Jeremiah 18 Study Notes: The Potter and the Clay
At a potter's house Jeremiah watches a spoiled pot reshaped, and the LORD teaches that Israel is in His hands like clay and that His warnings and promises to nations depend on how they respond. Judah refuses to repent, enemies plot against Jeremiah, and he prays for God to judge them.
General
What lesson did the LORD draw from the potter for the house of Israel (Jeremiah 18:5-6)?
Answer: God has the right to deal with Israel as a potter with clay
The LORD asked whether He could not do with Israel just what the potter had done, and declared that Israel was in His hand as clay is held by a potter (18:5-6). God is sovereign, which means He has full authority and power over His people and over all nations, and He has every right to shape them as He sees fit. Paul draws on this same picture when he asks whether the potter is not entitled to form, from a single lump, one pot for a special purpose and another for everyday use, warning against talking back to God (Romans 9:20-21). Isaiah likewise says that the clay may not question the potter (Isaiah 45:9).
- Jeremiah 18:6 (BSB)““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.”The LORD declares that Israel is in His hand like clay in a potter’s hand.
- Romans 9:20-21 (BSB)“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?” 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?”Paul uses the potter’s right over the clay to rebuke those who talk back to God.
- Isaiah 45:9 (BSB)“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 warns the clay not to dispute with the potter who formed it.
- Isaiah 29:16 (BSB)“You have turned things upside down, as if the potter were regarded as clay. Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pottery say of the potter, “He has no understanding”?”Isaiah rebukes those who treat the potter as if he were the clay.
Theological
What does the LORD assert about His relationship to Israel in Jeremiah 18:5-6?
Answer: God has the right to deal with Israel as a potter with clay
Jeremiah 18:6 states the principle of the sign: Israel rests in the LORD’s hand as clay rests with the one who shapes it. God’s sovereignty over His people and the nations is absolute, and He is free to shape and reshape them as He wills. Paul takes up the potter’s rights over the clay in Romans 9:20-21, where the potter makes from one lump one pot for a special purpose and another for everyday use and the creature has no standing to answer back to the Creator. Isaiah 45:9 and 29:16 make the same point against those who reverse the roles of potter and clay.
- Jeremiah 18:6 (BSB)““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.”The LORD declares that Israel is in His hand like clay in a potter’s hand.
- Romans 9:20-21 (BSB)“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?” 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?”Paul uses the potter’s right over the clay to rebuke those who talk back to God.
- Isaiah 45:9 (BSB)“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 warns the clay not to dispute with the potter who formed it.
- Isaiah 29:16 (BSB)“You have turned things upside down, as if the potter were regarded as clay. Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pottery say of the potter, “He has no understanding”?”Isaiah rebukes those who treat the potter as if he were the clay.
General
In his prayer against those plotting to harm him, what did Jeremiah remind the LORD he had done for them (Jeremiah 18:19-23)?
Answer: That he had once stood before God pleading for their good
Jeremiah asked the LORD to listen to what his accusers were saying and asked whether evil should be paid back for good, since they had prepared a pit to trap him (18:19-20). He reminded God that he had stood before Him pleading for their welfare and to turn away His anger from them (18:20). Then he prayed that their children would be given over to famine, their men killed by disease and sword, and their wives left childless and widowed, with cries rising from their houses, because they had laid traps for him (18:21-22). He ended by asking the LORD, who knew all their plans to kill him, not to forgive their sin but to act against them in His anger (18:23). This is Jeremiah’s own prayer, addressed to the LORD as judge. Like David, he complained that he was repaid evil for good (Psalm 35:12), and like David he was accused in return for his love (Psalm 109:4-5).
- Jeremiah 18:19-20 (BSB)“Attend to me, O LORD. Hear what my accusers are saying! Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn Your wrath from them.”Jeremiah protests that his enemies repay good with evil, though he had pleaded for them before God.
- Jeremiah 18:23 (BSB)“But You, O LORD, know all their deadly plots against me. Do not wipe out their guilt or blot out their sin from Your sight. Let them be overthrown before You; deal with them in the time of Your anger.”Jeremiah asks the LORD, who knows their plots, to deal with them in His anger.
- Psalm 35:12 (BSB)“They repay me evil for good, to the bereavement of my soul.”David likewise complains that his enemies repay him evil for good.
- Psalm 109:4-5 (BSB)“In return for my love they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer. They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my love.”David says he was accused in return for his love, though he was a man of prayer.
