Discovery BoxJeremiah 18:3-23
Context18:3 So I went down to the potter’s house and found him working 1 at his wheel. 2 18:4 Now and then 3 there would be something wrong 4 with the pot he was molding from the clay 5 with his hands. So he would rework 6 the clay into another kind of pot as he saw fit. 7
18:5 Then the Lord said to me, 8 18:6 “I, the Lord, say: 9 ‘O nation of Israel, can I not deal with you as this potter deals with the clay? 10 In my hands, you, O nation of Israel, are just like the clay in this potter’s hand.’ 18:7 There are times, Jeremiah, 11 when I threaten to uproot, tear down, and destroy a nation or kingdom. 12 18:8 But if that nation I threatened stops doing wrong, 13 I will cancel the destruction 14 I intended to do to it. 18:9 And there are times when I promise to build up and establish 15 a nation or kingdom. 18:10 But if that nation does what displeases me and does not obey me, then I will cancel the good I promised to do to it. 18:11 So now, tell the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem 16 this: The Lord says, ‘I am preparing to bring disaster on you! I am making plans to punish you. 17 So, every one of you, stop the evil things you have been doing. 18 Correct the way you have been living and do what is right.’ 19 18:12 But they just keep saying, ‘We do not care what you say! 20 We will do whatever we want to do! We will continue to behave wickedly and stubbornly!’” 21
18:13 Therefore, the Lord says,
“Ask the people of other nations
whether they have heard of anything like this.
Israel should have been like a virgin.
But she has done something utterly revolting!
18:14 Does the snow ever completely vanish from the rocky slopes of Lebanon?
Do the cool waters from those distant mountains ever cease to flow? 22
18:15 Yet my people have forgotten me
and offered sacrifices to worthless idols!
This makes them stumble along in the way they live
and leave the old reliable path of their fathers. 23
They have left them to walk in bypaths,
in roads that are not smooth and level. 24
18:16 So their land will become an object of horror. 25
People will forever hiss out their scorn over it.
All who pass that way will be filled with horror
and will shake their heads in derision. 26
18:17 I will scatter them before their enemies
like dust blowing in front of a burning east wind.
I will turn my back on them and not look favorably on them 27
when disaster strikes them.”
18:18 Then some people 28 said, “Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! 29 There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God’s word. 30 Come on! Let’s bring charges against him and get rid of him! 31 Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.”
“Lord, pay attention to me.
Listen to what my enemies are saying. 33
18:20 Should good be paid back with evil?
Yet they are virtually digging a pit to kill me. 34
Just remember how I stood before you
pleading on their behalf 35
to keep you from venting your anger on them. 36
18:21 So let their children die of starvation.
Let them be cut down by the sword. 37
Let their wives lose their husbands and children.
Let the older men die of disease 38
and the younger men die by the sword in battle.
18:22 Let cries of terror be heard in their houses
when you send bands of raiders unexpectedly to plunder them. 39
For they have virtually dug a pit to capture me
and have hidden traps for me to step into.
18:23 But you, Lord, know
all their plots to kill me.
Do not pardon their crimes!
Do not ignore their sins as though you had erased them! 40
Let them be brought down in defeat before you!
Deal with them while you are still angry! 41
[18:3] 1 tn Heb “And behold he was working.”
[18:3] 2 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.
[18:4] 3 tn The verbs here denote repeated action. They are the Hebrew perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive. The text then reads somewhat literally, “Whenever the vessel he was molding…was ruined, he would remold…” For this construction see Joüon 2:393-94 §118.n and 2:628-29 §167.b, and compare the usage in Amos 4:7-8.
[18:4] 4 sn Something was wrong with the clay – either there was a lump in it, or it was too moist or not moist enough, or it had some other imperfection. In any case the vessel was “ruined” or “spoiled” or defective in the eyes of the potter. This same verb has been used of the linen shorts that were “ruined” and hence were “good for nothing” in Jer 13:7. The nature of the clay and how it responded to the potter’s hand determined the kind of vessel that he made of it. He did not throw the clay away. This is the basis for the application in vv. 7-10 to any nation and to the nation of Israel in particular vv. 10-17.
