Jeremiah 18:20

Verse 20 of 23. The 18th of 52 chapters in Jeremiah, in The Major Prophets.

16To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.

17I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.

18Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law 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 give heed to any of his words.

19Give heed to me, O Lord, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.

20Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.

21Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.

22Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.

23Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.

Read Jeremiah 18

Jeremiah 18:20 in the World English Bible

Should evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.
Read Jeremiah 18:20 in the WEB

Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 18:20

He complains of their base ingratitude to him (v. 20): "Shall evil be recompensed for good, and shall it go unpunished? Wilt not thou recompense me good for that evil?" 2 Sam. xvi. 12. To render good for good is human, evil for evil is brutish, good for evil is Christian, but evil for good is devilish; it is so very absurd and wicked a thing that we cannot think but God will avenge it.

Read Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 18:18–23: Conduct of Persecutors; Prophetic Imprecations. (b. c. 600.)

Pray Jeremiah 18:20 with someone reading it aloud.

Start praying with Pray.com

King James Version. Public domain. Set as prose throughout, including the poetry, because the text is published to us without its lines.