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Jeremiah 20 (CEV)

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¹ Pashhur son of Immer was a priest and the chief of temple security. He heard what I had said, ² and so he hit me. Then he had me arrested and put in chains at the Benjamin Gate in the LORD's temple. ³ The next day, when Pashhur let me go free, I told him that the LORD had said: No longer will I call you Pashhur. Instead, I will call you Afraid-of-Everything. ⁴ You will be afraid, and you will bring fear to your friends as well. You will see enemies kill them in battle. Then I will have the king of Babylonia take everyone in Judah prisoner, killing some and dragging the rest away to Babylonia. ⁵ He will clean out the royal treasury and take everything else of value from Jerusalem. ⁶ Pashhur, you are guilty of telling lies and claiming they were messages from me. That's why I will have the Babylonians take you, your family, and your friends as prisoners to Babylonia, where you will all die and be buried. ⁷ You tricked me, LORD, and I was really fooled. You are stronger than I am, and you have defeated me. People never stop sneering and insulting me. ⁸ You have let me announce only destruction and death. Your message has brought me nothing but insults and trouble. ⁹ Sometimes I tell myself not to think about you, LORD, or even mention your name. But your message burns in my heart and bones, and I cannot keep silent. ¹⁰ I heard the crowds whisper, "Everyone is afraid. Now's our chance to accuse Jeremiah!" All of my so-called friends are just waiting for me to make a mistake. They say, "Maybe Jeremiah can be tricked. Then we can overpower him and get even at last." ¹¹ But you, LORD, are a mighty soldier, standing at my side. Those troublemakers will fall down and fail-- terribly embarrassed, forever ashamed. ¹² LORD All-Powerful, you test those who do right, and you know every heart and mind. I have told you my complaints, so let me watch you take revenge on my enemies. ¹³ I sing praises to you, LORD. You rescue the oppressed from the wicked. ¹⁴ Put a curse on the day I was born! Don't bless my mother. ¹⁵ Put a curse on the man who told my father, "Good news! You have a son." ¹⁶ May that man be like the towns you destroyed without pity. Let him hear shouts of alarm in the morning and battle cries at noon. ¹⁷ He deserves to die for not killing me before I was born. Then my mother's body would have been my grave. ¹⁸ Why did I have to be born? Was it just to suffer and die in shame?