“For look, I have made you this day a walled city and an iron column, and bronze walls against all the land, against the sovereigns of Yehuḏah, against her heads, against her priests, and against the people of the land.
But I was like a gentle lamb brought to the slaughter. And I did not know that they had plotted against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, and let his name be remembered no more.”
“Therefore thus said יהוה concerning the men of Anathoth who are seeking your life, saying, ‘Do not prophesy in the Name of יהוה, lest you die by our hand’ –
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 strike 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, “yes, 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.”
But יהוה is with me like a mighty, awesome one. Therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and not prevail. They shall be greatly ashamed, for they have not acted wisely – an everlasting reproach never to be forgotten.
And it came to be, when Yirmeyahu had ended speaking all that יהוה had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You shall certainly die!
For I am with you,’ declares יהוה, ‘to save you. Though I make a complete end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet I do not make a complete end of you. But I shall reprove you in judgment, and by no means leave you unpunished.’
Do not be afraid of the sovereign of Baḇel, of whom you are afraid. Do not be afraid of him,’ declares יהוה, ‘for I am with you, to save you and deliver you from his hand.
“Do not fear, O Ya‛aqoḇ My servant,” declares יהוה, “for I am with you. Though I make a complete end of all the nations to which I have driven you, yet I do not make a complete end of you. But I shall reprove you in right-ruling, and by no means leave you unpunished.”
He answered and said, “Look! I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire. And they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of Elahin.”
“Only, do not rebel against יהוה, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread. Their defence has turned away from them, and יהוה is with us. Do not fear them.”