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The Prophets · Old Testament

Jeremiah 18

Jeremiah 18: the potter's house and the plot to smite the prophet with the tongue

General context

The word sends Jeremiah down to the potter's house, where the potter works on the wheels. The clay vessel is marred in the potter's hand, and the potter makes it again as seems good to him. The Lord asks whether he cannot do with the house of Israel as this potter, since they are in his hand as clay. When he speaks to pluck up a nation and it turns from its evil, he repents of the evil; when he speaks to build a nation and it does evil, he repents of the good. Jeremiah is to tell the men of Judah that the Lord frames evil against them and to call them to return. They answer, There is no hope, and will walk after their own devices. The Lord tells them to ask among the heathen who has heard such things: the virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing. A man does not forsake the snow of Lebanon or cold flowing waters, but his people have forgotten him and stumbled from the ancient paths, so their land will become a perpetual hissing, and he will show them the back, not the face. Then unnamed men say, Come, let us devise devices against Jeremiah, since law, counsel and word will not perish from priest, wise and prophet; let us smite him with the tongue. Jeremiah asks the Lord to give heed to him, asking whether evil should be recompensed for good, since they have dug a pit for his soul though he stood before the Lord to speak good for them. He asks that their children be given to famine, their blood poured out by the sword, their wives widowed and their young men slain, and that the Lord not forgive their iniquity but overthrow them in the time of his anger.

Cited passages: Jeremiah 18:1, Jeremiah 18:2, Jeremiah 18:3, Jeremiah 18:4, Jeremiah 18:6, Jeremiah 18:7, Jeremiah 18:8, Jeremiah 18:9, Jeremiah 18:10, Jeremiah 18:11, Jeremiah 18:12, Jeremiah 18:13, Jeremiah 18:14, Jeremiah 18:15, Jeremiah 18:16, Jeremiah 18:17, Jeremiah 18:18, Jeremiah 18:19, Jeremiah 18:20, Jeremiah 18:21, Jeremiah 18:22, Jeremiah 18:23

Jeremiah 18 (KJV)

1The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

2Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.

3Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.

4And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

5Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

6O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

7At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;

8If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

9And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;

10If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.

11Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.

12And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.

13Therefore thus saith the Lord; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.

14Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?

15Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;

16To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.

17I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.

18Then 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.

19Give heed to me, O Lord, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.

20Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.

21Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.

22Let 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.

23Yet, Lord, 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 overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.

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Historical context

The potter episode is told in the first person after a third-person heading, "The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord." The text says the prophet went down to the potter's house and saw the work on the wheels; it does not name the potter or say where the house was. The vessel is "marred in the hand of the potter," and the remaking is described as the potter's own choice, "as seemed good to the potter." The rule in verses 7 through 10 is stated for "a nation" and "a kingdom" in general, and the Lord's repenting is stated in both directions, of evil and of good. The people's reply in verse 12, "There is no hope," repeats their words in 2:25. The plotters in verse 18 are "they," not named; their reasoning lists priest, wise and prophet as sources that will not fail, so the plot is to discredit Jeremiah by speech, "let us smite him with the tongue." The pit and snares in verses 20 and 22 are Jeremiah's figures for what they have done. The prayer of verses 21 through 23 asks for famine, sword, bereavement and death on the plotters' families and for their sin not to be forgiven; the text records it as the prophet's words to the Lord and reports no answer in this chapter. Lebanon appears only in the comparison about snow and waters.

Cited passages: Jeremiah 18:1, Jeremiah 18:3, Jeremiah 18:4, Jeremiah 18:7, Jeremiah 18:8, Jeremiah 18:10, Jeremiah 18:12, Jeremiah 18:14, Jeremiah 18:18, Jeremiah 18:20, Jeremiah 18:21, Jeremiah 18:22, Jeremiah 18:23

Literary context

The chapter joins a sign to a complaint. The potter scene is told with few words, and its meaning is given as a question, "cannot I do with you as this potter?" The rule that follows is built as two symmetrical cases, pluck up and build, each reversed by the nation's conduct, and it echoes the six verbs of 1:10. The people's reply is the reversal the rule allows for but in the wrong direction: instead of turning, they say there is no hope. The Lord's questions about the snow of Lebanon and the cold flowing waters set what no one would abandon against what his people did abandon, and the ancient paths recall the old paths of 6:16. The chapter turns at verse 18 with "Then said they," and the plotters' own words expose their method, the tongue against the prophet whose mouth carries the word. Jeremiah's prayer reverses his earlier role: verse 20 recalls that he stood before the Lord to speak good for them, and the verses that follow ask for the opposite. The prayer's list of famine, sword, widows and slain young men mirrors the judgments the Lord has pronounced on Judah, now asked for against the prophet's enemies. The chapter ends without the Lord's reply.

Cited passages: Jeremiah 18:4, Jeremiah 18:6, Jeremiah 18:7, Jeremiah 18:8, Jeremiah 18:9, Jeremiah 18:10, Jeremiah 18:12, Jeremiah 18:14, Jeremiah 18:15, Jeremiah 18:18, Jeremiah 18:20, Jeremiah 18:21, Jeremiah 18:23

Key moments

  1. Go down to the potter's house (Jeremiah 18:2). The Lord sends Jeremiah to hear his words at the potter's house.
  2. Marred and made again (Jeremiah 18:4). The clay vessel is marred in the potter's hand and reshaped as he sees fit.
  3. As the clay in the potter's hand (Jeremiah 18:6). The Lord says the house of Israel is in his hand as clay.
  4. If that nation turn (Jeremiah 18:8). The Lord will repent of the evil he pronounced against a nation that turns.
  5. There is no hope (Jeremiah 18:12). The people say they will walk after their own devices.
  6. Smite him with the tongue (Jeremiah 18:18). Unnamed men devise devices against Jeremiah and resolve not to heed his words.
  7. Forgive not their iniquity (Jeremiah 18:23). Jeremiah asks the Lord to overthrow his plotters and not blot out their sin.

For reflection

The same Jeremiah who stood before the Lord to speak good for the people asks that their children be given to famine and their sin not be forgiven. What does the chapter ask a reader to make of a prayer like that, placed right after the picture of clay that can be made again?

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