19 Give Your attention to me, Lord,
And listen to [a]what my opponents are saying!
20 (A)Should good be repaid with evil?
For they have (B)dug a pit for [b]me.
Remember how I (C)stood before You
To speak good in their behalf,
So as to turn Your wrath away from them.
21 Therefore, (D)give their children over to famine
And turn them over to the [c]power of the sword;
And let their wives become (E)childless and (F)widowed.
Let their men also be slaughtered to death,
Their (G)young men struck and killed by the sword in battle.
22 May a (H)cry be heard from their houses
When You suddenly bring raiders upon them;
(I)For they have dug a pit to capture me
And (J)hidden snares for my feet.
23 But You, Lord, know
All their [d]deadly schemes against me;
(K)Do not [e]forgive their wrongdoing
Or wipe out their sin from Your sight.
But may they be [f](L)overthrown before You;
Deal with them in the (M)time of Your anger!

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 18:19 Lit the voice of my opponents
  2. Jeremiah 18:20 Lit my soul
  3. Jeremiah 18:21 Lit hands of
  4. Jeremiah 18:23 Lit unto death
  5. Jeremiah 18:23 Lit cover over, atone for
  6. Jeremiah 18:23 Lit ones made to stumble

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!

Read full chapter

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