1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
4 And 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.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
6 O 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.
7 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;
8 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
9 And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
10 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.
11 Now therefore go to, 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 every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.
12 And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.
13 Therefore thus saith the Lord; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.
14 Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?
15 Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;
16 To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.
17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
18 Then said they, Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
19 Give heed to me, O Lord, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.
20 Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.
21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.
23 Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.
<html><b>on the wheels</b> Jonathan renders: on the wheel. (Formes in French.)</html>
<html><b>that he was making of clay</b> That he was making of the clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand while it was still wet, and this is an inverted verse.</html>
<html><b>of its evil for which I spoke concerning it</b> Of its sins for which I spoke concerning it. <b>to uproot and to demolish</b> (depayser [?] in French). <b>I will repent</b> And I will think another thought.</html>
<html><b>But they shall say, We despair</b> I know that they will say to you regarding your words that they do not heed them.</html>
<html><b>disgraceful thing</b> Heb. שַעֲרֻרִת.</html>
<html><b>Shall one abandon from rocks of the field the snow of Lebanon</b> Shall a man who needs to drink abandon water that flows from the rock in the fields that comes from the snow of the Lebanon, which is clean? <b>Shall strange cold… water be abandoned?</b> Or shall flowing spring water, which was strange to all people until now, and it is cold, be abandoned? זָרִים means flowing, and this proves it (2 Kings 19:24): “I dug and drank strange water (זָרִים).” Menahem, however, classified with (Isaiah 1:6) “they have not been sprinkled (זֹרוּ), neither have they been bandaged,” an expression of curative water, and he gave a reason for his statement, and he said that if he wished to speak with an expression of זֶרֶם, a stream, he would double the ‘mem,’ and he would add ‘yud’ ‘mem,’ and he would say זְרוּמִים because of the plural number of מַיִם water, and because they are streams (זְרָמִים). <b>the field</b> like שָדֶה, a field <b>cold</b> (froids in French). <b>flowing</b> (courants in French). And we can also interpret it: “Shall it be abandoned to be strange rejected water, the water that is cold running water?” <b>Heb.</b> זרים According to the first interpretation, it is an expression of a stream [זֶרֶם]. According to the second interpretation, it is an expression of strangeness, i.e., rejected water.)</html>
<html><b>For</b> so have My people done, that they have forgotten Me and burnt incense to vanity. <b>ancient paths</b> The proper paths they said that they are a stumbling block, in order to go…<b>[on] a way that is not trodden down</b> Heb. סְלוּלָה.</html>
<html><b>hissing</b> One who passes by ruins that he already saw with good buildings is accustomed to whistle. <b>will be astonished</b> will wonder.</html>
<html><b>upon their back and not their face</b> when they flee from before the enemy, I will look upon them and I will not save them. <b>I will look</b> but I will not save them.</html>
<html><b>And they said, “Come, etc.”</b> Jeremiah was complaining about the men of Anathoth and saying that they say this. <b>Torah…from the priest</b> For it is incumbent upon the priests to teach the Torah, as it is stated (Deut. 33:10): “They shall teach Your ordinances to Jacob.” <b>not speech from the prophet</b> I. e., words of prophecy. <b>Come, let us strike him with the tongue</b> Let us testify falsely against him.</html>
<html><b>and spill their blood</b> (Bring them down by the sword,) an expression of (Lam. 3:49) “My eye runs (נִגְרָה)”; (Micah 1:4) “Like water that runs (מֻגָרִים).” <b>by the sword</b> by troops. <b>and their husbands</b> i.e., the husbands of the widows shall be slain by the angel of death.</html>
<html><b>for they dug a pit to seize me</b> that they suspected him of intimacy with a married woman, as it is stated (Prov. 23:27): “For a harlot is a deep pit (ֹשוּחָה).”</html>
<html><b>let not be erased</b> let it not be erased. And because it is a feminine gender, he placed a ‘yud’ therein. This too is superfluous, as the ‘yud’ of (Ezekiel 16:17) “And you played the harlot (וַתִּזְנִי) with them.”</html>