A plot and a plea

18Then they said, “Come, let us devise plans against Jeremiah, for instruction will not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise man, nor word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.”

19Pay attention to me, O Yahweh, and hear the voice of my adversaries.

20Should evil be repaid for good? For they have dug a pit for my life. Remember that I stood before you to speak good on their behalf, to turn your wrath away from them.

21Therefore give their children over to famine, and hand them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives become bereaved and widowed, and let their men be slain by death, their young men struck down by the sword in battle.

22Let a cry be heard from their houses when you suddenly bring a raiding band upon them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and hidden traps for my feet.

23But you, O Yahweh, know all their counsel against me for death. Do not cover over their iniquity, and do not blot out their sin from before you. Let them be made to stumble before you; in the time of your anger, act against them.