7 Lord, you tricked me,\par and I certainly was fooled.\par You are stronger than I am,\par so you won.\par I have become a joke.\par People laugh at me\par and make fun of me all day long.\par
7 [But Jeremiah said] O Lord, You have persuaded and deceived me, and I was persuaded and deceived; You are stronger than I am and You have prevailed. I am a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me.
7 O Jehovah, thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded; thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am become a laughing-stock all the day, every one mocketh me.
7 "You have led me away, O Lord, and I have been led away. You have been stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a derision all day long; everyone mocks me.
The prophet says, “Israel, learn these things: The time of punishment has come. The time has come for you to pay \{for the evil things you did\}.” But the people of Israel say, “The prophet is a fool. This man with \{God’s\} Spirit is crazy.” The prophet says, “You will be punished for your bad sins. You will be punished for your hate.”
The wind {\cf2\super [25]} lifted me and took me away. I left that place. I was very sad and upset in my spirit. {\cf2\super [26]} But I felt Lord’s power in me!
Sometimes I say to myself,\par “I will forget about the Lord.\par I will not speak any more\par in the name of the Lord!”\par But when I say that,\par then the Lord’s message is like a fire\par burning inside of me!\par It feels like it is burning\par deep in my bones!\par I get tired of trying to hold\par the Lord’s message inside of me.\par And finally, I am not able to hold it in.\par
But the Lord’s Spirit has filled me\par with power, goodness, and strength.\par Why? So I can tell Jacob {\cf2\super [41]} about his crimes,\par and so I can tell Israel {\cf2\super [42]} about his sins!”\par
Shemaiah, this is what you said in your letter to Zephaniah: ‘Zephaniah, the Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada. You are to be in charge of the Lord’s temple. You should arrest anyone that acts like a crazy person {\cf2\super [228]} and acts like a prophet. You should put that person’s feet between large blocks of wood and put neck-irons {\cf2\super [229]} on him.
Lord, I did not run away from you.\par I followed you.\par I became the shepherd {\cf2\super [140]} you wanted.\par I did not want the terrible day to come.\par Lord, you know the things I said.\par You see all that is happening.\par
I don’t understand why I still hurt.\par I don’t understand why my wound\par is not cured and cannot be healed.\par Lord, I think you have changed.\par You are like a spring of water\par that became dry.\par You are like a spring\par whose water has stopped flowing.\par
Mother, I (Jeremiah) am sorry\par that you gave birth to me.\par I am the person that must accuse\par and criticize the whole land.\par I have not loaned or borrowed anything.\par But every person curses me.\par
Elisha went from that city to Bethel. Elisha was walking up the hill to the city, and some boys were coming down out of the city. They began making fun of Elisha. They said to him, “Go up, you bald headed man! Go up, you bald headed man!”
“My friends laugh at me now.\par They say,\par ‘He prayed to God,\par and he got his answer.\par \{That is why all these bad things\par happened to him.\}’\par
But King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “But I am afraid of the men of Judah that have already gone over to the side of the Babylonian army. I am afraid that the soldiers will give me to those men of Judah and they will treat me badly and hurt me.”
Jonah complained to the Lord and said, “I knew this would happen! I was in my own country, and you told me to come here. At that time, I knew that you would forgive the people of this evil city. So I decided to run away to Tarshish. I knew that you are a kind God! I knew that you show mercy and don’t want to punish people! I knew that you are full of kindness! I knew that if these people stopped sinning, you would change your plans to destroy them.