Bible Strands
Jeremiah 19:1
This is what the LORD says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take some of the elders of the people and leaders of the priests,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh commands Jeremiah to procure a specific object and assemble civic and religious leaders. This commission immediately precedes a public proclamation at the Valley of Ben-hinnom near the Potsherd Gate.
The words — `קָנִיתָ` (ka.Ni.ta) translates literally as "you will buy," and `בַקְבֻּק` (vak.Buk) denotes a "clay jar" or bottle. These terms specify the exact material required for the prophetic sign.
The thread — The gathering of elders corresponds to the leaders convened in Numbers 11:16 and Ezekiel 8:11, while the vessel motif parallels the shattered potter's jar in Isaiah 30:14. These texts collectively establish the clay object as a concrete symbol of fragile human authority.
Why it lands — The passage requires immediate, physical obedience to a divine instruction before a public witness. It demands that the reader treat prophetic words as actionable commands rather than theoretical declarations.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Thus saith the Lord, Go and get a potter’s earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests;
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 8:11 Before them stood seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.
- Numbers 11:16 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Bring Me seventy of the elders of Israel known to you as leaders and officers of the people. Bring them to the Tent of Meeting and have them stand there with you.
- Isaiah 30:14 It will break in pieces like a potter’s jar, shattered so that no fragment can be found. Not a shard will be found in the dust large enough to scoop the coals from a hearth or to skim the water from a cistern.”
- Jeremiah 18:2 “Go down at once to the potter’s house, and there I will give you My message.”
- Lamentations 4:2 How the precious sons of Zion, once worth their weight in pure gold, are now esteemed as jars of clay, the work of a potter’s hands!
- 2 Kings 19:2 And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz
- 1 Chronicles 24:4 Since more leaders were found among Eleazar’s descendants than those of Ithamar, they were divided accordingly. There were sixteen heads of families from the descendants of Eleazar and eight from the descendants of Ithamar.
- Jeremiah 19:10 Then you are to shatter the jar in the presence of the men who accompany you,
- 2 Corinthians 4:7 Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us.
- Jeremiah 26:17 Some of the elders of the land stood up and said to the whole assembly of the people,