Jeremiah 18:6

"First of the prophets, Jeremiah proclaims distinctly what had been more or less implied throughout, that predictions were subject to no overruling necessity, but depended for their fulfilment on the moral state of those to whom they were addressed; that the most confident assurance of blessing could be frustrated by sin; that the most awful warnings of calamity could be averted by repentance." Stanley's J. Ch. II. 445. Cp. the story of Jonah, and in Ezekiel (Jeremiah 18:21 ff., Jeremiah 33:12 ff.) the application of the same thought to individuals.