18:1 The Lord said to Jeremiah: 1 18:2 “Go down at once 2 to the potter’s house. I will speak to you further there.” 3 18:3 So I went down to the potter’s house and found him working 4 at his wheel. 5
1 tn Heb “The word which came to Jeremiah from the
2 tn Heb “Get up and go down.” The first verb is not literal but is idiomatic for the initiation of an action. See 13:4, 6 for other occurrences of this idiom.
3 tn Heb “And I will cause you to hear my word there.”
3 tn Heb “And behold he was working.”
4 sn At his wheel (Heb “at the two stones”). The Hebrew expression is very descriptive of the construction of a potter’s wheel which consisted of two stones joined by a horizontal shaft. The potter rotated the wheel with his feet on the lower wheel and worked the clay with his hands on the upper. For a picture of a potter working at his wheel see I. Ben-Dor, “Potter’s Wheel,” IDB 3:846. See also the discussion regarding the making of pottery in J. L. Kelso, “Pottery,” IDB 3:846-53.