Jeremiah 18:3

Jer 18:3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.

Ver. 3. Then I went down to the potter’s house.] {a} God’s commands must be obeyed without sciscitation. Jeremiah saw that verbal teaching without signs would not work upon his hearers; he is therefore ready to do anything, or to go any whither, for their eternal good.

And, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.] So the poet -

“ Amphora coepit

Institui, currente rota, cur urceus exit? ”

- Hor. De Art. Poet.

{a} Officiose paret.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

wheels--literally, "on both stones." The potter's horizontal lathe consisted of two round plates, the lower one larger, the upper smaller; of stone originally, but afterwards of wood. On the upper the potter moulded the clay into what shapes he pleased. They are found represented in Egyptian remains. In Exo 1:16 alone is the Hebrew word found elsewhere, but in a different sense.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. He wrought a work on the wheels.] אל האבנים al haabnayim, upon the stones, the potter's wheel being usually made of such; the spindle of the moving stone being placed on a stone below, on which it turned, and supported the stone above, on which the vessel was manufactured, and which alone had a rotatory motion. The potter's wheel in the present day seems to differ very little from that which was in use between two and three thousand years ago.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(3) He wrought a work on the wheels.—Literally, the two wheels. The nature of the work is described more graphically in Ecclus. xxxviii. 29, 30. The potter sat moving one horizontal wheel with his feet, while a smaller one was used, as it revolved, to fashion the shape of the vessel he was making with his hands. The image had been already used of God’s creative work in Isa_29:16; Isa_45:9; Isa_64:8.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. the potter’s house] The likening (as in Jer_18:6) of man to the clay and God to the potter was familiar. See on Jer_18:4. The trade was a very early one. Thomson (The Land and the Book, p. 520) thus describes what he saw at Jaffa (Joppa): “There was the potter sitting at his ‘frame,’ and turning the ‘wheel’ with his foot. He had a heap of the prepared clay near him, and a pan of water by his side. Taking a lump in his hand, he placed it on the top of the wheel (which revolves horizontally) and smoothed it into a low cone, like the upper end of a sugar-loaf, then thrusting his thumb into the top of it, he opened a hole down through the centre, and this he constantly widened by pressing the edges of the revolving cone between his hands. As it enlarged and became thinner, he gave it whatever shape he pleased with the utmost ease and expedition.”

the wheels] Two discs, the upper smaller than the lower, were placed on the same vertical axle, and the lower one turned by the foot. Cp. description in Sir_38:29 f.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the vessel that he made of clay,.... Which is the matter the vessel is made of:

was marred in the hand of the potter; while he was working it; either it fell, as the Septuagint version renders it, out of his hands, or from the beam on which it was laid; or was spoiled by some means or other, so that it was not fit for the purpose he first intended it: or the words should be read, according to some copies, "and the vessel was marred which he made, as clay in the hand of the potter" (r); while it was clay; or moist, as Jarchi interprets it; and while it was in his hands, forming and fashioning it:

so he made it again another vessel; put it into another form and shape it would better serve:

as seemed good to the potter to make it; just as he pleased, and as his judgment in his art directed him; he having power over the clay to mould it as he would, and as it best answered so to do.

(r) "sed corruptum est vas quod ille ficiens (erat) sicud lutum (solet) in manu figuli", Schmidt, Montanus. So Abarbinel; and thus it is read in the margin of our Bibles.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The wheels - literally, “the two wheels.” The lower one was worked by the feet to give motion to the upper one, which was a flat disc or plate of wood, on which the potter laid the clay, and moulded it with his fingers as it revolved rapidly.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Wheel. Hebrew, "stones." Septuagint, "seats;" or "wheel." (Chaldean) (Exodus i. 16.) See Ecclesiasticus xxxviii. 32. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Jeremiah yields a present and free obedience to the command of God, though he did not know God’s meaning in it, and findeth the potter at work upon

wheels or frames which he formed his clay upon, to bring it into that form which he desired. For the true form of those frames or instruments it is hard to assert any thing, such kind of instruments differing not only according to several countries, but according to the several fancies of workmen, getting frames or engines made fitted to their own fancies and purposes.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. Wheels — Literally, the two wheels. The potter’s lathe consisted of two frames or wheels revolving horizontally. Of these the lower was the larger, and was worked by the foot to give motion to the upper one. Upon this the potter placed his clay, and shaped it, as it rapidly revolved, with his fingers.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

on the wheels Jonathan renders: on the wheel. (Formes in French.)

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.