Dual Panel1Pashhur son of Immer was a priest and the chief of temple security. He heard what I had said,
2and so he hit me. Then he had me arrested and put in chains at the Benjamin Gate in the LORD's temple.
3The next day, when Pashhur let me go free, I told him that the LORD had said: No longer will I call you Pashhur. Instead, I will call you Afraid-of-Everything.
4You will be afraid, and you will bring fear to your friends as well. You will see enemies kill them in battle. Then I will have the king of Babylonia take everyone in Judah prisoner, killing some and dragging the rest away to Babylonia.
5He will clean out the royal treasury and take everything else of value from Jerusalem.
6Pashhur, you are guilty of telling lies and claiming they were messages from me. That's why I will have the Babylonians take you, your family, and your friends as prisoners to Babylonia, where you will all die and be buried.
7You tricked me, LORD, and I was really fooled. You are stronger than I am, and you have defeated me. People never stop sneering and insulting me.
8You have let me announce only destruction and death. Your message has brought me nothing but insults and trouble.
9Sometimes I tell myself not to think about you, LORD, or even mention your name. But your message burns in my heart and bones, and I cannot keep silent.
10I heard the crowds whisper, "Everyone is afraid. Now's our chance to accuse Jeremiah!" All of my so-called friends are just waiting for me to make a mistake. They say, "Maybe Jeremiah can be tricked. Then we can overpower him and get even at last."
11But you, LORD, are a mighty soldier, standing at my side. Those troublemakers will fall down and fail-- terribly embarrassed, forever ashamed.
12LORD All-Powerful, you test those who do right, and you know every heart and mind. I have told you my complaints, so let me watch you take revenge on my enemies.
13I sing praises to you, LORD. You rescue the oppressed from the wicked.
14Put a curse on the day I was born! Don't bless my mother.
15Put a curse on the man who told my father, "Good news! You have a son."
16May that man be like the towns you destroyed without pity. Let him hear shouts of alarm in the morning and battle cries at noon.
17He deserves to die for not killing me before I was born. Then my mother's body would have been my grave.
18Why did I have to be born? Was it just to suffer and die in shame?