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 18,22 Jer 18,22
My anguish, my anguish! {Another reading is, I will wait patiently}I am pained at {Hebrew: the walls of my heart.}my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I cannot hold my peace; because {Or, as otherwised read, my soul heareth}thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
For I have heard the defaming of many, terror on every side. Denounce, and we will denounce him, say all my familiar friends, they that watch for my fall; peradventure he will be persuaded, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.
Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtains in a moment.
They also that seek after my life lay snares for me;And they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things,And meditate deceits all the day long.
For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that gaspeth for breath, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul fainteth before the murderers.
All the day long they wrest my words:All their thoughts are against me for evil.
They gather themselves together, they hide themselves,They mark my steps, {Or, Inasmuch as}Even as they have waited for my soul.
{Or, They think to escape}Shall they escape by iniquity?In anger cast down the peoples, O God.
O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.
That they may shoot in secret places at the perfect:Suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.
Yet hear the word of Jehovah, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor lamentation.
They encourage themselves in an evil purpose;They commune of laying snares privily;They say, Who will see them?
For death is come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.
The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords;They have spread a net by the wayside;They have set gins for me. [Selah
Wail, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow in ashes, ye principal of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are fully come, and ye shall fall like a goodly vessel.
And {Hebrew: flight shall perish from the shepherds and escape from &c.}the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.
A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the principal of the flock! for Jehovah layeth waste their pasture.
Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might ensnare him in his talk.
Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall become an overflowing stream, and shall overflow the land and all that is therein, the city and them that dwell therein; and the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail.
At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers look not back to their children for feebleness of hands;
The sound of a cry from Horonaim, desolation and great destruction!
Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.
For by the ascent of Luhith with continual weeping shall they go up; for at the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.
Cry aloud with thy voice, O daughter of Gallim! hearken, O Laishah! O thou poor Anathoth!
The {Or, oracle}burden of the valley of vision.What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops?
O thou that art full of shoutings, a tumultuous city, a joyous town; thy slain are not slain with the sword, neither are they dead in battle.
All thy rulers fled away together, they were bound {Or, without the bow}by the archers; all that were found of thee were bound together; {Or, that had fled from far}they fled afar off.
Therefore said I, Look away from me, I will weep bitterly; {Or, hasten}labor not to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
And in that day, saith Jehovah, there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and a wailing from the {Hebrew: Mishneh.}second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills.
Wail, ye inhabitants of {Or, The mortar}Maktesh; for all {Or, the merchant people}the people of Canaan are undone; all they that were laden with silver are cut off.
a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high {Or, corner towers}battlements.