Jeremiah 18:6 kjv
O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
Jeremiah 18:6 nkjv
"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?" says the LORD. "Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!
Jeremiah 18:6 niv
He said, "Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.
Jeremiah 18:6 esv
"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
Jeremiah 18:6 nlt
"O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand.
Jeremiah 18 6 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Jeremiah 18:6 | Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, as this potter has done? | Refutation of Israel's presumption of unalterable covenant status; highlights God's freedom as Sovereign |
| Jeremiah 18:7-10 | If at any time I speak concerning a nation or a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it does evil in my sight so that it does not obey my voice, then I will reconsider the disaster that I had intended to bring on it. And if at any time I speak concerning a nation or a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it, if it turns from its evil, then I will reconsider the disaster that I had intended to bring on it. | Illustrates God's conditional judgments and readiness to relent |
| Romans 9:19-21 | You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who resists his will?” One of you will say to me, “Who then is that opposes him?” Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? | Paul uses the potter and clay imagery to explain God's sovereign election and justice |
| Isaiah 64:8 | Yet, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hands. | Direct comparison of God as potter and Israel as clay, emphasizing divine craftsmanship and possession |
| Psalms 139:13-16 | For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being formed in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. | Extols God as the deliberate designer and shaper of individuals |
| Amos 3:7 | Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, unless he reveals his secret counsel to his servants the prophets. | Prophetic role in communicating God's intentions |
| Ezekiel 33:11 | Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live | God's desire for the wicked to repent |
| Deuteronomy 28:49-50 | the LORD will bring a nation from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle serangan; a nation whose language you do not understand, a nation of stern face, who shall not respect the old or show favor to the young | Warning of judgment by foreign nation |
| Deuteronomy 4:26 | I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going into across the Jordan to possess, you will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed, and will not remain, but the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you. | Conditional covenant blessings and curses |
| Jeremiah 22:9 | and they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD their God and worshiped other gods and served them!’ | Consequences of covenant betrayal |
| Jeremiah 18:11-12 | Now therefore say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ‘Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am planning disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Turn back, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.’ But they say, ‘It is of no use! We will follow our own devices, and each will do as his stubborn evil will.’ | Israel's rejection of God's warning and continued disobedience |
| Hosea 11:8-9 | How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a man; I am holy in your midst, and I will not come in anger. | God's emotional struggle between judgment and compassion for His people |
| John 15:1-2 | “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit." | Jesus uses vine imagery to describe relationship and fruitfulness |
| Acts 10:34-35 | So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly these days I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. | God's impartiality and acceptance of those who fear Him from any nation |
| Philippians 2:12-13 | Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. | The balance between human responsibility and God's enabling work |
| 1 Corinthians 3:9 | For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. | Another analogy for God's work in and through people |
| James 4:6-7 | But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. | Submission to God's authority and its outcome |
| 2 Peter 3:9 | The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. | God's patience and desire for repentance |
| 1 John 1:9 | If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. | The role of confession in receiving forgiveness |
| Galatians 6:7-8 | Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. | The principle of sowing and reaping |
Jeremiah 18 verses
Jeremiah 18 6 Meaning
This verse powerfully illustrates God's sovereign ability to exercise mercy or judgment over any nation, reinforcing His absolute authority over all peoples. It emphasizes that repentance can alter a divine pronouncement, but continued wickedness invites deserved judgment. God's decree is not rigidly fixed; it is responsive to human action.
Jeremiah 18 6 Context
Jeremiah chapter 18 unfolds in the tumultuous period leading up to the Babylonian exile of Judah. The prophet Jeremiah is explicitly commanded by God to go down to the potter's house. This divine instruction sets the stage for a powerful object lesson. God instructs Jeremiah to observe the potter's work with the clay. The potter, in control of his material, reshapes a marred vessel into something else according to his will. This imagery is directly applied by God to His relationship with Israel.
Historically, Judah had been repeatedly warned by God through Jeremiah and other prophets to repent of their idolatry, injustice, and unfaithfulness to the covenant. Despite these warnings and the impending threat of Assyria and later Babylon, the people largely continued in their sin. Jeremiah's prophecy in this chapter serves as a final, vivid illustration of God's absolute authority to judge or show mercy based on the actions of His people. The prevailing sentiment among the people of Judah was a false sense of security, believing that their covenant status with God, or their lineage, guaranteed their protection regardless of their behavior. This verse directly challenges that assumption by presenting God as the ultimate potter and Israel as the clay.
