“Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.”
Parallel translations
- WEB “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear my words.”
- KJV Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
- BSB “Go down at once to the potter’s house, and there I will reveal My message to you.”
- NKJV “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.”
- NLT “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God sends Jeremiah to the potter's house to receive his message there. The lesson will come through what he sees.
Overview
The Lord directs the prophet to a working potter's house, where he will both witness and hear God's word. This pairing of sight and speech makes the coming object lesson all the more powerful. It shows God's gracious willingness to meet us through everyday realities to teach eternal truths.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Heb 1:1God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,
- Acts 9:6But rise up, and enter into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
- Jer 19:1–2Thus said Yahweh, “Go, and buy a potter’s earthen bottle, and take some of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests;
- Jer 23:22But if they had stood in my council, then they would have caused my people to hear my words, and would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
- Jer 13:1Yahweh says to me, “Go, and buy yourself a linen belt, and put it on your waist, and don’t put it in water.”
- Amos 7:7Thus he showed me and behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.
- Ezek 4:1–5“You also, son of man, take a tile, and lay it before yourself, and portray on it a city, even Jerusalem.
- Isa 20:2at that time Yahweh spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loosen the sackcloth from off your waist, and take your shoes from off your feet.” He did so, walking naked and barefoot.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 18:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.