Down to the potter's house, where a marred vessel is simply made again as it seemed good to the potter: 'as the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel' (18:6).

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Down to the potter's house, where a marred vessel is simply made again as it seemed good to the potter: 'as the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel' (18:6). The lesson is not fatalism but responsiveness: if a nation I threatened turns from its evil, I repent of the evil; if a nation I promised to build does evil, I repent of the good. Judah answers, There is no hope; we will walk after our own devices. Does snow forsake Lebanon? Yet my people have forgotten me. The chapter closes with the plot ('let us smite him with the tongue') and the prophet's raw appeal for justice.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary, John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and John Calvin, Commentaries.

Context

Prophecy · Jeremiah — Jeremiah overview

A. 1–12 The Potter's House: Marred Clay Made Again
B. 13–17 The Snow of Lebanon Forsaken; Stumbling in Bypaths
C. 18–23 Come, Let Us Smite Him with the Tongue

Top cross-references8 chapters ▾

Jeremiah 23 verses
- Jeremiah 2:25Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.
- Jeremiah 2:27Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.
- Jeremiah 2:32Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
- Read Jeremiah 2 →
Jeremiah 182 verses
- Jeremiah 18:4And 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.
- Jeremiah 18:6O 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.
- Read Jeremiah 18 →
Ezekiel 182 verses
- Ezekiel 18:21But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
- Ezekiel 18:24But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.
- Read Ezekiel 18 →
Hosea 112 verses
- Hosea 11:2As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
- Hosea 11:8How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.
- Read Hosea 11 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

Jeremiah 112 verses
- Jeremiah 11:17For the Lord of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.
- Jeremiah 11:19But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.
- Read Jeremiah 11 →
Jeremiah 72 verses
- Jeremiah 7:3Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
- Jeremiah 7:24But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
- Read Jeremiah 7 →
Jeremiah 62 verses
- Jeremiah 6:16Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.
- Jeremiah 6:26O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.
- Read Jeremiah 6 →
Jeremiah 252 verses
- Jeremiah 25:9Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.
- Jeremiah 25:34Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel.
- Read Jeremiah 25 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.