19 Pay attention to me, Lord.
Hear what my opponents are saying!(A)
20 Should good be repaid with evil?
Yet they have dug a pit for me.(B)
Remember how I stood before you
to speak good on their behalf,
to turn your anger from them.
21 Therefore, hand their children over to famine,(C)
and give them over to the power of the sword.
Let their wives become childless and widowed,
their husbands slain by deadly disease,[a]
their young men struck down by the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry be heard from their houses
when you suddenly bring raiders against them,
for they have dug a pit to capture me
and have hidden snares for my feet.(D)
23 But you, Lord, know
all their deadly plots against me.
Do not wipe out their iniquity;(E)
do not blot out their sin before you.
Let them be forced to stumble before you;
deal with them in the time of your anger.

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Footnotes

  1. 18:21 Lit by death

19 Lord, pay attention to me.
    Listen to the voice of my accusers!
20 Should good be repaid with evil?
    Yet they have dug a pit to take my life.[a]
Remember! I stood before you
    and spoke good on their behalf
        in order to turn your wrath away from them.
21 Therefore, make their children undergo famine,
    and deliver them over to death in time of war.[b]
May their women be childless widows!
    May their men be slaughtered![c]
May their young men be slain
    by the sword in battle!
22 Let a cry be heard from their houses because you
    have brought a raiding party against them suddenly.
For they have dug a pit to capture me
    and have set[d] traps for my feet.
23 But you, Lord, know all their plots to kill me.
    Don’t forgive their iniquity,
    and don’t erase their sin from your sight.
Let them stumble before you.
    When it’s time for you to be angry, act against them!

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 18:20 Or a pit for me
  2. Jeremiah 18:21 Lit. to the power of the sword.
  3. Jeremiah 18:21 Lit. killed dead
  4. Jeremiah 18:22 Or hidden