5. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
6. "Am I not able to do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done, says the Lord? Behold, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
7. Suddenly, I will speak against a nation and against a kingdom, so that I may uproot, and destroy, and scatter it.
8. If that nation, against which I have spoken, will repent from their evil, I too will repent from the evil that I have decided I would do to them.
9. And soon, I will speak about a nation and about a kingdom, so that I may build and plant it.
10. If it does evil in my sight, so as not to listen to my voice, I will repent of the good that I have said I would do to it.
11. Now, therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am forming an evil against you, and I am considering a plan against you. Let each one of you return from his evil way, and direct your ways and your intentions well."
12. And they said: "We have lost hope. And so we will follow our own thoughts, and each of us will act according to the depravity of his own evil heart."