- Psalm 35:7 (BSB)“For without cause they laid their net for me; without reason they dug a pit for my soul.”David also speaks of enemies who dug a pit for him without cause.
Theological
In Jeremiah’s complaint of 18:19-23, what past service toward his persecutors does he set before the LORD?
Answer: That he had once stood before God pleading for their good
Jeremiah’s lament (18:19-23) appeals to the LORD as judge. He asks whether evil should be repaid for good, since they have laid a pit to trap him, and reminds God that he once stood before Him to speak good for them and turn away His wrath (18:19-20). He then prays for judgment on them: their children given over to famine, their men slain by disease and sword, their wives left childless and widowed (18:21-22). He asks the LORD, who knows their deadly plots, not to erase their guilt or remove their sin from His sight, but to deal with them in His anger (18:23), leaving the judgment in God’s hands. It closely resembles David’s complaints of being repaid evil for good (Psalm 35:12) and of being accused in return for his love and prayers (Psalm 109:4-5).
- Jeremiah 18:19-20 (BSB)“Attend to me, O LORD. Hear what my accusers are saying! Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn Your wrath from them.”Jeremiah protests that his enemies repay good with evil, though he had pleaded for them before God.
- Jeremiah 18:23 (BSB)“But You, O LORD, know all their deadly plots against me. Do not wipe out their guilt or blot out their sin from Your sight. Let them be overthrown before You; deal with them in the time of Your anger.”Jeremiah asks the LORD, who knows their plots, to deal with them in His anger.
- Psalm 35:12 (BSB)“They repay me evil for good, to the bereavement of my soul.”David likewise complains that his enemies repay him evil for good.
- Psalm 109:4-5 (BSB)“In return for my love they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer. They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my love.”David says he was accused in return for his love, though he was a man of prayer.
- Psalm 35:7 (BSB)“For without cause they laid their net for me; without reason they dug a pit for my soul.”David also speaks of enemies who dug a pit for him without cause.
General
To show how unnatural Israel’s unfaithfulness was, the LORD pointed to something in nature that stays constant. What was it (Jeremiah 18:13-17)?
Answer: The snow and streams of Lebanon, which do not fail
The LORD told Jeremiah to ask among the nations whether anyone had heard of such a thing: Virgin Israel had done something horrible (18:13). The snow on Lebanon’s slopes does not disappear, and its cool streams from far away do not dry up, yet His people had forgotten Him (18:14-15). They burned incense to empty idols, which made them stumble off the old paths onto rough side roads (18:15). Their land would become a horror that makes passersby shake their heads, and in their disaster God would turn His back to them, not His face (18:16-17). Elsewhere the LORD says even the ox knows who owns it and the donkey where its master feeds it, yet Israel does not understand (Isaiah 1:3), and He had called them to walk in the ancient paths (Jeremiah 6:16).
- Jeremiah 18:14-15 (BSB)“Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave its rocky slopes? Or do its cool waters flowing from a distance ever run dry? Yet My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to worthless idols that make them stumble in their ways, leaving the ancient roads to walk on rutted bypaths instead of on the highway.”Lebanon’s snow and streams are constant, yet God’s people have forgotten Him.
- Jeremiah 18:17 (BSB)“I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind. I will show them My back and not My face in the day of their calamity.””God will show them His back, not His face, in their calamity.
- Isaiah 1:3 (BSB)“The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know; My people do not understand.””The LORD contrasts the ox and donkey, which know their owner and master, with Israel, who does not know Him.
- Jeremiah 6:16 (BSB)“This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths: ‘Where is the good way?’ Then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’”The LORD had urged His people to ask for and walk in the ancient paths.
- Deuteronomy 31:17 (BSB)“On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them. On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’”Moses warned that God would hide His face from His people when they turned away.
Theological
In Jeremiah 18:13-17, what natural image does the LORD contrast with Israel’s forgetting of Him?
Answer: The snow and streams of Lebanon, which do not fail
The oracle of 18:13-17 arraigns Israel before the nations for an unheard-of wickedness. Lebanon’s snows and distant streams are constant (18:14), but the LORD’s people have forgotten Him, burning incense to empty idols, which trip them up from the ancient roads onto rough bypaths (18:15). The consequences are desolation, the scorn of passersby, scattering as by an east wind when the enemy comes, and the LORD’s turning His back rather than His face when calamity comes (18:16-17), as Moses had warned that God would hide His face (Deuteronomy 31:17). Isaiah 1:3 makes a similar contrast between the ox and donkey, which know their owner and their master’s feeding place, and Israel’s failure to know her Lord, and Jeremiah 6:16 had urged them to seek the ancient paths.
