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Jeremias 18

BLIVRE · Chapter 18/52

1Palavra que veio do SENHOR a Jeremias, dizendo:

2Levanta-te, e desce à casa do oleiro; e ali te farei ouvir minhas palavras.

3Então desci à casa do oleiro, e eis que ele estava fazendo uma obra sobre a roda.

4E o vaso de barro que ele estava fazendo se quebrou na mão do oleiro; então ele voltou a fazer dele outro vaso, conforme o que ao oleiro pareceu melhor fazer.

5Então veio a mim palavra do SENHOR, dizendo:

6Por acaso não poderei eu fazer de vós como este oleiro, ó casa de Israel?diz o SENHOR. Eis que tal como o barro na mão do oleiro, assim sois vós em minha mão, ó casa de Israel.

7Caso em algum momento eu falar contra uma nação e contra um reino, para arrancar, dissipar, e destruir,

8Se tal nação se converter de sua maldade, contra a qual falei, eu mudarei de ideia quanto ao mal que tinha pensado lhe fazer.

9Caso em algum momento eu falar de uma nação e de um reino, para edificar e para plantar;

10Se ela fizer o mal diante dos meus olhos, não obedecendo à minha voz, eu mudarei de ideia quanto ao bem que tinha dito lhe fazer.

11Então agora, fala, pois, a todo homem de Judá, e aos moradores de Jerusalém, dizendo: Assim diz o SENHOR: Eis que eu determino o mal contra vós, e faço planos contra vós; convertei-vos agora, cada um de seu mau caminho, e melhorai vossos caminhos e vossas ações.

12Porém dizem: Não há esperança; porque seguiremos nossas [próprias] intenções, e faremos cada um o pensamento de seu maligno coração.

13Portanto assim diz o SENHOR: Perguntai agora entre as nações, quem tenha ouvido tal coisa. Grande horror fez a virgem de Israel.

14Por acaso pode faltar neve nas rochas das montanhas do Líbano? Ou pode deixar de haver as águas frias que correm de terras distantes?

15Porém meu povo se esqueceu de mim, queimando incenso à inutilidade, e fazem- lhes tropeçar em seus caminhos, [nas] veredas antigas, para que andassem por veredas de caminho não aplanado;

16Para tornar sua terra em desolação, e em assovios perpétuos; todo aquele que passar por ela se espantará e balançará sua cabeça.

17Tal como vento oriental, eu os espalharei diante do inimigo; eu lhes mostrarei as costas, e não o rosto, no dia de sua perdição.

18Então disseram: Vinde, e façamos planos contra Jeremias; porque a Lei não perecerá do sacerdote, nem o conselho do sábio, nem a palavra do profeta. Vinde e o firamos com a língua, e não prestemos atenção a nenhuma de suas palavras.

19Ó SENHOR, presta atenção a mim, e ouve a voz dos que brigam comigo.

20Por acaso se pagará ao bem com o mal? Pois já cavaram uma cova para a minha alma! Lembra-te que me pus diante de ti para falar pelo bem deles, para desviar deles a tua ira.

21Portanto entrega os filhos deles à fome, e derrama-os pelo poder da espada; e restem suas mulheres sem filhos e viúvas; e seus maridos sejam postos a morte, e seus rapazes sejam feridos à espada na guerra.

22Ouçam-se gritos de suas casas, quando tu trouxeres tropas contra eles de repente; pois cavaram uma cova para me prender, e armaram laços para meus pés.

23Mas tu, SENHOR, conheces todo o plano deles contra mim para me matar; não perdoes sua maldade, nem apagues o pecado deles de diante de tua presença, e tropecem diante de ti; faze [assim] com eles no tempo de tua ira.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God has Jeremiah watch a potter reworking a spoiled vessel, illustrating that He can change His plans for a nation depending on its repentance or rebellion.

Explanation

The potter's workshop was a common, everyday sight in Israelite life, which made the lesson extremely accessible: just as the potter reshapes flawed clay into something new, God has sovereign freedom to adjust a nation's destiny according to its response. The general principle presented (if a nation repents, judgment can be averted; if a blessed people become corrupt, the blessing can be withdrawn) shows that the relationship with God is dynamic, not a fixed, impersonal script. Sadly, the people respond with outright refusal, saying they will follow their own plans — and even conspire against Jeremiah's life for announcing this.

