
up and to break down and to destroy it;
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if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent
of the evil that I thought to do to them.
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And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to
build and to plant it;
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if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they obey not my voice, then I will
repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
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Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,
Thus says YHWH: Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you:
return you now every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.
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But they say, It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do
every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart.
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Therefore thus says YHWH: Ask you now among the nations, who has heard such things;
the virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.
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Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? [or] shall the cold waters
that flow down from afar be dried up?
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For my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to false [gods]; and they
have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in bypaths,
in a way not cast up;
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to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passes
thereby shall be astonished, and shake his head.
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I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back,
and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
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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.
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Give heed to me, O YHWH, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.
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Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember
how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your anger from them.
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Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power
of the sword; and let their wives become childless, and widows; and let their men
be slain of death, [and] their young men smitten of the sword in battle.
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Let a cry be heard from their houses, when you shall bring a troop suddenly upon them;
for they have dug a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.
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Yet, YHWH, you know all their counsel against me to slay me; forgive not their iniquity,
neither blot out their sin from your sight; but let them be overthrown before you;
deal you with them in the time of your anger.