Jeremiah Persecuted by Pashhur
1
Now 1Pashhur the priest, the son of 2Immer, who was 3chief officer in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.
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Then 4Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him 5in the stocks that were in the upper 6Benjamin Gate of the house of the LORD.
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The next day, when 7Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, "The LORD does not call your name 8Pashhur, but Terror On Every Side.
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For thus says the LORD: Behold, I will make you 9a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall strike them down with the sword.
5
Moreover, 10I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its 11prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon.
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And you, 12Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. To Babylon you shall go, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, 13to whom you have prophesied falsely."
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O LORD, 14you have deceived me, and I was deceived; 15you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. 16I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me.
8
For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, 17"Violence and destruction!" For 18the word of the LORD has become for me 19a reproach and 20derision all day long.
9
If I say, "I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name," 21there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and 22I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.
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23For I hear many whispering. 24Terror is on every side! "Denounce him! 25Let us denounce him!" say all my 26close friends, 27watching for 28my fall. "Perhaps he will be deceived; then 29we can overcome him and take our revenge on him."
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But 30the LORD is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble; 31they will not overcome me. 32They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their 33eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.
12
O LORD of hosts, who tests the righteous, 34who sees the heart and the mind,a let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause.
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35Sing to the LORD; praise the LORD! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers.
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36Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed!
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Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, "A son is born to you," 37making him very glad.
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Let that man be like 38the cities that the LORD overthrew without pity; 39let him hear a cry in the morning and an alarm at noon,
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40because he did not kill me in the womb; so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb forever great.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)