The Lesson from the Potter Working the Clay

181 The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, 2 Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 3 And I went down to the potter's house; and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. 4 And the vessel that he made was marred, as clay, in the hand of the potter; and he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make. 5 And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, 6 House of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith Jehovah. Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, house of Israel. 7 At the moment that I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to break down, and to destroy, 8 if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, then I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. 9 And at the moment that I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant, 10 if it do evil in my sight, that it hearken not unto my voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them.

11 And now, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I prepare evil against you, and devise a device against you: turn ye then every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings. 12 But they say, There is no hope; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will each one do [according to] the stubbornness of his evil heart. 13 Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Ask ye now among the nations, Who hath heard such things? The virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing. 14 Shall the snow of Lebanon cease from the rock of the field? Shall the cool flowing waters coming from afar be dried up? 15 For my people hath forgotten me: they burn incense to vanity; and they have caused them to stumble in their ways, the ancient paths, to walk in by-paths of a way not cast up; 16 to make their land an astonishment, a perpetual hissing: every one that passeth by shall be astonished, and shake his head. 17 As with an east wind will I scatter them before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.

The People's Plots and Jeremiah's Prayer

18 And they said, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor word from the prophet. Come and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words. 19 Jehovah, give heed to me, and listen to the voice of those that contend with me. 20 Shall evil be recompensed for good? For they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before thee to speak good for them, to turn away thy wrath from them. 21 Therefore give up their children to the famine, and deliver them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of children and be widows; and let their men be swept off by death, their young men be smitten by the sword in battle. 22 Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them; for they have digged a pit to take me, and have hidden snares for my feet. 23 And thou, Jehovah, knowest all their counsel against me to slay me. Forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee: deal with them in the time of thine anger.

The Lesson from the Broken Vessel

191 Thus saith Jehovah: Go and buy a potter's earthen flagon, and [take] of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests; 2 and go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the pottery-gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee, 3 and say, Hear the word of Jehovah, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle; 4 because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place [from me], and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah; and have filled this place with the blood of innocents; 5 and they have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire as burnt-offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it up into my mind: 6 therefore behold, days come, saith Jehovah, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor Valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter. 7 And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of them that seek their life, and their carcases will I give as food to the fowl of the heavens and to the beasts of the earth. 8 And I will make this city an astonishment and a hissing; every one that passeth by shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof. 9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat everyone the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the straitness wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.

10 And thou shalt break the flagon in the sight of the men that go with thee, 11 and shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again. And they shall bury in Topheth, till there be no place to bury. 12 Thus will I do unto this place, saith Jehovah, and to the inhabitants thereof, and make this city as Topheth. 13 And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be as the place of Topheth, defiled, all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of the heavens, and have poured out drink-offerings unto other gods. 14 And Jeremiah came from Topheth, whither Jehovah had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of Jehovah's house, and said to all the people, 15 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her cities all the evil that I have spoken against it; for they have hardened their necks, not to hear my words.

The Character of Men in the Last Days

31 But this know, that in [the] last days difficult times shall be there; 2 for men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, evil speakers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, profane, 3 without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, of unsubdued passions, savage, having no love for what is good, 4 traitors, headlong, of vain pretensions, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; 5 having a form of piety but denying the power of it: and from these turn away. 6 For of these are they who are getting into houses, and leading captive silly women, laden with sins, led by various lusts, 7 always learning, and never able to come to [the] knowledge of [the] truth. 8 Now in the same manner in which Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, thus these also withstand the truth; men corrupted in mind, found worthless as regards the faith. 9 But they shall not advance farther; for their folly shall be completely manifest to all, as that of those also became.

Paul's Last Charge to Timothy

10 But thou hast been thoroughly acquainted with my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings: what [sufferings] happened to me in Antioch, in Iconium, in Lystra; what persecutions I endured; and the Lord delivered me out of all. 12 And all indeed who desire to live piously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 But wicked men and juggling impostors shall advance in evil, leading and being led astray. 14 But thou, abide in those things which thou hast learned, and [of which] thou hast been fully persuaded, knowing of whom thou hast learned [them]; 15 and that from a child thou hast known the sacred letters, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which [is] in Christ Jesus. 16 Every scripture [is] divinely inspired, and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; 17 that the man of God may be complete, fully fitted to every good work.