Jeremiah 18

Jeremiah 18
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A high resolution scan of the Aleppo Codex showing the Book of Jeremiah (the sixth book in Nevi'im).
Book	Book of Jeremiah
Hebrew Bible part	Nevi'im
Order in the Hebrew part	6
Category	Latter Prophets
Christian Bible part	Old Testament
Order in the Christian part	24

Jeremiah 18 is the eighteenth chapter of the Book of Jeremiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains prophecies attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. This chapter includes the fourth of the passages known as the "Confessions of Jeremiah" (Jeremiah 18:18–23).^[1]

Text

The original text of this chapter is written in the Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 23 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex (10th century), Codex Leningradensis (1008).^[2] Some fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, i.e., 4QJer^a (4Q70; 225-175 BCE^[3][4]) with extant verses 15–23.^[5][6]

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^S; 4th century), Codex Alexandrinus (A; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^Q; 6th century).^[7]

Parashot

The parashah (plural parashot) sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex.^[8] Jeremiah 18 is a part of the Seventh prophecy (Jeremiah 18-20) in the section of Prophecies of Destruction (Jeremiah 1-25). {P}: open parashah; {S}: closed parashah.

{P} 18:1-4 {S} 18:5-6 {S} 18:7-8 {S} 18:9-10 {S} 18:11-12 {P} 18:13-17 {S} 18:18-23 {S}

Verse 2

Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.^[9]

In the New Testament, Matthew's gospel refers the words which were "spoken by Jeremiah the prophet" anticipating the use of the money paid to Judas Iscariot for his betrayal of Jesus. Whilst the text of Zechariah 11:12-13 is a closer match to the gospel, writers such as John Calvin, Carl Friedrich Keil and Heinrich Meyer have suggested that an error on the part of the evangelist "might readily enough occur through a reminiscence of Jeremiah 18:2".^[10]

Verse 6

"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!^[11]

• God as the potter and Israel as the clay "underscores God's complete control" (Isaiah 29:16; Isaiah 45:9).^[12]

See also

• Clay
• Israel
• Jeremiah
• Jerusalem
• Judah
• Pottery

• Related Bible parts: Isaiah 29, Isaiah 45, Isaiah 64, Romans 9, Romans 11

Notes and references

1. Diamond, A. R. (1987), The Confessions of Jeremiah in Context, JSOTSup 45, Sheffield
2. Würthwein 1995, pp. 35–37.
3. Cross, F.M. apud Freedman, D.N.; Mathews, K.A. (1985). The Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus Scroll (11QpaleoLev). Winona Lake, Indiana. p. 55
4. Sweeney, Marvin A. (2010). Form and Intertextuality in Prophetic and Apocalyptic Literature. Forschungen zum Alten Testament. Vol. 45 (reprint ed.). Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 66. ISBN 9781608994182. ISSN 0940-4155.
5. Fitzmyer, Joseph A. (2008). A Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 37. ISBN 9780802862419. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
6. Ulrich, Eugene, ed. (2010). The Biblical Qumran Scrolls: Transcriptions and Textual Variants. Brill. p. 568. ISBN 9789004181830. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
7. Würthwein 1995, pp. 73–74.
8. As reflected in the Jewish Publication Society's 1917 edition of the Hebrew Bible in English.
9. Jeremiah 18:2: New King James Version
10. Meyer, H. A. W. (1880), Meyer's NT Commentary on Matthew 27, translated from the German sixth edition, accessed on 30 August 2024
11. Jeremiah 18:6: NKJV
12. Coogan, Michael David (2007). Coogan, Michael David; Brettler, Marc Zvi; Newsom, Carol Ann; Perkins, Pheme (eds.). The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version, Issue 48 (Augmented 3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 1107–1108 Hebrew Bible. ISBN 9780195288810.

Bibliography

• The Nelson Study Bible. Thomas Nelson, Inc. 1997. ISBN 9780840715999.
• Ulrich, Eugene, ed. (2010). The Biblical Qumran Scrolls: Transcriptions and Textual Variants. Brill.
• Würthwein, Ernst (1995). The Text of the Old Testament. Translated by Rhodes, Erroll F. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-0788-7. Retrieved January 26, 2019.

External links

Jewish

• Jeremiah 18 Hebrew with Parallel English

Christian

• Jeremiah 18 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate