Jeremiah 20:7-11

Complete Jewish Bible

⁷ You fooled me, Adonai; I have been your dupe.
You overpowered me, and you have prevailed.
All day long I’m a laughingstock;
everyone makes fun of me.
⁸ Whenever I speak, I have to cry out;
I shout, “Violence!” and “Destruction!”
Thus the word of Adonai becomes for me
the cause of reproach and derision all day!
⁹ But if I say, “I won’t think about him,
I won’t speak in his name any more,”
then it seems as though a fire
is burning in my heart,
imprisoned in my bones;
I wear myself out
trying to hold it in,
but I just can’t do it.
¹⁰ I have heard many whispering their plot:
“‘Terror in every direction’?
Denounce him! Let’s denounce him!”
Even all my close friends
are watching for me to make a false step —
“Maybe he can be tricked,
then we’ll get the better of him,
then we’ll take our revenge on him.”

¹¹ But Adonai is with me like a dreaded warrior;
so my persecutors will stumble, defeated,
greatly ashamed because of their failure;
their lasting disgrace will not be forgotten.