Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 255
18:18–19:5
J eremiah
243
as the east wind scatters dust.
And in all their trouble I will turn my back on them
and refuse to notice their distress.”
Then the people said, “Come on, let’s plot a way to stop Jeremiah. We
have plenty of priests and wise men and prophets. We don’t need him to
teach the word and give us advice and prophecies. Let’s spread rumors
about him and ignore what he says.”
Lord, hear me and help me!
Listen to what my enemies are saying.
Should they repay evil for good?
They have dug a pit to kill me,
though I pleaded for them
and tried to protect them from your anger.
So let their children starve!
Let them die by the sword!
Let their wives become childless widows.
Let their old men die in a plague,
and let their young men be killed in battle!
Let screaming be heard from their homes
as warriors come suddenly upon them.
For they have dug a pit for me
and have hidden traps along my path.
Lord, you know all about their murderous plots
against me.
Don’t forgive their crimes and blot out their sins.
Let them die before you.
Deal with them in your anger.
This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a clay jar. Then ask some of
the leaders of the people and of the priests to follow you. Go out through
the Gate of Broken Pots to the garbage dump in the valley of Ben-Hinnom,
and give them this message. Say to them, ‘Listen to this message from the
Lord, you kings of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem! This is what the Lord
of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: I will bring a terrible disaster
on this place, and the ears of those who hear about it will ring!
“‘For Israel has forsaken me and turned this valley into a place of wick
edness. The people burn incense to foreign gods—idols never before
acknowledged by this generation, by their ancestors, or by the kings of
Judah. And they have filled this place with the blood of innocent chil
dren. They have built pagan shrines to Baal, and there they burn their
sons as sacrifices to Baal. I have never commanded such a horrible deed;
