Jeremiah 20:7–10

JEREMIAH COMPELLED TO PREACH

7 You deceivedt me, Lord, and I was deceived.

You seized me and prevailed.

I am a laughingstock all the time;u

everyone ridicules me.

8 For whenever I speak, I cry out,

I proclaim, “Violence and destruction!”v

so the word of the Lord has become my

constant disgrace and derision.

9 I say, “I won’t mention him

or speak any longer in his name.”w

But his message becomes a fire burning in my heart,x

shut up in my bones.

I become tired of holding it in,y

and I cannot prevail.

10 For I have heard the gossip of many people,

“Terror is on every side!z

Report him; let’s report him!”

Everyone I trustedA watches for my fall.aa

“Perhaps he will be deceived

so that we might prevail against him

and take our vengeance on him.”