So I went down to the potter’s house and found him working ¹  at his wheel. ² 

You should have reprimanded Jeremiah from Anathoth who is pretending to be a prophet among you! ¹ 

But the people of Jerusalem and Judah ¹  would not listen or pay any attention. They would not stop the wickedness they were doing nor quit sacrificing to other gods. ² 

Harness the horses to the chariots! Mount your horses! Put on your helmets and take your positions! Sharpen you spears! Put on your armor!

So listen to what I, the Lord, have planned against Edom, what I intend to do to ¹  the people who live in Teman. ²  Their little ones will be dragged off. I will completely destroy their land because of what they have done. ³ 

So listen to what I, the Lord, have planned against Babylon, what I intend to do to the people who inhabit the land of Babylonia. ¹  Their little ones will be dragged off. I will completely destroy their land because of what they have done.

The Lord who rules over all ¹  says to the people of Jerusalem: ²  “Do not listen to what those prophets are saying to you. They are filling you with false hopes. They are reporting visions of their own imaginations, not something the Lord has given them to say. ³ 

‘I will certainly regather my people from all the countries where I will have exiled ¹  them in my anger, fury, and great wrath. I will bring them back to this place and allow them to live here in safety.

But now please listen, your royal Majesty, ¹  and grant my plea for mercy. ²  Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan, the royal secretary. If you do, I will die there.” ³ 

Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for good to come to these people! ¹ 

I also told them, ¹  “If they are really prophets and the Lord is speaking to them, ²  let them pray earnestly to the Lord who rules over all. ³  Let them plead with him not to let the valuable articles that are still left in the Lord’s temple, in the royal palace, and in Jerusalem be taken away ⁴  to Babylon.

“Sharpen ¹  your arrows! Fill your quivers! ²  The Lord will arouse a spirit of hostility in ³  the kings of Media. ⁴  For he intends to destroy Babylonia. For that is how the Lord will get his revenge – how he will get his revenge for the Babylonians’ destruction of his temple. ⁵ 

“I will lead them off to be slaughtered like lambs, rams, and male goats.” ¹ 

“But you, Jeremiah, ¹  get yourself ready! ²  Go and tell these people everything I instruct you to say. Do not be terrified of them, or I will give you good reason to be terrified of them. ³ 

You steal. ¹  You murder. You commit adultery. You lie when you swear on oath. You sacrifice to the god Baal. You pay allegiance to ²  other gods whom you have not previously known.

The Lord said, “Jerusalem, ¹  I will surely send you away for your own good. I will surely ²  bring the enemy upon you in a time of trouble and distress.

“Go and tell Hananiah that the Lord says, ¹  ‘You have indeed broken the wooden yoke. But you have ²  only succeeded in replacing it with an iron one! ³ 

But I will most surely ¹  heal the wounds of this city and restore it and its people to health. ²  I will show them abundant ³  peace and security.

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah had made a covenant ¹  with all the people in Jerusalem ²  to grant their slaves their freedom.

Everyone was supposed to free their male and female Hebrew slaves. No one was supposed to keep a fellow Judean enslaved. ¹