Wheel: In Hebrew this is literally “the two stones.” The potter’s wheel consisted of two stones in the shape of disks. The lower stone was larger than the upper one, and the potter could spin it with his feet while working the clay on top of the smaller stone. If such a potter’s wheel is not known, translators can say “the wheel the potter turns to shape the [clay into] pots.” The second part of the verse could be “I saw the potter making pots on the wheel that turns to shape them.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .