Jeremiah 18:2
in Jeremiah 18“Go down at once to the potter’s house, and there I will reveal My message to you.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
KJV
Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
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This verse in Jeremiah 18
Commentary
10 notes on this verseGo down to the potter's house - By this similitude God shows the absolute state of dependence on himself in which he has placed mankind. They are as clay in the hands of the potter; and in reference to every thing here below, he can shape their destinies as he pleases. Again; though while under the providential care of God they may go morally astray, and pervert themselves, yet they can be reclaimed by the almighty and all-wise Operator, and become such vessels as seemeth good for him to make.
This site's exposition
This is the word that came
on Jeremiah 18:1-4
The LORD sends Jeremiah “down at once to the potter’s house” to watch an ordinary craft carry His message. The same clay is remade to a new pattern in the same hand.
This site's exposition
Go down at once to the
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read go down as the walk from the temple heights to the low ground of a known potter's house. Albert Barnes places the potters' clay field south of Jerusalem, just past the Valley of Hinnom. The LORD's message waits in an ordinary workshop.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
(Chapter XVIII — Verses 1-6) The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there you shall hear my words. So I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he was working on a wheel (or stones). And the vessel that he was making of clay with his hands was spoiled in his hands; so he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to him to do.
There are two visions of Jeremiah that have just been read, one following the other. The former of these contains what concerns the clay vessel in the potter's hand, which admits of restoration after being broken (for it is possible for it to be remolded); but the other vision contains what concerns the earthen jug, which, once shattered, admits of no cure. For when it was clay, if it was broken — even if it had already been given its shape — since it was clay, it was possible for it to become a second lump and to be fashioned a second time; but when, after being clay, it has already become earthenware and has been hardened by fire, then it was not possible, after the shattering of the earthenware, for any cure to come to it. What, then, these things intend, let us first consider by way of reflection, and then, if it be granted, let us examine them according to the letter. As long as we are in this life, we are being shaped — that I may so name it, on account of our clay vessel — in a potter's fashion, and we are shaped either according to vice or according to virtue. Yet we are shaped in such a way as to admit both that our vice may be shattered, so that a new and better creature may come to be, and that our progress may be dissolved after its shaping into a clay vessel. But when, after the present age, we arrive, having come to the end of life, and then, once fired — whether by the fire of the flaming darts of the evil one we become whatever we become, or by the divine fire (since indeed "our God is a consuming fire") — if, I say, we come to be under such or such a fire, whatever we become, if we are shattered, whether we were shattered and have perished from having become good vessels, or from having become wretched vessels, we are not created anew, nor does our structure admit of improvement. […]
"Get up and go to the potter's house, and there you will hear my words." Here we have a parable about a potter meant to call Israel to repentance. As the potter makes from clay any vessel he likes, so God can easily change their …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), but that he certainly will do what is just and fair with them. If he threaten their ruin, yet upon their repentance he will return in mercy to them, and, when he is coming towards them in mercy, nothing but their sin will stop the progress of his favours,
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Arise, and go down to the potter's house,.... Which, no doubt, was well known to the prophet; but where it was is not certain.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
go down--namely, from the high ground on which the temple stood, near which Jeremiah exercised his prophetic office, to the low ground, where some well-known (this is the force of "the") potter had his workshop.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
House - i. e., workshop. The clay-field where the potters exercised their craft lay to the south of Jerusalem just beyond the valley of Hinnom. Compare Zec 11:13; Mat 27:10.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ק֥וּם | kum | arise | H6965 → | 628 times |
| וְיָרַדְתָּ֖ | veyaradta | and you will go down | H3381 → | 381 times |
| בֵּ֣ית | beit | [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| הַיּוֹצֵ֑ר | haiyotzer | the potter | H3335 → | 62 times |
| וְשָׁ֖מָּה | veshamah | and there <towards> | H8033 → | 834 times |
| אַשְׁמִֽיעֲךָ֥ | ʾashmiakha | I will cause to hear you | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| דְּבָרָֽי׃ | devarai | words my | H1697 → | 1440 times |
ק֥וּםarise
kumH6965 →628 times
וְיָרַדְתָּ֖and you will go down
veyaradtaH3381 →381 times
בֵּ֣ית[the] house of
beitH1004 →2046 times
הַיּוֹצֵ֑רthe potter
haiyotzerH3335 →62 times
וְשָׁ֖מָּהand there <towards>
veshamahH8033 →834 times
אַשְׁמִֽיעֲךָ֥I will cause to hear you
ʾashmiakhaH8085 →1159 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
דְּבָרָֽי׃words my
devaraiH1697 →1440 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Hebrews 1:1On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets.
it leads to
- 2 Peter 1:20–21
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation.
- Numbers 12:6–8
He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, will reveal Myself to him in a vision; I will speak to him in a dream.
- Joel 2:28
And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
- Luke 24:27
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself.
- 1 Peter 1:10–12
Concerning this salvation, the prophets who foretold the grace to come to you searched and investigated carefully,
- 2 Peter 1:20–21
Through
Acts 9:6“Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
it leads to
- Acts 22:10
Then I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ ‘Get up and go into Damascus,’ He told me. ‘There you will be told all that you have been appointed to do.’
- Acts 22:10
Through
Isaiah 20:2the LORD had already spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and the sandals from your feet.” And Isaiah did so, walking around naked and barefoot.
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 19:24
Then Saul stripped off his robes and also prophesied before Samuel. And he collapsed and lay naked all that day and night. That is why it is said, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
- Micah 1:8
Because of this I will lament and wail; I will walk barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and mourn like an ostrich.
- 1 Samuel 19:24
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
About Jeremiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH 18:1; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 18.