- Jeremiah 18:14-15 (BSB)“Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave its rocky slopes? Or do its cool waters flowing from a distance ever run dry? Yet My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to worthless idols that make them stumble in their ways, leaving the ancient roads to walk on rutted bypaths instead of on the highway.”Lebanon’s snow and streams are constant, yet God’s people have forgotten Him.
- Jeremiah 18:17 (BSB)“I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind. I will show them My back and not My face in the day of their calamity.””God will show them His back, not His face, in their calamity.
- Isaiah 1:3 (BSB)“The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know; My people do not understand.””The LORD contrasts the ox and donkey, which know their owner and master, with Israel, who does not know Him.
- Jeremiah 6:16 (BSB)“This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths: ‘Where is the good way?’ Then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’”The LORD had urged His people to ask for and walk in the ancient paths.
- Deuteronomy 31:17 (BSB)“On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them. On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’”Moses warned that God would hide His face from His people when they turned away.
General
The LORD told Jeremiah to warn Judah that He was planning disaster and to call each person to turn from evil. How did the LORD say the people would respond (Jeremiah 18:11-12)?
Answer: They said it was no use and they would go their own way
Applying the lesson to Judah, the LORD told Jeremiah to announce that He was forming a disaster against them and to urge each person to turn from his evil way and reform his life (18:11). But the people would answer that it was hopeless; they would follow their own plans and act on the stubbornness of their evil hearts (18:12). Their refusal was their own choice, and they were fully responsible for it. Yet it also shows how deep their bondage to sin was, the same hard heart the LORD described when He asked whether a leopard can change its spots (Jeremiah 13:23). Earlier the people had used the same despairing words while chasing after foreign gods (Jeremiah 2:25).
- Jeremiah 18:11 (BSB)“Now therefore, tell the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘Behold, I am planning a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways, and correct your ways and deeds.’”The LORD warns of coming disaster and calls each person to turn from evil.
- Jeremiah 18:12 (BSB)“But they will reply, ‘It is hopeless. We will follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’””The people refuse, choosing to follow their own stubborn hearts.
- Jeremiah 13:23 (BSB)“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Neither are you able to do good—you who are accustomed to doing evil.”Those accustomed to evil are unable to do good, as a leopard cannot change its spots.
- Jeremiah 2:25 (BSB)“You should have kept your feet from going bare and your throat from being thirsty. But you said, ‘It is hopeless! For I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.’”The people earlier used the same hopeless refusal to cling to foreign gods.
Theological
How does Jeremiah 18:11-12 portray Judah’s response to the LORD’s call to repent?
Answer: They said it was no use and they would go their own way
The call to repentance (18:11) meets a defiant refusal: it is hopeless, they say; they will follow their own plans and the stubbornness of their evil hearts (18:12). The response shows both genuine responsibility and real bondage. They choose their way freely and are culpable for it, yet that choice flows from hearts accustomed to evil and unable by themselves to do good (Jeremiah 13:23). The same despairing refusal appears in Jeremiah 2:25, where the people, devoted to foreign gods, insist on pursuing them.
- Jeremiah 18:11 (BSB)“Now therefore, tell the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘Behold, I am planning a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways, and correct your ways and deeds.’”The LORD warns of coming disaster and calls each person to turn from evil.
- Jeremiah 18:12 (BSB)“But they will reply, ‘It is hopeless. We will follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’””The people refuse, choosing to follow their own stubborn hearts.
- Jeremiah 13:23 (BSB)“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Neither are you able to do good—you who are accustomed to doing evil.”Those accustomed to evil are unable to do good, as a leopard cannot change its spots.
- Jeremiah 2:25 (BSB)“You should have kept your feet from going bare and your throat from being thirsty. But you said, ‘It is hopeless! For I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.’”The people earlier used the same hopeless refusal to cling to foreign gods.
General
True or False: Jeremiah’s opponents decided to ignore him because they believed the priests, the wise men, and the prophets had all failed and could no longer be trusted (Jeremiah 18:18).
