Jeremiah 18-20

New King James Version

The Potter and the Clay

18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: ²“Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” ³Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the ^[a]wheel. ⁴And the vessel that he ^[b]made of clay was ^[c]marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.

⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ⁶“O house of Israel, ^(A)can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, ^(B)as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel! ⁷The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to ^(C)pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, ⁸^(D)if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, ^(E)I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. ⁹And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, ¹⁰if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.

¹¹“Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. ^(F)Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings ^(G)good.” ’ ”

God’s Warning Rejected

¹²And they said, ^(H)“That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one ^[d]obey the ^(I)dictates^[e] of his evil heart.”

¹³Therefore thus says the Lord:

^(J)“Ask now among the Gentiles,
Who has heard such things?
The virgin of Israel has done ^(K)a very horrible thing.
¹⁴Will a man ^[f]leave the snow water of Lebanon,
Which comes from the rock of the field?
Will the cold flowing waters be forsaken for strange waters?

¹⁵“Because My people have forgotten ^(L)Me,
They have burned incense to worthless idols.
And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways,
From the ^(M)ancient paths,
To walk in pathways and not on a highway,
¹⁶To make their land ^(N)desolate and a perpetual ^(O)hissing;
Everyone who passes by it will be astonished
And shake his head.
¹⁷^(P)I will scatter them ^(Q)as with an east wind before the enemy;
^(R)I will ^[g]show them the back and not the face
In the day of their calamity.”

Jeremiah Persecuted

¹⁸Then they said, ^(S)“Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah; ^(T)for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us attack him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.”

¹⁹Give heed to me, O Lord,
And listen to the voice of those who contend with me!
²⁰^(U)Shall evil be repaid for good?
For they have ^(V)dug a pit for my life.
Remember that I ^(W)stood before You
To speak good ^[h]for them,
To turn away Your wrath from them.
²¹Therefore ^(X)deliver up their children to the famine,
And pour out their blood
By the force of the sword;
Let their wives become widows
And ^(Y)bereaved of their children.
Let their men be put to death,
Their young men be slain
By the sword in battle.
²²Let a cry be heard from their houses,
When You bring a troop suddenly upon them;
For they have dug a pit to take me,
And hidden snares for my feet.
²³Yet, Lord, You know all their counsel
Which is against me, to slay me.
^(Z)Provide no atonement for their iniquity,
Nor blot out their sin from Your sight;
But let them be overthrown before You.
Deal thus with them
In the time of Your ^(AA)anger.

The Sign of the Broken Flask

19 Thus says the Lord: “Go and get a potter’s earthen flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests. ²And go out to ^(AB)the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the Potsherd Gate; and proclaim there the words that I will tell you, ³^(AC)and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will bring such a catastrophe on this place, that whoever hears of it, his ears will ^(AD)tingle.

⁴“Because they ^(AE)have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with ^(AF)the blood of the innocents ⁵^(AG)(they have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, ^(AH)which I did not command or speak, nor did it come into My mind), ⁶therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that this place shall no more be called Tophet or ^(AI)the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. ⁷And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, ^(AJ)and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of those who seek their lives; their ^(AK)corpses I will give as meat for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. ⁸I will make this city ^(AL)desolate and a hissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues. ⁹And I will cause them to eat the ^(AM)flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and in the desperation with which their enemies and those who seek their lives shall drive them to despair.” ’

¹⁰^(AN)“Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, ¹¹and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(AO)“Even so I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot be ^[i]made whole again; and they shall ^(AP)bury them in Tophet till there is no place to bury. ¹²Thus I will do to this place,” says the Lord, “and to its inhabitants, and make this city like Tophet. ¹³And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be defiled ^(AQ)like the place of Tophet, because of all the houses on whose ^(AR)roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, and ^(AS)poured out drink offerings to other gods.” ’ ”

¹⁴Then Jeremiah came from Tophet, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in ^(AT)the court of the Lord’s house and said to all the people, ¹⁵“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will bring on this city and on all her towns all the doom that I have pronounced against it, because ^(AU)they have stiffened their necks that they might not hear My words.’ ”

The Word of God to Pashhur

20 Now ^(AV)Pashhur the son of ^(AW)Immer, the priest who was also chief governor in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. ²Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high ^(AX)gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord.

³And it happened on the next day that Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord has not called your name Pashhur, but ^[j]Magor-Missabib. ⁴For thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it. I will ^(AY)give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon and slay them with the sword. ⁵Moreover I ^(AZ)will deliver all the wealth of this city, all its produce, and all its precious things; all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies, who will plunder them, seize them, and ^(BA)carry them to Babylon. ⁶And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. You shall go to Babylon, and there you shall die, and be buried there, you and all your friends, to whom you have ^(BB)prophesied lies.’ ”

Jeremiah’s Unpopular Ministry

⁷O Lord, You ^[k]induced me, and I was persuaded;
^(BC)You are stronger than I, and have prevailed.
^(BD)I am ^[l]in derision daily;
Everyone mocks me.
⁸For when I spoke, I cried out;
^(BE)I shouted, “Violence and plunder!”
Because the word of the Lord was made to me
A reproach and a derision daily.
⁹Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him,
Nor speak anymore in His name.”
But His word was in my heart like a ^(BF)burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
I was weary of holding it back,
And ^(BG)I could not.
¹⁰^(BH)For I heard many ^[m]mocking:
“Fear on every side!”
“Report,” they say, “and we will report it!”
^(BI)All my acquaintances watched for my stumbling, saying,
“Perhaps he can be induced;
Then we will prevail against him,
And we will take our revenge on him.”

