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Pashhur Persecutes Jeremiah

¹ When Pashhur the priest, the son of ^(C1)Immer, who was ^(C2)chief officer in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things,² Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet ^(C1)beaten and put him in the ^(C2)stocks that were at the upper ^(C3)Benjamin Gate, which was by the house of the LORD.³ On the next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, "Pashhur is not the name the LORD has ^(C1)called you, but rather ^(F1)(C2)Magor-missabib.⁴ "For thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I am going to make you a ^(C1)terror to yourself and to all your friends; and while ^(C2)your eyes look on, they will fall by the sword of their enemies. So I will ^(C3)give over all Judah to the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them away as ^(C4)exiles to Babylon and will slay them with the sword.⁵ 'I will also give over all the ^(C1)wealth of this city, all its produce and all its costly things; even all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give over to the ^(C2)hand of their enemies, and they will plunder them, take them away and bring them to Babylon.⁶ 'And you, ^(C1)Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into captivity; and you will enter Babylon, and there you will die and there you will be buried, you and all your ^(C2)friends to whom you have ^(C3)falsely prophesied.'"

Jeremiah's Complaint

⁷ O LORD, You have deceived me and I was deceived;
You have ^(C1)overcome me and prevailed.
I have become a ^(C2)laughingstock all day long;
Everyone ^(C3)mocks me.

⁸ For each time I speak, I cry aloud;
I ^(C1)proclaim violence and destruction,
Because for me the ^(C2)word of the LORD has ^(F1)resulted
In reproach and derision all day long.

⁹ But if I say, "I will not ^(C1)remember Him
Or speak anymore in His name,"
Then in ^(C2)my heart it becomes like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
And I am weary of holding it in,
And ^(C3)I cannot endure it.

¹⁰ For ^(C1)I have heard the whispering of many,
"^(C2)Terror on every side!
^(C3)Denounce him; yes, let us denounce him!"
^(F1)All my ^(C4)trusted friends,
Watching for my fall, say:
"Perhaps he will be ^(F2)deceived, so that we may ^(C5)prevail against him
And take our revenge on him."

¹¹ But the ^(C1)LORD is with me like a dread champion;
Therefore my ^(C2)persecutors will stumble and not prevail.
They will be utterly ashamed, because they have ^(F1)failed,
With an ^(C3)everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten.

¹² Yet, O LORD of hosts, You who ^(C1)test the righteous,
Who see the ^(F1)mind and the heart;
Let me ^(C2)see Your vengeance on them;
For ^(C3)to You I have set forth my cause.

^13 (C1)Sing to the LORD, praise the LORD!
For He has ^(C2)delivered the soul of the needy one
From the hand of evildoers.

¹⁴ Cursed be the ^(C1)day when I was born;
Let the day not be blessed when my mother bore me!

¹⁵ Cursed be the man who brought the news
To my father, saying,
"A ^(F1)(C1)baby boy has been born to you!"
And made him very happy.

¹⁶ But let that man be like the cities
Which the LORD ^(C1)overthrew without ^(F1)relenting,
And let him hear an ^(C2)outcry in the morning
And a ^(F2)shout of alarm at noon;

¹⁷ Because he did not ^(C1)kill me ^(F1)before birth,
So that my mother would have been my grave,
And her womb ever pregnant.

¹⁸ Why did I ever come forth from the womb
To ^(C1)look on trouble and sorrow,
So that my ^(C2)days have been spent in ^(C3)shame?