Answer: False
This is false. The plotters reasoned the opposite way. They were confident that the priest would never lack instruction, the wise would never lack counsel, and the prophet would never lack a message (18:18). Since they trusted their own religious leaders, they felt free to plan against Jeremiah, attack him with their words, and ignore everything he said (18:18). Jeremiah had already been the target of a plot to cut him off (Jeremiah 11:19), and later he would hear many whispering against him and waiting for him to fall (Jeremiah 20:10). Earlier the LORD had exposed the very prophets they trusted as speaking lies (Jeremiah 14:14).
- Jeremiah 18:18 (BSB)“Then some said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise, nor an oracle to the prophet. Come, let us denounce him and pay no heed to any of his words.””Jeremiah’s opponents plot against him, trusting their priests, wise men, and prophets.
- Jeremiah 11:19 (BSB)“For I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter; I did not know that they had plotted against me: “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more.””Jeremiah had earlier discovered a plot to cut him off from the land of the living.
- Jeremiah 20:10 (BSB)“For I have heard the whispering of many: “Terror is on every side! Report him; let us report him!” All my trusted friends watch for my fall: “Perhaps he will be deceived so that we may prevail against him and take our vengeance upon him.””Jeremiah later hears many whispering and watching for his fall.
- Jeremiah 14:14 (BSB)““The prophets are prophesying lies in My name,” replied the LORD. “I did not send them or appoint them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, a worthless divination, the futility and delusion of their own minds.”The LORD had declared that the prophets the people trusted were speaking lies.
Theological
True or False: In Jeremiah 18:18 the plotters reject Jeremiah’s message on the ground that the priests, sages, and prophets of Judah had all lost their authority.
Answer: False
This is false. The conspirators’ confidence was in the established religious order: the priest would always have instruction, the sage would always have advice, and the prophet would always have a message (18:18). Secure in those institutions, they resolved to devise plots against Jeremiah, strike at him with the tongue, and disregard all his words (18:18). Their trust was misplaced, since the LORD had already denounced those prophets as liars He had not sent (Jeremiah 14:14). The plot fits the pattern of hostility Jeremiah faced from earlier conspirators (Jeremiah 11:19) and from many who watched for his fall (Jeremiah 20:10).
- Jeremiah 18:18 (BSB)“Then some said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise, nor an oracle to the prophet. Come, let us denounce him and pay no heed to any of his words.””Jeremiah’s opponents plot against him, trusting their priests, wise men, and prophets.
- Jeremiah 11:19 (BSB)“For I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter; I did not know that they had plotted against me: “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more.””Jeremiah had earlier discovered a plot to cut him off from the land of the living.
- Jeremiah 20:10 (BSB)“For I have heard the whispering of many: “Terror is on every side! Report him; let us report him!” All my trusted friends watch for my fall: “Perhaps he will be deceived so that we may prevail against him and take our vengeance upon him.””Jeremiah later hears many whispering and watching for his fall.
- Jeremiah 14:14 (BSB)““The prophets are prophesying lies in My name,” replied the LORD. “I did not send them or appoint them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, a worthless divination, the futility and delusion of their own minds.”The LORD had declared that the prophets the people trusted were speaking lies.
General
The LORD sent Jeremiah to watch a potter at his wheel. What did the potter do when the pot he was making was spoiled in his hand (Jeremiah 18:1-4)?
Answer: He reworked the clay into a different vessel he chose
The LORD told Jeremiah to go down and visit the potter’s house, where He would give him a message (18:1-2). Jeremiah watched the potter working the clay on his wheel. When the pot he was shaping went wrong in his hands, the potter did not discard the clay; he shaped it into another pot, whatever seemed best to him (18:3-4). The point of the scene is the potter’s freedom over his clay. Isaiah uses the same picture, calling the LORD the potter and His people the clay, the work of His hand (Isaiah 64:8).
- Jeremiah 18:3-4 (BSB)“So I went down to the potter’s house and saw him working at the wheel. But the vessel that he was shaping from the clay became flawed in his hand; so he formed it into another vessel, as it seemed best for him to do.”Jeremiah watches the potter remake a flawed vessel into another as he sees fit.
- Isaiah 64:8 (BSB)“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.”Isaiah calls the LORD the potter and His people the clay, the work of His hand.
- Isaiah 45:9 (BSB)“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 warns the clay not to question the potter who shapes it.
