Passage

Jeremiah 18.8

Book: Jeremiah · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

6. 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. 7. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it;

8. if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; 10. if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them. (Jeremiah 18:6-10, ASV)

WEB

6. “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. 7. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it;

8. if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them.

At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; 10. if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they not obey my voice, then I will repent of the good, with which I said I would benefit them. (Jeremiah 18:6-10, WEB)

KJV

6. 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. 7. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;

8. If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; 10. If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them. (Jeremiah 18:6-10, KJV)

YLT

6. 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. 7. The moment I speak concerning a nation, And concerning a kingdom, To pluck up and to break down, and to destroy,

8. And that nation hath turned from its evil, Because I have spoken against it, Then I have repented of the evil that I thought to do to it.

And the moment I speak concerning a nation, And concerning a kingdom, to build, and to plant, 10. And it hath done the evil thing in Mine eyes, So as not to hearken to My voice, Then I have repented of the good That I have spoken of doing to it. (Jeremiah 18:6-10, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

H5162 - nacham, nacham, Strong's H5162
H7725 - shuv, shuv, Strong's H7725
H6213 - asah, asah, Strong's H6213

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Biblical Prophecy, via Jeremiah 18.7-10
Calvinism vs Arminianism vs Molinism vs Open Theism, via Jeremiah 18.7-10
God Is Surprised Objection, via Jeremiah 18.7-10
Open Theism, via Jeremiah 18.7-10

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.