Jeremiah 18
18
The Allegory of the Potter
1Here is the word Yahweh spoke to Jeremiah: 2“Arise and go to the potter’s workshop, and I will speak to you there.” 3So I went to the potter’s workshop, and there was the potter spinning his wheel. 4And whenever a piece of pottery turned out flawed, he reworked # 18:4 Or “restored [to the starting point].” Restoration is one of the themes of Jeremiah. The potter’s workshop is a picture of the human heart. The potter worked with two wheels in order to form a vessel. it into another vessel, # 18:4 The primitive root word for the Hebrew word for “vessel” (kalah) is klh, a homonym for the word for “bride.” As vessels of honor, we become the bride of Christ, shaped in love (see Gen. 2:22) by the Master Potter to be fit for a King. Jeremiah used the word kalah twenty-one times in his book. as seemed good to the potter. # 18:4 The potter’s work is a picture of grace. If there was a blemish in the clay or it was flawed in some way, the potter did not get angry and throw the clay away. Instead, he reshaped and reformed the clay into the vessel he wanted to create. In the same way, God, if he finds a blemish in his work in us, reshapes us in his hands and makes us new. Flaws do not hinder the work of God; he will restore and heal until he finds a vessel of honor to serve his purpose. God is the Master Potter of his creation.
5Then Yahweh began to speak to me. 6“Can I not do with the people of Israel just as the potter has done with the clay?” declares Yahweh. “Listen, people of Israel. You are clay that I shape in my hands like the clay in the potter’s hands. # 18:6 See Rom. 9:20–24. 7If I speak of uprooting, breaking down, or destroying a nation or a kingdom, 8and that nation turns back from its wicked ways, then I will turn back from the disaster that I planned against it. 9And at another time, if I speak of planting or building a nation or a kingdom, 10but that nation does evil in my eyes and does not listen to my voice, then I will relent concerning the good that I planned to show it.
11“So now, go say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘Yahweh says: Listen, I am a potter # 18:11 The verb for “shaping” comes from the same Hebrew root as the noun for “potter,” an obvious play on words. shaping punishment for you and working on a plan against you. Turn back, each person, from the evil way you live and the evil things you do!’
12“But they will answer: ‘It’s too late! We’ll live as we choose and be just as stubborn and evil as we want to be.’ ”
The People Reject Yahweh
13Therefore Yahweh says:
“Ask the people of every nation
and find out if they have ever heard
of such a horrible sin
as what you, virgin Israel, # 18:13 Virgin Israel is a term used to highlight the need for Israel to keep herself pure for her heavenly husband and not be defiled by the worship of false gods. Scripture speaks of the virgin daughter of Israel (see “virgin daughter of Zion” in Isa. 37:22), the virgin birth of Christ (see Matt. 1:23), and the virgin bride of Christ (see 2 Cor. 11:2). have done to betray me.
14Does the snow on Lebanon’s mountains
ever melt away? # 18:14 The meaning of the Hebrew cannot be understood with certainty.
Do the cold mountain streams
ever run dry? # 18:14 Or “Are foreign waters plucked up?”
15But my people have forgotten me
and burn incense to gods who are nothing,
who make my people stumble in their ways.
They no longer follow
the ways of blessing they knew before
but have followed paths that lead them nowhere. # 18:15 Or “They abandon the old reliable paths of their ancestors. They have left them to walk on side roads, roads that are not smooth and level.”
16Their homeland is a wasteland,
and everyone who passes by is horrified # 18:16 Or “a thing [land] to be hissed at forever.” To “hiss at” something was often associated with the feeling of being horrified or, perhaps, amazed.
and trembles with fear.
17Like a strong wind from the east,
I will blow them away before their enemies.
Since they have turned their back on me,
I will turn my back on them
and refuse to help them in their day of trouble.”
A Plot against Jeremiah
18Then the people said: “Come on, let’s plan a scheme against Jeremiah! There are always priests and wise ones who can give us instruction. We will still have prophets to give us Yahweh’s message. Come on, let’s attack his reputation and drum up phony charges against him. # 18:18 Or “let us strike him with the tongue” (Hebrew) or “let us destroy him by his own tongue” (Syriac). And let’s pay no attention to anything he says.”
19So I prayed,
“Yahweh, hear my cry!
Can’t you hear the voice of my adversaries?
20Good should not be repaid with evil,
but look! They are digging a pit for me.
Remember how I made intercession for them,
pleading in your presence
to turn away your wrath from them? # 18:20 See 15:11. Jeremiah provides us with an example of interceding even for those who hate us and persecute us. See Matt. 5:44.
21Therefore, may their children experience food shortages,
and let them be killed by the sword.
May death and warfare take away the men and youths,
leaving the women as childless widows.
22May cries be heard from their homes
as you suddenly bring raiders upon them without warning.
For they’ve dug a pit to catch me
and hidden snares for my feet.
23Yet, you know, Yahweh,
all their plots to kill me.
Do not pardon their sin
or blot out their guilt!
Let them stumble before you.
Deal with them severely in the time of your anger.”
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Jeremiah 18: TPT
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