[18:4] 5 tn The usage of the preposition בְּ (bet) to introduce the material from which something is made in Exod 38:8 and 1 Kgs 15:22 should lay to rest the rather forced construction that some (like J. Bright, Jeremiah [AB], 121) put on the variant כַּחֹמֶר (kakhomer) found in a few Hebrew
[18:4] 6 tn Heb “he would turn and work.” This is an example of hendiadys where one of the two verbs joined by “and” becomes the adverbial modifier of the other. The verb “turn” is very common in this construction (see BDB 998 s.v. שׁוּב Qal.8 for references).
[18:4] 7 tn Heb “as it was right in his eyes to do [or work it].” For this idiom see Judg 14:3, 7; 1 Sam 18:20, 26; 2 Sam 17:4.
[18:5] 8 tn Heb “Then the word of the
[18:6] 9 tn This phrase (literally “Oracle of the
[18:6] 10 tn The words “deals with the clay” are not in the text. They are part of an elliptical comparison and are supplied in the translation here for clarity.
[18:7] 11 tn The word “Jeremiah” is not in the text but it is implicit from the introduction in v. 5 that he is being addressed. It is important to see how the rhetoric of this passage is structured. The words of vv. 7-10 lead up to the conclusion “So now” in v. 11 which in turns leads to the conclusion “Therefore” in v. 13. The tense of the verb in v. 12 is very important. It is a vav consecutive perfect indicating the future (cf. GKC 333 §112.p, r); their response is predictable. The words of vv. 7-10 are addressed to Jeremiah (v. 5) in fulfillment of the
[18:7] 12 tn Heb “One moment I may speak about a nation or kingdom to…” So also in v. 9. The translation is structured this way to avoid an awkward English construction and to reflect the difference in disposition. The constructions are, however, the same.
[18:8] 13 tn Heb “turns from its wickedness.”
[18:8] 14 tn There is a good deal of debate about how the word translated here “revoke” should be translated. There is a good deal of reluctance to translate it “change my mind” because some see that as contradicting Num 23:19 and thus prefer “relent.” However, the English word “relent” suggests the softening of an attitude but not necessarily the change of course. It is clear that in many cases (including here) an actual change of course is in view (see, e.g., Amos 7:3, 6; Jonah 3:9; Jer 26:19; Exod 13:17; 32:14). Several of these passages deal with “conditional” prophecies where a change in behavior of the people or the mediation of a prophet involves the change in course of the threatened punishment (or the promised benefit). “Revoke” or “forgo” may be the best way to render this in contemporary English idiom.
[18:9] 15 sn Heb “plant.” The terms “uproot,” “tear down,” “destroy,” “build,” and “plant” are the two sides of the ministry Jeremiah was called to (cf. Jer 1:10).
[18:11] 16 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[18:11] 17 sn Heb “I am forming disaster and making plans against you.” The word translated “forming” is the same as that for “potter,” so there is a wordplay taking the reader back to v. 5. They are in his hands like the clay in the hands of the potter. Since they have not been pliable he forms new plans. He still offers them opportunity to repent; but their response is predictable.
[18:11] 18 tn Heb “Turn, each one from his wicked way.” See v. 8.
[18:11] 19 tn Or “Make good your ways and your actions.” See the same expression in 7:3, 5.
[18:12] 20 tn Heb “It is useless!” See the same expression in a similar context in Jer 2:25.
[18:12] 21 tn Heb “We will follow our own plans and do each one according to the stubbornness of his own wicked heart.”
