16 to make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passes thereby shall be astonished and wag his head.
17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their perdition.
18 Then they said, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not consider any of his words.
19 Consider me, O Lord, and hear the voice of those that contend with me.
20 Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them and to turn away thy wrath from them.
21 Therefore deliver up their sons to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them; for they have dug a pit to take me and hid snares for my feet.