The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, 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 was making a work on the wheels.
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.
Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,
O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith Jehovah. Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel.
At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it;
if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, 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 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.
Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.
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.
Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Ask ye now among the nations, who hath heard such things; the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.
Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? or shall the cold waters {Or, of strange lands that flow down be &c.}that flow down from afar be {Or, plucked up}dried up?
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;
to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and shake his head.
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.
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 Jehovah, 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 how I stood before thee to speak good for them, to turn away thy wrath from them.
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.
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, Jehovah, 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 {Hebrew: made to stumble.}overthrown before thee; deal thou with them in the time of thine anger.
Querverweise zu Jeremia 18,15 Jer 18,15
For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
They are vanity, a work of {Or, mockery}delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they that lead thee cause thee to err, and {Hebrew: swallow up.}destroy the way of thy paths.
Thus saith Jehovah, Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way; and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls: but they said, We will not walk therein.
and have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for burnt-offerings unto Baal; which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my {Hebrew: heart.}mind:
Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.
O Jehovah, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, unto thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Our fathers have inherited nought but lies, even vanity and things wherein there is no profit.
For they that lead this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are {Hebrew: swallowed up.}destroyed.
And {Or, it shall be said}he will say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people.
Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great assembly, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,
As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of Jehovah, we will not hearken unto thee.
But we will certainly perform every word that is gone forth out of our mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of {Hebrew: bread.}victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
But since we left off burning incense to the queen of heaven, and pouring out drink-offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink-offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to {Or, portray}worship her, and pour out drink-offerings unto her, without our husbands?
But ye are turned aside out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble in the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts.
A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping and the supplications of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Jehovah their God.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and with your hands have fulfilled it, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her: establish then your vows, and perform your vows.
he shall not honor his father {Some ancient authorities add or his mother.}. And ye have made void the {Some ancient authorities read law.}word of God because of your tradition.
This is thy lot, the portion measured unto thee from me, saith Jehovah; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.
{Or, Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nought}Behold, all of them, their works are vanity and nought; their molten images are wind and confusion.
It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything whereby thy brother stumbleth {Many ancient authorities add or is offended, or is weak.}.
O Jehovah, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be put to shame. They that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Jehovah, the fountain of living waters.
your own iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith Jehovah, that have burned incense upon the mountains, and {Or, defiled}blasphemed me upon the hills; therefore will I {Or, measure their former work}first measure their work into their bosom.
And I will visit upon her the days of the Baalim, {Or, wherein she burned incense to them}unto which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her {Or, nose-rings}earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith Jehovah.
The more the prophets called them, the more they went from them: they sacrificed unto the Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.