19 Before the Lord showed me that the people were against me, I was like a gentle lamb waiting to be butchered. I did not understand that they were against me. They were saying these things about me: “Let us destroy the tree and its fruit! Let us kill him! Then people will forget him.”
19 But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.
19 But I was like a tame lamb that is brought to the slaughter; I did not know that they had devised inventions and schemes against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.
19 But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.
19 I was like a young lamb led to the slaughter; I didn’t realize that they were planning their schemes against me: “Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit; let’s cut him off from the land of the living so that even any knowledge of him will be wiped out.”
19 And I was like a meek lamb, who is being carried to be a victim. And I did not realize that they had devised plans against me, saying: "Let us place wood upon his bread, and let us eradicate him from the land of the living, and let his name no longer be remembered."
I hear people whispering against me.\par Everywhere, I hear things that scare me.\par Even my friends are saying things\par against me.\par People are just waiting for me\par to make some mistake.\par They are saying,\par “Let us lie and say he did some bad thing.\par Maybe we can trick Jeremiah.\par Then we will have him.\par We will finally be rid of him.\par Then we will grab him\par and take our revenge on him.”\par
Then the enemies of Jeremiah said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah. Surely the teaching of the law by the priest will not be lost. And the advice from the wise men will still be with us. We will still have the words of the prophets. So let us tell lies about him. That will ruin him. We will not pay attention to anything he says.”
That foolish person uses evil like a tool. He plans ways to take everything from poor people. That foolish person tells lies about the poor people. And his lies keep the poor people from being judged fairly.
After the 62 weeks, {\cf2\super [112]} the chosen person will be killed. {\cf2\super [113]} He will be gone. {\cf2\super [114]} Then the people of the future leader will destroy the city and the holy place. That end will come like a flood. War will continue until the end. God has ordered that place to be completely destroyed.
So God will ruin you forever!\par He will grab you\par and pull you from your home, {\cf2\super [313]} \par like a person pulling a plant\par out of the ground, roots and all! {\cf2\super [314]} \par
But when I made a mistake, {\cf2\super [218]} \par those people laughed at me.\par Those people were not really friends.\par I didn’t even know them.\par But they surrounded me and attacked me.\par
Jeremiah finished speaking everything the Lord had commanded him to say to the people. Then the priests, the prophets, and all the people grabbed Jeremiah. They said, “You will die for saying such terrible things!
“Elam is there and all its army is around her grave. All of them were killed in battle. Those foreigners went deep down into the ground. When they were alive, they made people afraid. But they carried their shame with them down to that deep hole.
All those people will fight against you,\par but they will not defeat you.\par Why? Because I am with you,\par and I will save you.”\par This message is from the Lord.\par
God and the prophet are like guards watching over Ephraim. {\cf2\super [90]} But there are many traps along the way. And people hate the prophet, even in the house of his God.