Jeremiah 18:6
New International Version
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.

New Living Translation
“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.

English Standard Version
“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.

Berean Standard Bible
“O house of Israel, declares the LORD, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay? Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
“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!

New American Standard Bible
“Am I not able, house of Israel, to deal with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel.

NASB 1995
“Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

NASB 1977
“Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

Legacy Standard Bible
“Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares Yahweh. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

Amplified Bible
“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” says the LORD. “Look carefully, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

Christian Standard Bible
“House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay? ”—this is the LORD’s declaration. “Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
“House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay?"—this is the LORD’s declaration. “Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel.

American Standard Version
O 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, O house of Israel.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Can I not do with you, house of Israel, as this Potter, says LORD JEHOVAH? Behold, like clay in the hands of a potter, so are you in my hands, house of Israel

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Shall I not be able, O house of Israel, to do to you as this potter? behold, as the clay of the potter are ye in my hands.

Contemporary English Version
People of Israel, I, the LORD, have power over you, just as a potter has power over clay.

Douay-Rheims Bible
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.

English Revised Version
O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"Nation of Israel, can't I do with you as this potter does with clay? Nation of Israel, you are like the clay in the potter's hands.

Good News Translation
"Don't I have the right to do with you people of Israel what the potter did with the clay? You are in my hands just like clay in the potter's hands.

International Standard Version
"Israel, can't I deal with you like this potter?" declares the LORD. "Look, Israel, like clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand.

JPS Tanakh 1917
O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in My hand, O house of Israel.

Literal Standard Version
“O house of Israel, am I not able to do to you as this potter?” A declaration of YHWH. “Behold, as clay in the hand of the potter, | So [are] you in My hand, O house of Israel.

Majority Standard Bible
“O house of Israel, declares the LORD, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay? Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

New American Bible
Can I not do to you, house of Israel, as this potter has done?—oracle of the LORD. Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.

NET Bible
"I, the LORD, say: 'O nation of Israel, can I not deal with you as this potter deals with the clay? In my hands, you, O nation of Israel, are just like the clay in this potter's hand.'

New Revised Standard Version
Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the LORD. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

New Heart English Bible
"'House of Israel, can't I do with you as this potter?' says the LORD. 'Look, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.'

Webster's Bible Translation
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 my hand, O house of Israel.

World English Bible
“House of Israel, can’t I do with you as this potter?” says Yahweh. “Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.

Young's Literal Translation
As this potter am I not able to do to you? O house of Israel, an affirmation of Jehovah. Lo, as clay in the hand of the potter, So are ye in My hand, O house of Israel.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Potter and the Clay
5Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 6“O house of Israel, declares the LORD, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay? Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. 7At any time I might announce that a nation or kingdom will be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed.…

Cross References
Matthew 20:15
Do I not have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Or are you envious because I am generous?'

Romans 9:20
But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, "Why did You make me like this?"

Romans 9:21
Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use?

Isaiah 45:9
Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker--one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, 'What are you making?' Does your work say, 'He has no hands'?

Isaiah 64:8
But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.

Jeremiah 18:5
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,


Treasury of Scripture

O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? said the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

Jeremiah 18:4
And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Isaiah 64:8
But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

Daniel 4:23
And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it; yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him;

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Able Affirmation Clay Deal Declares Earth Hand Hands House Israel Potter Potter's
Jeremiah 18
1. Under the type of a potter is shown God's absolute power in disposing of nations.
11. Judgments threatened to Judah for her strange revolt.
18. Jeremiah prays against his conspirators.














(6) Cannot I do with you as this potter?--The question implies a theory of the universe, which is neither (as some have thought) one of absolute fatalism, crushing man's freedom, nor, on the other hand, one which merges God's sovereignty in man's power of choice. The clay can resist the potter, or can yield itself willingly to his hands to be shaped as he wills. Its being "marred" is through no fault of the potter, but--in the framework of the parable--through the defect of the material, and, in its application, through the resistance of the human agents whom God is fashioning. And when it is so marred one of two courses is open to the potter. He can again re-mould and fashion it to his purpose, to a new work which may be less honourable than that for which it was originally designed; or, if it be hopelessly marred, can break it and cast it away, and with fresh clay mould a fresh vessel. The history of nations and churches and individual men offers many examples of both processes. They frustrate God's gracious purpose by their self-will, but His long-suffering leads them to repentance, and gives them, to speak after the manner of men, yet another chance of being moulded by His hands. Here the prophet invites the people, as the clay, to accept the former alternative. St. Paul, taking the same analogy, looks forward to the time when the marred vessel of Israel shall be restored to the Master's house and be honoured in His service (Romans 9:21; Romans 11:26). The closing verses of Browning's poem, "Rabbi Ben-Ezra," in Men and Women, may be referred to as embodying the same thought :--

"But I need Thee, as then,

Thee, God, who mouldest men;

And since, not even while the whirl was worst,

Did I--to the wheel of life,

With shapes and colours rife,

Bound dizzily--mistake my end, to slake Thy thirst,

"So take and use Thy work! . . .

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
“O house
בֵּ֥ית (bêṯ)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1004: A house

of Israel,
יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל (yiś·rā·’êl)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3478: Israel -- 'God strives', another name of Jacob and his desc

can
אוּכַ֨ל (’ū·ḵal)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - first person common singular
Strong's 3201: To be able, have power

I not
לֹא־ (lō-)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

treat
לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת (la·‘ă·śō·wṯ)
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 6213: To do, make

you
לָכֶ֛ם (lā·ḵem)
Preposition | second person masculine plural
Strong's Hebrew

as this
הַזֶּ֜ה (haz·zeh)
Article | Pronoun - masculine singular
Strong's 2088: This, that

potter treats his clay?
הֲכַיּוֹצֵ֨ר (hă·ḵay·yō·w·ṣêr)
Preposition-k, Article | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 3335: To mould into a, form, as a, potter, to determine

declares
נְאֻם־ (nə·’um-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 5002: An oracle

the LORD.
יְהוָ֑ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

Just like clay
כַחֹ֙מֶר֙ (ḵa·ḥō·mer)
Preposition-k, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2563: A bubbling up, of water, a wave, of earth, mire, clay, a heap, a chomer, dry measure

in the potter’s
הַיּוֹצֵ֔ר (hay·yō·w·ṣêr)
Article | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 3335: To mould into a, form, as a, potter, to determine

hand,
בְּיַ֣ד (bə·yaḏ)
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 3027: A hand

so
כֵּן־ (kên-)
Adverb
Strong's 3651: So -- thus

are you
אַתֶּ֥ם (’at·tem)
Pronoun - second person masculine plural
Strong's 859: Thou and thee, ye and you

in My hand,
בְּיָדִ֖י (bə·yā·ḏî)
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 3027: A hand

O house
בֵּ֥ית (bêṯ)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1004: A house

of Israel.
יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ (yiś·rā·’êl)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3478: Israel -- 'God strives', another name of Jacob and his desc


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OT Prophets: Jeremiah 18:6 House of Israel can't I do (Jer.)
Jeremiah 18:5
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