Jeremiah 20:7–21:10
7 You have persuaded me, O Yahweh, and I was persuaded.
You have overpowered me, and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day long.
⌊Everyone⌋e is mocking me.
8 For ⌊as often as⌋f I speak,
I must cry out violence and destruction.
I must shout, for the word of Yahweh has become for me
a disgrace and derision all day long.
9 But if I say, “I will not mention him
and I will no longer speak in his name,”
then it becomes in my heart like a fire burning,
locked up in my bones,
and I struggle to contain it,g
and I am not able.
10 For I hear the rumor of many,
“Terror is from all around, denounce him,h
yes, let us denounce him!”
⌊All my close friends⌋i are watchers of my stumbling,
saying, “perhaps he can be persuaded,
and we can prevail over him,
and we can take our revenge on him.”
11 But Yahweh is with me like a powerful warrior.
⌊Therefore⌋j my persecutors will stumble and will not prevail.
They will be very ashamed, for they will not achieve success.
Their ⌊everlasting insult⌋k will not be forgotten.
12 Yet, O Yahweh of hosts, who tests the righteous,
who sees the ⌊heart⌋l and the ⌊mind⌋,m
let me see your retribution upon them,
for to you I have revealed my legal case.
13 Sing to Yahweh, praise Yahweh,
for he has delivered the life of the poor from the hand of evildoers.
14 Cursed be the day on which I was born,
let not the day on which my mother gave birth to me be blessed.
15 Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father,
⌊saying⌋,n “A child is born to you, a son!”
and he made him very glad.
16 And let that man be like the cities
that Yahweh demolished without regret,
and let him hear a cry for help in the morning,
and an alarm at the time of noon.
17 Because he did not kill me in the womb,
so that my mother would have been for me my grave,
and her womb would be pregnant forever.
18 ⌊Why⌋o did I come out from the womb,
to see toil, and sorrow, and to ⌊end my days in shame⌋?p
21 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur, the son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, the priest, ⌊saying⌋,a 2 “Please inquire of Yahweh on behalf of us, for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon is fighting against us. Perhaps Yahweh will do with us according to all his miraculous acts, so that he may ⌊withdraw from⌋b us.”
3 Then Jeremiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah: 4 ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: “Look, I am about to turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands,c with which you are fighting against them, the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are laying siege to you from outside the wall, and I will gather them into the center of this city. 5 And I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand, and with strong arm, and in ⌊anger⌋,d and in fury, and in great wrath. 6 And I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both humankind and animal; by a great plague they will die. 7 And ⌊afterward⌋,”e ⌊declares⌋f Yahweh, “I will give Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and those who remain in this city from the plague, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their lives, and he will strike them with the ⌊edge⌋g of the sword. He will not take pity on them, and he will not have compassion, nor will he show compassion.” ’
The Way of Life and the Way of Death
8 “And to this people you shall say, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Look, I am setting ⌊before you⌋h the way of life and the way of death. 9 He who stays in this city will die by the sword, or by the famine, or by the plague. And he who goes out and goes over to the Chaldeans who are laying siege to you will live, and his life will be to him as booty. 10 For I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good,” ⌊declares⌋i Yahweh. It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.” ’