Jeremiah 11:18-23

I knew about the evil some people were doing; it was YAHWEH who revealed it to me. I was like a trusting lamb led to the slaughter. I had no idea they were speaking about me when they said, “Let’s destroy the tree while it’s in full bloom. We’ll kill him so that no one will remember him anymore.” Then I prayed, “YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies, you always judge fairly, and you test the most secret thoughts and desires of the heart. I have placed my cause before you, so let me live long enough to see you take revenge on them.” YAHWEH responded with a word for the men of Anathoth who wanted to take my life and who said to me, “You must no longer prophesy in the name of YAHWEH, or we will certainly kill you.” So YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies, said, “Listen, I will punish them. The young men will die in battle, their sons and their daughters will die by food shortages, and none will survive. For I will bring disaster upon the men of Anathoth when I come to punish them.”