In this chapter we have, I. A general declaration of God’s ways in dealing with nations and kingdoms, that he can easily do what he will with them, as easily as the potter can with the clay , but that he certainly will do what is just and fair with them.

The prophet is here sent to the potter’s house (he knew where to find it), not to preach a sermon as before to the gates of Jerusalem, but to prepare a sermon, or rather to receive it ready prepared. Those needed not to study their sermons that had them, as he had this, by immediate inspiration.

These verses seem to be the application of the general truths laid down in the foregoing part of the chapter to the nation of the Jews and their present state. I.

The prophet here, as sometimes before, brings in his own affairs, but very much for instruction to us. I. See here what are the common methods of the persecutors. We may see this in Jeremiah’s enemies, Jer. 18:18. 1.