“wheels.” This verse highlights one of the biblical customs involving pottery. The literal Hebrew text is “at the two stones.” The reason that there were “two stones,” actually, two stone wheels, is that in biblical times the potter worked at a wooden table with a hole in it. Thus, the table looked much like many of the small tables many people have on a deck or patio that has a hole in it that an umbrella goes through so the table will have shade.

Up through the hole in the table came a shaft, like the shaft that connects two wheels of a cart or wagon except thinner, and there was a stone wheel under the table and a stone wheel on top of the table that were both connected to the shaft. The potter put the clay on the wheel that was on top of the table and began to work it as he turned the wheel under the table with his feet. Although a number of English versions try to make the English easier to understand by saying “wheel” instead of “wheels,” it is helpful in building the scene in our mind if we understand what Jeremiah saw and the actual biblical custom of the two stone wheels.