Jeremiah 18

DOUAI-RHEIMS	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 The word that came from Jeremias to the Lord, saying:	1 This word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there thou shalt hear my words.	2 Rise up, be off to the potter's house; there I will give you my message.
3 And I went down into the potter's house, and behold he was doing a work on the wheel.	3 I went down to the potter's house and there he was, working at the wheel.
4 And the vessel was broken which he was making with clay with his hands: and turning he made another vessel, as it seemed good in his eyes to make it.	4 Whenever the object of clay which he was making turned out badly in his hand, he tried again, making of the clay another object of whatever sort he pleased.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:	5 Then the word of the Lord came to me:
6 Cannot I do with you as this potter, saith the Lord? behold as clay is in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.	6 Can I not do to you, house of Israel, as this potter has done? says the LORD. Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.
7 I will suddenly speak against a nation, and against a kingdom, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy it.	7 Sometimes I threaten to uproot and tear down and destroy a nation or a kingdom.
8 If that nation against which I have spoken, shall repent of their evil, I also will repent of the evil that I have thought to do to them.	8 But if that nation which I have threatened turns from its evil, I also repent of the evil which I threatened to do.
9 And I will suddenly speak of a nation and of a kingdom, to build up and plant it.	9 Sometimes, again, I promise to build up and plant a nation or a kingdom.
10 If it shall do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice: I will repent of the good that I have spoken to do unto it.	10 But if that nation does what is evil in my eyes, refusing to obey my voice, I repent of the good with which I promised to bless it.
11 Now therefore tell the men of Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: let every man of you return from his evil way, and make ye your ways and your doings good.	11 And now, tell this to the men of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem: Thus says the LORD: Take care! I am fashioning evil against you and making a plan. Return, each of you, from his evil way; reform your ways and your deeds.
12 And they said: We have no hopes: for we will go after our own thoughts, and we will do every one according to the perverseness of his evil heart.	12 But they will say, "No use! We will follow our own devices; each one of us will behave according to the stubbornness of his evil heart!"
13 Therefore thus saith the Lord: Ask among the nations: Who hath heard such horrible things, as the virgin of Israel hath done to excess?	13 Therefore thus says the LORD: Ask among the nations- who has ever heard the like? Truly horrible things has virgin Israel done!
14 Shall now the snow of Libanus fail from the rock of the field? or can the cold waters that gush out and run down, be taken away?	14 Does the snow of Lebanon desert the rocky heights? Do the gushing waters dry up that flow fresh down the mountains?
15 Because my people have forgotten me, sacrificing in vain, and stumbling in their ways, in ancient paths, to walk by them in a way not trodden:	15 Yet my people have forgotten me: they burn incense to a thing that does not exist. They stumble out of their ways, the paths of old, To travel on bypaths, not the beaten track.
16 That their land might be given up to desolation, and to a perpetual hissing: every one that shall pass by it, shall be astonished, and wag his head.	16 Their land shall be turned into a desert, an object of lasting ridicule: All passers-by will be amazed, will shake their heads.
17 As a burning will I scatter them before the enemy: I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their destruction.	17 Like the east wind, I will scatter them before their enemies; I will show them my back, not my face, in their day of disaster.
18 And they said: Come, and let us invent devices against Jeremias: for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet: come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us give no heed to all his words.	18 "Come," they said, "let us contrive a plot against Jeremiah. It will not mean the loss of instruction from the priests, nor of counsel from the wise, nor of messages from the prophets. And so, let us destroy him by his own tongue; let us carefully note his every word."
19 Give heed to me, O Lord, and hear the voice of my adversaries.	19 Heed me, O LORD, and listen to what my adversaries say.
20 Shall evil be rendered for good, because they have digged a pit for my soul? Remember that I have stood in thy sight, so speak good for them, and turn away thy indignation from them.	20 Must good be repaid with evil that they should dig a pit to take my life? Remember that I stood before you to speak in their behalf, to turn away your wrath from them.
21 Therefore deliver up their children to famine, and bring them into the hands of the sword: let their wives be bereaved of children and widows: and let their husbands be slain by death: let their young men be stabbed with the sword in battle.	21 So now, deliver their children to famine, do away with them by the sword. Let their wives be made childless and widows; let their men die of pestilence, their young men be slain by the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry be heard out of their houses: for thou shalt bring the robber upon them suddenly: because they have digged a pit to take me, and have hid snares for my feet.	22 May cries be heard from their homes, when suddenly you send plunderers against them. For they have dug a pit to capture me, they have hid snares for my feet;
23 But thou, O Lord, knowest all their counsel against me unto death: forgive not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from thy sight: let them be overthrown before thy eyes, in the time of thy wrath do thou destroy them.	23 But you, O LORD, know all their plans to slay me. Forgive not their crime, blot not out their sin in your sight! Let them go down before you, proceed against them in the time of your anger.