At the potter’s house
1 ① This is the word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah: 2“Go down to the potter’s house and there you will hear what I have to say.”
3So I went to the potter’s house and found him working at the wheel. 4But the pot he was working on was spoiled in his hands, so he reworked it all over again into another pot that suits his desire.
5Meanwhile Yahweh sent me his word, 6“People of Israel, can I not do with you what this potter does? As clay in the potter’s hand so are you in my hands.
7At times I warn a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot or destroy it. 8But if they change their ways, I then relent and refrain from doing the harm I had intended to do.
9At other times I declare that a nation or kingdom will be built up and planted 10but then they do what displeases me and do not listen to me, so I decide to reverse the good deeds that I intend to do.”
11And Yahweh added, “Now tell the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem: Yahweh says to you, ‘Listen, I am planning to destroy you; I am hatching a devastating plot against you! Turn from your evil ways; rectify your conduct and your deeds.’ 12But you reply: ‘It’s no use! We shall follow our own plans’; and each one goes on obeying his stubborn heart.”
My people have forsaken me
13Because of this Yahweh has to say:
Ask among the nations,
‘Has anyone heard the like of this?
The Virgin Israel has done a most abominable thing.
14Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave the rocky heights of the field?
Do the fresh waters of great rivers ever dry up?
15Yet my people have forgotten me, offering incense to empty idols that made them stumble on their way as they left the ancient paths. Now they have taken the wrong way, the crooked way that leads nowhere. 16Their land will be left desolate, and an object of lasting derision. All who pass by will be astonished and shake their heads.
17Like the wind that blows from the east I will scatter them before their enemies;
I will turn my back to them, not my face, in the day of their disaster!
Do not forgive their sin
18Then, they said, “Come, let us plot against Jeremiah, for even without him, there will be priests to interpret the Teachings of the Law; there will always be wisemen to impart counsel and prophets to proclaim the word.
Come, let us accuse him and strike him down instead of listening to what he says.”
19Hear me, O Yahweh!
Listen to what my accusers say.
20Is evil the reward for good?
Why do they dig a grave for me? Remember how I stood before you to speak well on their behalf so that your anger might subside.
21Now let their children starve;
hand them over to the sword!
Let their wives become childless and widows!
Let their men be victims of plague and their young men be slain in battle! 22Let cries be heard in their houses when you suddenly bring bandits against them,
for they have dug a pit to trap me and hidden snares to catch my feet.
23O Yahweh, you know all of their plots to take my life!
Forgive not their crime; forget not their sin;
crush them on the day of your anger.
- Jer 18,1 In several parts of the Bible, the comparison with the potter serves to show that God is absolute master and directs the lives of all according to his will: individuals as well as nations (see Is 29:16 and Rom 9:20). Here the same comparison is used to provide another teaching which complements the first: namely that we are free. If they change their ways, I will then refrain from doing the harm I planned. At any time, one can be converted and God will act accordingly. There is no plan of God written beforehand that we have to follow, pushed to do good or evil by some fatal destiny. God is continually creating us and he achieves his plan for the world while renewing each day the free relation it maintains with us. The Bible supports these two statements, that nothing escapes God and that we are free.
