Then they said, “Come and let us devise plans against Yirmeyahu, for the Torah 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 listen to any of his words.”
For I heard many mocking, “Fear on every side!” “Expose,” they say, “yea, let us expose him!” All my friends watched for my stumbling, saying, “He might be lured away, so that we prevail against him, and take our revenge on him.”
“Woe to you learned in the Torah, because you took away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”
And keeping a close watch on Him, they sent spies who pretended to be righteous, to catch Him in a word, in order to deliver Him to the rule and to the authority of the governor.