The Potter and the Clay

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise, and go down to ^qthe potter’s house, and there I will let you hear¹ my words.” 3 So I went down to ^rthe potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was ^sspoiled in the potter’s hand, and ^the reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, ^ucan I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. ^vBehold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will ^wpluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, ^xturns from its evil, ^yI will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. 9 And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will ^wbuild and plant it, 10 and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. 11 Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. ^zReturn, every one from his evil way, and ^aamend your ways and your deeds.’

12 “But they say, ^b‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to ^cthe stubbornness of his evil heart.’

18 Then they said, ^p“Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, ^qfor the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. ^rCome, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.”

The Broken Flask

1 Thus says the Lord, “Go, buy ^ca potter’s earthenware ^dflask, and take some of ^ethe elders of the people and some of ^ethe elders of the priests, 2 and go out ^fto the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. 3 You shall say, ^g‘Hear the word of the Lord, ^hO kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that ⁱthe ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 4 ^jBecause the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; ^kand because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, 5 ^land have built the high places of Baal ^lto burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, ^mwhich I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind— 6 therefore, ⁿbehold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or ^othe Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. 7 And in this place ^pI will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, ^qand will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. ^rI will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth. 8 And I will make this city ^sa horror, ^sa thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds. 9 ^tAnd I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor ^uin the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.’

10 “Then ^vyou shall break ^wthe flask in the sight of the men who go with you, 11 and shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, ^xas one breaks a potter’s vessel, ^yso that it can never be mended. ^zMen shall bury in Topheth because there will be no place else to bury. 12 Thus will I do to this place, declares the Lord, and to its inhabitants, making this city ^alike Topheth. 13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah—^ball the houses on whose ^croofs offerings have been offered ^dto all the host of heaven, and ^edrink offerings have been poured out to other gods—shall be defiled ^alike the place of Topheth.’”

14 Then Jeremiah came from ^fTopheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, ^gand he stood in 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 am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, ^hbecause they have stiffened their neck, ⁱrefusing to hear my words.”

My Soul Thirsts for You

A Psalm of David, ^swhen he was in the wilderness of Judah.

Greeting

1 Simeon¹ Peter, a servant² and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have obtained ^aa faith of equal standing with ours ^bby the righteousness of our ^cGod and Savior Jesus Christ:

2 ^dMay grace and peace be multiplied to you ^ein the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Confirm Your Calling and Election

3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him ^fwho called us to³ his own glory and excellence,⁴ 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become ^gpartakers of the divine nature, ^hhaving escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith ⁱwith virtue,⁵ and virtue ^jwith knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control ^kwith steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness ^lwith brotherly affection, and brotherly affection ^mwith love. 8 For if these qualities⁶ are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or ⁿunfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he ^ois blind, having forgotten that he was ^pcleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers,⁷ be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and ^qelection, for if you practice these qualities ^ryou will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you ^san entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

12 Therefore I intend ^talways to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in ^uthe truth that you have. 13 I think it right, as long as I am in this ^vbody,^{8 w}to stir you up by way of reminder, 14 ^xsince I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, ^yas our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

Christ’s Glory and the Prophetic Word

16 For we did not follow ^zcleverly devised ^amyths when we made known to you ^bthe power and ^ccoming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but ^dwe were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, ^e“This is my beloved Son,⁹ with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on ^fthe holy mountain. 19 And ^gwe have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention ^has to a lamp shining in a dark place, until ⁱthe day ^jdawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For ^kno prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God ^las they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

False Prophets and Teachers

1 But ^mfalse prophets also arose among the people, ⁿjust as there will be false teachers among you, who will ^osecretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master ^pwho bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth ^qwill be blasphemed. 3 And ^rin their greed they will exploit you ^swith false words. ^tTheir condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

4 For if God did not spare ^uangels when they sinned, but ^vcast them into hell¹⁰ and committed them to chains¹¹ of gloomy darkness ^wto be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but ^xpreserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought ^ya flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by ^zturning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, ^amaking them an example of ^bwhat is going to happen to the ungodly;¹² 7 and ^cif he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, ^dhe was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then ^ethe Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials,¹³ and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially ^fthose who indulge¹⁴ in the lust of defiling passion and ^gdespise authority.

Bold and willful, they do not tremble ^gas they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11 ^hwhereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. 12 ⁱBut these, like irrational animals, ^jcreatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, 13 suffering wrong as ^kthe wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure ^lto revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions,¹⁵ while ^mthey feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery,^{16 n}insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts ^otrained in greed. ^pAccursed children! 15 Forsaking the right way, ^qthey have gone astray. They have followed ^rthe way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved ^sgain from wrongdoing, 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; ^ta speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

17 ^uThese are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. ^vFor them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 18 For, ^wspeaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely ^xescaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them ^yfreedom, ^zbut they themselves are slaves¹⁷ of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. 20 For if, ^aafter they have escaped the defilements of the world ^bthrough the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, ^cthe last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For ^dit would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from ^ethe holy commandment delivered to them. 22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The ^fdog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

The Day of the Lord Will Come

1 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them ^gI am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 ^hthat you should remember the predictions of ⁱthe holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come ^jin the last days with scoffing, ^kfollowing their own sinful desires. 4 ^lThey will say, “Where is the promise of ^mhis coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth ⁿwas formed out of water and through water ^oby the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed ^pwas deluged with water and ^qperished. 7 But by the same word ^rthe heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and ^sdestruction of the ungodly.

8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and ^ta thousand years as one day. 9 ^uThe Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise ^vas some count slowness, but ^wis patient toward you,^{18 x}not wishing that any should perish, but ^ythat all should reach repentance. 10 But ^zthe day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then ^athe heavens will pass away with a roar, and ^bthe heavenly bodies¹⁹ will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.²⁰

11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, ^cwhat sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 ^dwaiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and ^ethe heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for ^fnew heavens and a new earth ^gin which righteousness dwells.

Final Words

14 ^hTherefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him ⁱwithout spot or ^jblemish, and ^kat peace. 15 And count ^lthe patience of our Lord as salvation, just as ^mour beloved brother Paul also wrote to you ⁿaccording to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. ^oThere are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, ^pas they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, ^qknowing this beforehand, ^rtake care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But ^sgrow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. ^tTo him be the glory both now and to the day of ^ueternity. Amen.