18 Then they said, “Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not heed any of his words.”

19 Give heed to me, O Lord,

and hearken to my plea.*

20 Is evil a recompense for good?

Yet they have dug a pit for my life.

Remember how I stood before thee

to speak good for them,

to turn away thy wrath from them.