Jeremiah 20:7-12

Jeremiah complains to God

7 Lord, you forced me to become a prophet,

and I let you do that.

You used your power to make me agree,

and you won.

Now everybody laughs at me and they insult me.

8 When I speak your message, I have to say,

‘ Terrible trouble is coming!’

When I shout that message from the Lord,

people laugh at me. They insult me.

9 Sometimes I think,

‘I will say nothing about the Lord or his message.’

But then his message burns like a fire inside me.

It gives me pain in my mind and my body.

I cannot keep his message to myself.

I have to speak it.

10 I hear what people are saying against me.

They say, ‘ Terror is all around him!

We should tell the officers what he is saying.’

All my friends want me to make a mistake

so that they can accuse me.

They say, ‘Perhaps we can cause him to say something wrong.

Then we will have power over him.

We will pay him back for the trouble he has given us.’

11 But the Lord is with me,

like a brave soldier who will fight for me.

So people who want to hurt me will fail.

They will not get power over me.

They will be very ashamed because they have failed.

Nobody will ever forget their shame.

12 Lord Almighty, you test righteous people,

to see if they are faithful.

You know what people think.

You know their feelings.

I trust you to show that I am not guilty.

So punish those people who want to hurt me.