Jeremiah 18 6 Word Analysis
- Hineni (הִנֵּה): "Behold," "See," or "Lo." This interjection calls for attention and emphasizes the following statement, drawing the listener into the immediacy of the message. It marks a point of profound revelation or significant observation.
- Lo- yakhol (לֹא־יָכוֹל): "Cannot I," or "Am I not able." This is a rhetorical question designed to affirm God's ability and right. It challenges any notion of human limitation on God's power or freedom to act.
- Li-mnoth (לִמְנוֹת): This is a Hiphil infinitive of the root 'mnu' (מנה), meaning "to count," "to number," or "to appoint." However, in this specific construction, alongside "Lo yakhol," it often conveys the sense of "to do with," "to deal with," or "to be able to do." The sense is not of literally counting, but of having power over or being able to effect change.
- Ithchem (אִתְּכֶם): "With you." This refers to the nation of Israel, specifically the house of Israel, addressing them directly as a collective entity.
- Bayit (בֵּית): "House." Used here in "Bayit Yisra'el" (בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל), it signifies the "House of Israel," representing the entire nation and its people as a corporate entity, a family or household.
- K-asher (כַּאֲשֶׁר): "As," "Like," or "In the manner of." This particle introduces the comparison with the potter's action.
- Hat-sapher (הַצּפָּר): "The potter." From the root 'tsaphah' (צָפָה), referring to one who shapes or forms, particularly from clay. This word refers to the craftsman at the wheel.
- Bosar (בֹּצֵר): "Clay." This refers to the soft, malleable material that the potter works with. It represents the human condition and Israel's responsiveness (or lack thereof) to God's molding.
Group Analysis:
- "Hineni lo yakhol li-mnoth ithchem": This phrase combines "Behold," "Cannot I," and "with you." It translates to "Behold, am I not able to do with you." This construction powerfully asserts God's unimpeded ability to act in relation to Israel, using the rhetorical question to affirm His sovereign power.
- "Bayit Yisra'el k-asher hat-sapher et-habosar": "O house of Israel, as this potter with the clay." This connects the rhetorical question about God's ability directly to the illustrative action of the potter working with clay, personifying Israel as the object of God's divine shaping power.
Jeremiah 18 6 Bonus Section
The potter's house was a literal place Jeremiah visited, and the detailed observation of the potter deliberately reshaping a marred vessel into another object signifies that God's judgment is not necessarily annihilation, but a reshaping or repurposing according to His sovereign will when the original purpose is thwarted by sin. This doesn't negate God's justice but frames it within His ultimate plan for His creation. The metaphor also speaks to God's long-suffering patience. A potter might spend time with a piece of clay, trying to save it or remake it, but ultimately, if it's irredeemable, the potter acts. God likewise extends opportunities for repentance before ultimate judgment.
Jeremiah 18 6 Commentary
This verse is a cornerstone of understanding God's relationship with humanity, particularly His people Israel. The potter and clay imagery, recurrent in scripture, highlights God's absolute sovereignty, creative power, and right to fashion His creation according to His purposes. God is not limited by any inherent quality or status of the clay (Israel); He can indeed deal with them as He chooses. This serves as a profound rebuke to Israel's pride and self-reliance, suggesting they assumed a fixed status immune to judgment.
The significance lies in demonstrating that God’s dealings are conditional. While He is the potter who shapes, the clay's response is critical. If the clay is receptive and submits to the potter's hand, it can be formed into a vessel of honor. However, if it resists or becomes marred, the potter has the sovereign right to rework it or discard it, or in the case of God, to bring judgment. This is echoed in Romans 9 where Paul uses this imagery to discuss God's sovereign right to choose and the distinction between the elect and others. Jeremiah 18:11-12 and verses preceding it in chapter 18 show the house of Israel has rejected God's word and remains stubborn, confirming the potter's right to rework or judge. The nation, despite its special calling and covenant relationship, can still be judged or preserved based on its obedience to God's word and law.