¹⁹ Before that, I did not know about their plans to kill me. I was like a lamb that men were taking away to kill it. I did not know that they were saying, ‘We should cut down this tree and destroy its fruit!^[a] Jeremiah must not continue to live in this world. Then people will forget all about him.’

²⁰ So I said, ‘Lord Almighty, you judge people in a fair way. You know what people are thinking. You understand how they feel. I trust you to show that I have not done anything that is wrong. So please punish these people. Pay them back for their sins.’

²¹ The Lord told me that some men in Anathoth wanted to kill me. They said to me, ‘Stop telling us messages from the Lord! If you do not stop, we will kill you.’