Jeremías 18:20

20 ¿Acaso se paga mal por bien? Pues han cavado fosa para mí. Recuerda cómo me puse delante de ti para hablar bien en favor de ellos, para apartar de ellos tu furor.

Jeremías 18:20 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 18:20

Shall evil be recompensed for good?
&c.] For all the good that I have done them, shall this be all the recompence I shall have, to be evilly treated by them, to have my good name, and even life, taken away by them? shall this be suffered to be done? and, if it is, shall it go unpunished? the prophet taxes the people with ingratitude, which he afterwards instances in, and proves: for they have digged a pit for my soul;
or "life"; they lay in wait to take it away; or they had formed a design against it, and brought a charge and accusation against him, in order to take it away, under colour of law and justice. Kimchi interprets it of poison, which they would have had him drank of: remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, [and] to
turn away thy wrath from them;
he was an intercessor for them with God; pleaded with him on their behalf, that good things might be bestowed upon them, and that wrath might be averted from them; so Christ did for the Jews that crucified him, ( Luke 23:34 ) ; this is an instance of their ingratitude; that though he had been an advocate for them, stood in the gap between God and them, and was importunate for their good, yet this was all the recompense he had from them; they sought his life to take it away. This kindness of his for them was forgotten by them; but he trusts the Lord will remember it, and not suffer them to act the base part they intended; and now he determines no more to plead their cause, but to imprecate evils upon them, as follows:

Jeremías 18:20 In-Context

18 Entonces dijeron: Venid y urdamos planes contra Jeremías. Ciertamente la ley no le faltará al sacerdote, ni el consejo al sabio, ni la palabra al profeta. Venid e hirámoslo con la lengua, y no hagamos caso a ninguna de sus palabras.

19 Atiéndeme, oh SEÑOR, y escucha lo que dicen mis contrarios.

20 ¿Acaso se paga mal por bien? Pues han cavado fosa para mí. Recuerda cómo me puse delante de ti para hablar bien en favor de ellos, para apartar de ellos tu furor.

21 Por tanto, entrega sus hijos al hambre, y abandónalos al poder de la espada; queden sus mujeres sin hijos y viudas, sean sus maridos asesinados, heridos a espada sus jóvenes en la batalla.

22 Oiganse los gritos desde sus casas, cuando de repente traigas sobre ellos saqueadores; porque han cavado fosa para atraparme, y han escondido trampas a mis pies.