¹¹But the Lord is ^(BJ)with me as a mighty, awesome One.
Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not ^(BK)prevail.
They will be greatly ashamed, for they will not prosper.
Their ^(BL)everlasting confusion will never be forgotten.
¹²But, O Lord of hosts,
You who ^(BM)test the righteous,
And see the ^[n]mind and heart,
^(BN)Let me see Your vengeance on them;
For I have pleaded my cause before You.

¹³Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord!
For ^(BO)He has delivered the life of the poor
From the hand of evildoers.

¹⁴^(BP)Cursed be the day in which I was born!
Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me!
¹⁵Let the man be cursed
Who brought news to my father, saying,
“A male child has been born to you!”
Making him very glad.
¹⁶And let that man be like the cities
Which the Lord ^(BQ)overthrew, and did not relent;
Let him ^(BR)hear the cry in the morning
And the shouting at noon,
¹⁷^(BS)Because he did not kill me from the womb,
That my mother might have been my grave,
And her womb always enlarged with me.
¹⁸^(BT)Why did I come forth from the womb to ^(BU)see ^[o]labor and sorrow,
That my days should be consumed with shame?

Footnotes

Jeremiah 18:3 Potter’s wheel
Jeremiah 18:4 was making
Jeremiah 18:4 ruined
Jeremiah 18:12 Lit. do
Jeremiah 18:12 stubbornness or imagination
Jeremiah 18:14 forsake
Jeremiah 18:17 So with LXX, Syr., Tg., Vg.; MT look them in
Jeremiah 18:20 concerning
Jeremiah 19:11 restored
Jeremiah 20:3 Lit. Fear on Every Side
Jeremiah 20:7 enticed or persuaded
Jeremiah 20:7 Lit. a laughingstock all the day
Jeremiah 20:10 slandering
Jeremiah 20:12 Most secret parts, lit. kidneys
Jeremiah 20:18 toil

Psalm 93

New King James Version

The Eternal Reign of the Lord

93 The ^(A)Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty;
The Lord is clothed,
^(B)He has girded Himself with strength.
Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be ^[a]moved.
²^(C)Your throne is established from of old;
You are from everlasting.

³The floods have ^[b]lifted up, O Lord,
The floods have lifted up their voice;
The floods lift up their waves.
⁴^(D)The Lord on high is mightier
Than the noise of many waters,
Than the mighty waves of the sea.

⁵Your testimonies are very sure;
Holiness adorns Your house,
O Lord, ^[c]forever.

Footnotes

Psalm 93:1 shaken
Psalm 93:3 raised up
Psalm 93:5 Lit. for length of days

John 17

New King James Version

Jesus Prays for Himself

17 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, ^(A)the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, ²^(B)as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He ^[a]should give eternal life to as many ^(C)as You have given Him. ³And ^(D)this is eternal life, that they may know You, ^(E)the only true God, and Jesus Christ ^(F)whom You have sent. ⁴^(G)I have glorified You on the earth. ^(H)I have finished the work ^(I)which You have given Me to do. ⁵And now, O Father, glorify Me together ^[b]with Yourself, with the glory ^(J)which I had with You before the world was.

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

⁶^(K)“I have ^[c]manifested Your name to the men ^(L)whom You have given Me out of the world. ^(M)They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. ⁷Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. ⁸For I have given to them the words ^(N)which You have given Me; and they have received them, ^(O)and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that ^(P)You sent Me.

⁹“I pray for them. ^(Q)I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. ¹⁰And all Mine are Yours, and ^(R)Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. ¹¹^(S)Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, ^(T)keep^[d] through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one ^(U)as We are. ¹²While I was with them ^[e]in the world, ^(V)I kept them in ^[f]Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and ^(W)none of them is ^[g]lost ^(X)except the son of ^[h]perdition, ^(Y)that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. ¹⁴I have given them Your word; ^(Z)and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, ^(AA)just as I am not of the world. ¹⁵I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but ^(AB)that You should keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁷^(AC)Sanctify^[i] them by Your truth. ^(AD)Your word is truth. ¹⁸^(AE)As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. ¹⁹And ^(AF)for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

Jesus Prays for All Believers

²⁰“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who ^[j]will believe in Me through their word; ²¹^(AG)that they all may be one, as ^(AH)You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. ²²And the ^(AI)glory which You gave Me I have given them, ^(AJ)that they may be one just as We are one: ²³I in them, and You in Me; ^(AK)that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

²⁴^(AL)“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; ^(AM)for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. ²⁵O righteous Father! ^(AN)The world has not known You, but ^(AO)I have known You; and ^(AP)these have known that You sent Me. ²⁶^(AQ)And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love ^(AR)with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”