“The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said,’Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.’ So I did what He told me and found the potter working at his wheel. But the jar he was making didn’t turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay and started over.
Then the Lord gave me this message: ‘O Israel, can I not do to you what this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand.,If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I planned. And if I announce that I will plant and build up a certain nation or kingdom, but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey Me, I will not mess it as I said I would.”’ (vv 1-10, NLT)