Jeremiah 18:11-23
New King James Version
11 “Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. (A)Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings (B)good.” ’ ”
God’s Warning Rejected
12 And they said, (C)“That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one [a]obey the (D)dictates[b] of his evil heart.”
13 Therefore thus says the Lord:
(E)“Ask now among the Gentiles,
Who has heard such things?
The virgin of Israel has done (F)a very horrible thing.
14 Will a man [c]leave the snow water of Lebanon,
Which comes from the rock of the field?
Will the cold flowing waters be forsaken for strange waters?
15 “Because My people have forgotten (G)Me,
They have burned incense to worthless idols.
And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways,
From the (H)ancient paths,
To walk in pathways and not on a highway,
16 To make their land (I)desolate and a perpetual (J)hissing;
Everyone who passes by it will be astonished
And shake his head.
17 (K)I will scatter them (L)as with an east wind before the enemy;
(M)I will [d]show them the back and not the face
In the day of their calamity.”
Jeremiah Persecuted
18 Then they said, (N)“Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah; (O)for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us attack him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.”
19 Give heed to me, O Lord,
And listen to the voice of those who contend with me!
20 (P)Shall evil be repaid for good?
For they have (Q)dug a pit for my life.
Remember that I (R)stood before You
To speak good [e]for them,
To turn away Your wrath from them.
21 Therefore (S)deliver up their children to the famine,
And pour out their blood
By the force of the sword;
Let their wives become widows
And (T)bereaved of their children.
Let their men be put to death,
Their young men be slain
By the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry be heard from their houses,
When You bring a troop suddenly upon them;
For they have dug a pit to take me,
And hidden snares for my feet.
23 Yet, Lord, You know all their counsel
Which is against me, to slay me.
(U)Provide no atonement for their iniquity,
Nor blot out their sin from Your sight;
But let them be overthrown before You.
Deal thus with them
In the time of Your (V)anger.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 18:12 Lit. do
- Jeremiah 18:12 stubbornness or imagination
- Jeremiah 18:14 forsake
- Jeremiah 18:17 So with LXX, Syr., Tg., Vg.; MT look them in
- Jeremiah 18:20 concerning
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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