Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, "O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine 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 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. Now therefore go, 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 everyone from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.'"
But they say, "There is no hope: for we will walk after [{303}] our own devices, and we will do everyone after the stubbornness of his evil heart."
Therefore thus saith the Lord, "Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? or shall the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up? For my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to false gods; and they have caused them 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; everyone that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and shake his head. I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will look upon their back, and not their face, in the day of their calamity."
(At another time he took an earthen vessel which the potter had made and broke it in the sight of the people.)
Thus said the Lord, "Go, and buy a potter's earthen vessel, and take of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests; and go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee: and say, 'Hear ye the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, at which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle. Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom they knew not, they and their fathers and the kings of Judah; and have filled his place with the blood of innocents; and have [{304}] 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 mind: therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter. And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of them that seek their life: and their carcases will I give to be food for the birds of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. And I will make this city an astonishment, and an hissing; everyone that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof. And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat everyone the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the distress, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their life, shall distress them.'
"Then shalt thou break the vessel in the sight of the men that go with thee, and shalt say unto them, 'Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury in Topheth, till there lie no place to bury. Thus will I do unto this place, saith the Lord, and to the inhabitants thereof, even making this city as Topheth: and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of [{305}] heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.'"
Then came Jeremiah from Topheth, whither the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord's house, and said to all the people: "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it; because they have made their heart hard, that they might not hear my words.'"
III
THE KING'S ANGER
(Jeremiah had his prophecies written down by his clerk. But when the king read from the scroll on which they were written, he was so angry that he cut up the scroll, and burned it. This did not prevent the prophecies from being known, for Jeremiah had them written upon a new scroll.)
And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, "Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin."