&#8220;I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="1" /> &#8216;O nation of Israel, can I not deal with you as this potter deals with the clay?<n id="2" /> In my hands, you, O nation of Israel, are just like the clay in this potter&#8217;s hand.&#8217;

This will happen because the people of Israel and Judah have repeatedly done what displeases me<n id="1" /> from their earliest history until now<n id="2" /> and because they<n id="3" /> have repeatedly made me angry by the things they have done.<n id="4" /> I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="5" />

Israel was set apart to the <sc>Lordsc>; they were like the first fruits of a harvest to him.<n id="1" /> All who tried to devour them were punished; disaster came upon them,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Just as a thief has to suffer dishonor when he is caught,p> <p class="poetry">so the people of Israel<n id="1" /> will suffer dishonor for what they have done.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">So will their kings and officials,p> <p class="poetry">their priests and their prophets.p>

At that time<n id="1" /> the nation of Judah and the nation of Israel will be reunited.<n id="2" /> Together they will come back from a land in the north to the land that I gave to your ancestors as a permanent possession. &#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;A noise is heard on the hilltops.p> <p class="poetry">It is the sound of the people of Israel crying and pleading to their gods.p> <p class="poetry">Indeed they have followed sinful ways;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">they have forgotten to be true to the <sc>Lordsc> their God.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;If you, Israel, want to come back,&#8221; says the <sc>Lord,sc>p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;if you want to come back to me<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">you must get those disgusting idols<n id="2" /> out of my sightp> <p class="poetry">and must no longer go astray.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">This is what the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="1" /> said to me:<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Those who remain in Israel will bep> <p class="poetry">like the grapes thoroughly gleaned<n id="3" /> from a vine.p> <p class="poetry">So go over them again, as though you were a grape harvesterp> <p class="poetry">passing your hand over the branches one last time.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says: Change the way you have been living and do what is right.<n id="2" /> If you do, I will allow you to continue to live in this land.<n id="3" />

So then, listen to what I, the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all,<n id="1" /> say.<n id="2" /> &#8216;I will make these people eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment.<n id="3" />

Tell them that the <sc>Lord,sc> the God of Israel, says, &#8216;Anyone who does not keep the terms of the covenant will be under a curse.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">Yet<n id="1" /> I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="2" /> &#8220;A new time will certainly come.<n id="3" /> People now affirm their oaths with &#8216;I swear as surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.&#8217;

<p class="poetry">You are the one in whom Israel may find hope.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">All who leave you will suffer shame.p> <p class="poetry">Those who turn away from you<n id="2" /> will be consigned to the nether world.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">For they have rejected you, the <sc>Lordsc>, the fountain of life.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Therefore, the <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Ask the people of other nationsp> <p class="poetry">whether they have heard of anything like this.p> <p class="poetry">Israel should have been like a virgin.p> <p class="poetry">But she has done something utterly revolting!p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;So I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="1" /> &#8216;A new time will certainly come.<n id="2" /> People now affirm their oaths with &#8220;I swear as surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.&#8221;

Charge them to give their masters a message from me. Tell them, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says to give your masters this message.<n id="2" />

Indeed, the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> has already spoken<n id="2" /> about the valuable articles that are left in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple, in the royal palace of Judah, and in Jerusalem.

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel says,<n id="1" /> &#8216;Write everything that I am about to tell you in a scroll.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">At that time I will be the God of all the clans of Israel<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and they will be my people.p> <p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Hear what the <sc>Lordsc> has to say, O nations.p> <p class="poetry">Proclaim it in the faraway lands along the sea.p> <p class="poetry">Say, &#8220;The one who scattered Israel will regather them.p> <p class="poetry">He will watch over his people like a shepherd watches over his flock.&#8221;p>