Theological
What did Jeremiah observe the potter doing with the marred vessel in Jeremiah 18:1-4?
Answer: He reworked the clay into a different vessel he chose
The sign at the potter’s house (18:1-2) centers on what the craftsman does when a vessel is marred in his hand: he remakes the clay into a different vessel as he judged best (18:3-4). The emphasis falls on the potter’s authority and freedom to shape the material as he sees fit, which the LORD will immediately apply to Israel. The same metaphor of the LORD as potter and His people as clay appears in Isaiah 64:8 and Isaiah 45:9.
- Jeremiah 18:3-4 (BSB)“So I went down to the potter’s house and saw him working at the wheel. But the vessel that he was shaping from the clay became flawed in his hand; so he formed it into another vessel, as it seemed best for him to do.”Jeremiah watches the potter remake a flawed vessel into another as he sees fit.
- Isaiah 64:8 (BSB)“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.”Isaiah calls the LORD the potter and His people the clay, the work of His hand.
- Isaiah 45:9 (BSB)“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 warns the clay not to question the potter who shapes it.
General
True or False: The LORD said that if a nation He had warned of destruction turned from its evil, He would turn back from the disaster, and if a nation He promised to build up did evil, He would withdraw the good (Jeremiah 18:7-10).
Answer: True
This is true. The LORD explained how His announcements to nations work. If He declares that a nation will be uprooted and destroyed, and that nation repents of its wickedness, He turns back from the calamity He had planned (18:7-8). If He declares that He will build up a nation, and it does evil and will not listen, He relents of the good He had intended (18:9-10). Nineveh is a clear example: when its people abandoned their wicked conduct, God held back the judgment He had announced (Jonah 3:10). His relenting does not make Him like a man who lies or changes his mind (Numbers 23:19); His purpose stands (Isaiah 46:10), and His warnings are one of the means by which He calls people to turn.
- Jeremiah 18:7-8 (BSB)“At any time I might announce that a nation or kingdom will be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed. But if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I will relent of the disaster I had planned to bring.”If a nation warned of destruction turns from its evil, the LORD relents of the disaster.
- Jeremiah 18:9-10 (BSB)“And if at another time I announce that I will build up and establish a nation or kingdom, and if it does evil in My sight and does not listen to My voice, then I will relent of the good I had intended for it.”If a nation promised blessing does evil, the LORD relents of the good He intended.
- Jonah 3:10 (BSB)“When God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them.”God relents from the disaster He threatened when Nineveh turns from its evil ways.
- Numbers 23:19 (BSB)“God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?”God does not change His mind like a man; He fulfills what He says.
- Isaiah 46:10 (BSB)“I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’”God declares that His purpose will stand and He will accomplish all He pleases.
Theological
True or False: Jeremiah 18:7-10 teaches that the LORD’s announced judgments and blessings on a nation take account of how that nation responds, so that repentance averts threatened disaster and rebellion forfeits promised good.
Answer: True
This is true. Jeremiah 18:7-10 sets out how God’s sovereign rule works out in His dealings with nations: an announced judgment is withdrawn if the nation repents (18:7-8), and an announced blessing is withdrawn if the nation turns to evil (18:9-10). Nineveh’s repentance and God’s relenting illustrate the first case (Jonah 3:10). This relenting is not the inconstancy of a man who lies or changes his mind (Numbers 23:19), and God’s purpose stands (Isaiah 46:10). He ordains the means as well as the ends, and the warning itself is a means by which He calls a nation to turn. The potter remains sovereign over the clay, and the clay remains responsible for its response.
- Jeremiah 18:7-8 (BSB)“At any time I might announce that a nation or kingdom will be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed. But if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I will relent of the disaster I had planned to bring.”If a nation warned of destruction turns from its evil, the LORD relents of the disaster.
- Jeremiah 18:9-10 (BSB)“And if at another time I announce that I will build up and establish a nation or kingdom, and if it does evil in My sight and does not listen to My voice, then I will relent of the good I had intended for it.”If a nation promised blessing does evil, the LORD relents of the good He intended.
- Jonah 3:10 (BSB)“When God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them.”God relents from the disaster He threatened when Nineveh turns from its evil ways.
- Numbers 23:19 (BSB)“God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?”God does not change His mind like a man; He fulfills what He says.
- Isaiah 46:10 (BSB)“I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’”God declares that His purpose will stand and He will accomplish all He pleases.