19 Hear me, O Lord,
    and (A)listen to the voice of my adversaries.
20 (B)Should good be repaid with evil?
    Yet (C)they have dug a pit for my life.
(D)Remember how I stood before you
    to speak good for them,
    to turn away your wrath from them.
21 Therefore (E)deliver up their children to famine;
    give them over to the power of the sword;
let their wives become childless (F)and widowed.
    May their men meet death by pestilence,
    their youths be struck down by the sword in battle.
22 (G)May a cry be heard from their houses,
    when you bring the plunderer suddenly upon them!
For (H)they have dug a pit to take me
    (I)and laid snares for my feet.
23 Yet (J)you, O Lord, know
    all their plotting to kill me.
(K)Forgive not their iniquity,
    nor blot out their sin from your sight.
Let them be overthrown before you;
    deal with them in the time of your anger.

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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