Fun facts

  • The potter's workshop described here was a real and common technology in ancient Israel, with rotating stone wheels uncovered in archaeological excavations of Jerusalem and other cities of the period.
  • This passage about the potter and the clay is echoed by Paul in Romans 9:20-21, using the same image to speak of God's sovereignty over humanity.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Jeremias 18:1In the potter’s workshop, Jeremiah watches a vessel that comes out wrong get remade into another shape, not discarded but reshaped. It is the central image for explaining how God deals with nations: He is free to change what He does depending on the people’s response, not locked into a fixed sentence.
  2. Jeremias 18:2God tells Jeremiah to visit a common pottery workshop of the time, to use the potter’s work as a new prophetic enactment.
  3. Jeremias 18:3Jeremiah obeys and watches the potter working at the wheel, an everyday scene that will become the basis for the message that follows.
  4. Jeremias 18:4The vessel the potter was shaping comes out wrong, but instead of discarding the clay, he reshapes it into another form — the central image for God’s explanation that follows.
  5. Jeremias 18:5A transition formula introducing the divine explanation for the scene of the potter that Jeremiah has just watched.
  6. Jeremias 18:6God applies the scene directly: just as the potter has total control over the clay, He has control over Israel’s fate — shaping it according to the people’s response.
  7. Jeremias 18:7God explains that His decisions of judgment are not fixed and unchangeable — they depend on the response of the nation involved, as becomes clear in the next verse.
  8. Jeremias 18:8These verses make explicit that prophecies of judgment, and of blessing, were conditional: if the nation turned back, God would change His mind about the disaster announced, and the reverse holds true too. This is the logic behind Jeremiah’s constant insistence on calling for repentance.
  9. Jeremias 18:9In the same way, promises of blessing and rebuilding can also change — God explains the principle symmetrical to the one in the previous verses.
  10. Jeremias 18:10Completes the principle: even a nation destined for blessing can lose it if it goes back to doing evil — the relationship with God is always conditional on the human response.
  11. Jeremias 18:11God applies this principle of flexibility directly to Judah: there is still a chance to change course before the announced judgment becomes final.
  12. Jeremias 18:12The people’s response is a direct, cynical refusal: they prefer to follow their own plans, even knowing this means turning down the chance for change offered by God.
  13. Jeremias 18:13God reacts with shock: not even among the pagan nations would something this strange be seen — a chosen people deliberately refusing the chance to correct itself.
  14. Jeremias 18:14Uses reliable natural phenomena, like the constant snow of Mount Lebanon and the cool waters of fresh rivers, as a comparison: even nature is more constant than Israel.
  15. Jeremias 18:15Unlike the constancy of nature, the people abandoned the known, safe path to follow risky shortcuts after empty idols.
  16. Jeremias 18:16Describes the shock foreigners will feel at seeing the destruction of Judah’s land — astonishment that turns even into hissing and gestures of scorn.
  17. Jeremias 18:17Compares the scattering of the people to leaves carried off by a strong east wind — and God warns that, at the moment of destruction, He will turn His back instead of helping.
  18. Jeremias 18:18The idea that the priest’s law, the counsel of the wise, and the word of the prophet would never fail shows the mindset of Jeremiah’s opponents: to them, each of these three religious authorities would always have a ready answer. That’s why they preferred to silence Jeremiah with violence instead of arguing with him.
  19. Jeremias 18:19Begins another of Jeremiah’s confessions: he asks God to pay attention to him personally, after discovering yet another conspiracy against his life.
  20. Jeremias 18:20Jeremiah laments the cruel irony: he had even interceded on behalf of these very people before, and now receives conspiracy and malice in return.
  21. Jeremias 18:21In one of the harshest moments of his confessions, Jeremiah explicitly asks for vengeance against his persecutors — a raw human outpouring of pain, not a virtue to be imitated.
  22. Jeremias 18:22Continues the plea for retribution, justifying the intensity of the request by the fact that his persecutors literally set a trap to capture him.
  23. Jeremias 18:23Closes the confession by asking God not to forgive those who plotted his death — ending this raw outpouring with a direct appeal for justice, with no middle ground.

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