As the clay in the hand of the potter, so is Israel in God’s hand. He pardoneth penitents, and punisheth the obstinate. They conspire against Jeremias, for which he denounceth to them the miseries that hang over them.
18:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying:
18:2. Arise, and go down into the potter’s house, and there thou shalt hear my words.
18:3. And I went down into the potter’s house, and behold he was doing a work on the wheel.
18:4. And the vessel was broken which he was making of clay with his hands: and turning he made another vessel, as it seemed good in his eyes to make it.
18:5. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
18:6. Cannot I do with you, as this potter, O house of Israel, saith the Lord? behold as clay is in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
18:7. I will suddenly speak against a nation, and against a kingdom, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy it.
18:8. If that nation against which I have spoken, shall repent of their evil, I also will repent of the evil that I have thought to do to them.
18:9. And I will suddenly speak of a nation and of a kingdom, to build up and plant it.