[18:14] 22 tn The precise translation of this verse is somewhat uncertain. Two phrases in this verse are the primary cause of discussion and the source of numerous emendations, none of which has gained consensus. The phrase which is rendered here “rocky slopes” is in Hebrew צוּר שָׂדַי (tsur saday), which would normally mean something like “rocky crag of the field” (see BDB 961 s.v. שָׂדַי 1.g). Numerous emendations have been proposed, most of which are listed in the footnotes of J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah (NICOT), 436. The present translation has chosen to follow the proposal of several scholars that the word here is related to the Akkadian word shadu meaning mountain. The other difficulty is the word translated “cease” which in the MT is literally “be uprooted” (יִנָּתְשׁוּ, yinnatshu). The word is usually emended to read יִנָּשְׁתוּ (yinnashtu, “are dried up”) as a case of transposed letters (cf., e.g., BDB 684 s.v. נָתַשׁ Niph). This is probably a case of an error in hearing and the word נָטַשׁ (natash) which is often parallel to עָזַב (’azav), translated here “vanish,” should be read in the sense that it has in 1 Sam 10:2. Whether one reads “are plucked up” and understands it figuratively of ceasing (“are dried” or “cease”), the sense is the same. For the sense of “distant” for the word זָרִים (zarim) see 2 Kgs 19:24.
[18:15] 23 sn Heb “the ancient path.” This has already been referred to in Jer 6:16. There is another “old way” but it is the path trod by the wicked (cf. Job 22:15).
[18:15] 24 sn Heb “ways that are not built up.” This refers to the built-up highways. See Isa 40:4 for the figure. The terms “way,” “by-paths,” “roads” are, of course, being used here in the sense of moral behavior or action.
[18:16] 25 tn There may be a deliberate double meaning involved here. The word translated here “an object of horror” refers both to destruction (cf. 2:15; 4:17) and the horror or dismay that accompanies it (cf. 5:30; 8:21). The fact that there is no conjunction or preposition in front of the noun “hissing” that follows this suggests that the reaction is in view here, not the cause.
[18:16] 26 tn Heb “an object of lasting hissing. All who pass that way will be appalled and shake their head.”
[18:17] 27 tc Heb “I will show them [my] back and not [my] face.” This reading follows the suggestion of some of the versions and some of the Masoretes. The MT reads “I will look on their back and not on their faces.”
[18:18] 28 tn Heb “They.” The referent is unidentified; “some people” has been used in the translation.
[18:18] 29 tn Heb “Let us make plans against Jeremiah.” See 18:18 where this has sinister overtones as it does here.
[18:18] 30 tn Heb “Instruction will not perish from priest, counsel from the wise, word from the prophet.”
[18:18] 31 tn Heb “Let us smite him with our tongues.” It is clear from the context that this involved plots to kill him.
[18:19] 32 tn The words “Then I said” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to show that Jeremiah turns from description of the peoples’ plots to his address to God to deal with the plotters.
[18:19] 33 tn Heb “the voice of my adversaries.”
[18:20] 34 tn Or “They are plotting to kill me”; Heb “They have dug a pit for my soul.” This is a common metaphor for plotting against someone. See BDB 500 s.v. כָּרָה Qal and for an example see Pss 7:16 (7:15 HT) in its context.
[18:20] 35 tn Heb “to speak good concerning them” going back to the concept of “good” being paid back with evil.
[18:20] 36 tn Heb “to turn back your anger from them.”
[18:21] 37 tn Heb “be poured out to the hand [= power] of the sword.” For this same expression see Ezek 35:5; Ps 63:10 (63:11 HT). Comparison with those two passages show that it involved death by violent means, perhaps death in battle.
[18:21] 38 tn Heb “be slain by death.” The commentaries are generally agreed that this refers to death by disease or plague as in 15:2. Hence, the reference is to the deadly trio of sword, starvation, and disease which were often connected with war. See the notes on 15:2.
[18:22] 39 tn Heb “when you bring marauders in against them.” For the use of the noun translated here “bands of raiders to plunder them” see 1 Sam 30:3, 15, 23 and BDB 151 s.v. גְּדוּד 1.
[18:23] 40 sn Heb “Do not blot out their sins from before you.” For this anthropomorphic figure which looks at God’s actions as though connected with record books, i.e., a book of wrongdoings to be punished, and a book of life for those who are to live, see e.g., Exod 32:32, 33, Ps 51:1 (51:3 HT); 69:28 (69:29 HT).
