Lockman - Bible questions and answers

		Jer 18:1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
		Jer 18:2 "Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will make you hear My words."
		Jer 18:3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and saw that he was working at the wheel.
		Jer 18:4 But the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled by the potter's hand; so he made it over, reworking it and making it into another pot that seemed good to him.
		Jer 18:5 ¶ Then the word of the LORD came to me:
		Jer 18:6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" says the LORD. "Look carefully, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.
		Jer 18:7 "At one moment I might [suddenly] speak concerning a nation or kingdom, that I will uproot and break down and destroy;
		Jer 18:8 if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent and reverse My decision concerning the devastation that I intended to do.
		Jer 18:9 "Or at another time I might [suddenly] speak about a nation or kingdom that I will build up or establish;
		Jer 18:10 and if they do evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will reverse My decision concerning the good with which I had promised to bless them.
		Jer 18:11 "Now then, say to the men of Judah and to the citizens of Jerusalem, 'Thus says the LORD, "Behold, I am shaping a disaster and working out a plan against you. Turn back, each of you from his evil way; correct your habits and change your actions for the better."'
		Jer 18:12 "But they will say, 'That is hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act in accordance with the stubbornness of his evil heart.'
		Jer 18:13 ¶ "Therefore thus says the LORD, 'Ask now among the nations, Who has heard of such things? The virgin Israel Has done a very vile and horrible thing.
		Jer 18:14 'Will the snow of [Mount] Lebanon melt and vanish from its rocks [which tower above Israel]? Will the cold, rushing waters of foreign lands [that flow down from the distant land] be dried up?
		Jer 18:15 'Yet My people have forgotten Me; They burn incense to worthless gods, They have stumbled from their ways From the ancient roads, To walk in pathways, Not on a highway,
		Jer 18:16 Making their land a desolation and a horror, A thing to be hissed at perpetually; Everyone who passes by will be astounded And shake his head [in scorn].
		Jer 18:17 'I will scatter them like an east wind Before the enemy; I will show them My back and not My face In the day of their disaster [says the LORD].'"
		Jer 18:18 ¶ Then [my enemies] said, "Come and let us work out schemes against Jeremiah. Surely the law is not going to be lost to the priest [as Jeremiah predicts], nor the counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us strike him with our tongue [by making charges against him before the king], and let us ignore anything he says."
		Jer 18:19 ¶ Pay attention to me, O LORD [and intercede]; Listen to what my adversaries are saying [and are plotting against me]--
		Jer 18:20 Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember [with compassion] that I stood before You To speak good on their behalf, To turn Your anger away from them.
		Jer 18:21 Therefore, give their children over to the famine; Give them over to the power of the sword. And let their wives become childless and widowed; Let their men meet death [by virulent disease], Their young men be struck down by the sword in battle.
		Jer 18:22 Let an outcry be heard from their houses When You suddenly bring [a troop of] raiders upon them, For they have dug a pit to capture me And have hidden snares for my feet.
		Jer 18:23 Yet You, O LORD, know All their deadly plotting against me; Do not forgive their wickedness Or blot out their sin from Your sight. But let them be overthrown before You; Deal with them in the time of Your anger.

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