Jeremiah 18:20
New International Version
Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember that I stood before you and spoke in their behalf to turn your wrath away from them.

New Living Translation
Should they repay evil for good? They have dug a pit to kill me, though I pleaded for them and tried to protect them from your anger.

English Standard Version
Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for my life. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.

Berean Standard Bible
Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn Your wrath from them.

King James Bible
Shall 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.

New King James Version
Shall evil be repaid for good? For they have dug a pit for my life. Remember that I stood before You To speak good for them, To turn away Your wrath from them.

New American Standard Bible
Should good be repaid with evil? For they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You To speak good in their behalf, So as to turn Your wrath away from them.

NASB 1995
Should good be repaid with evil? For they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You To speak good on their behalf, So as to turn away Your wrath from them.

NASB 1977
Should good be repaid with evil? For they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before Thee To speak good on their behalf, So as to turn away Thy wrath from them.

Legacy Standard Bible
Should good be repaid with evil? For they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You To speak good on their behalf, So as to turn away Your wrath from them.

Amplified Bible
Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember [with compassion] that I stood before You To speak good on their behalf, To turn Your anger away from them.

Christian Standard Bible
Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before you to speak good on their behalf, to turn your anger from them.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn Your anger from them.

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

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Evil has been paid in exchange for good, for they have dug a ditch for my soul! Remember that I have risen before you, and I have spoken good about them, to turn away your anger from them!

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Forasmuch as evil is rewarded for good; for they have spoken words against my soul, and they have hidden the punishment they meant for me; remember that I stood before thy face, to speak good for them, to turn away thy wrath from them.

Contemporary English Version
I tried to help them, but they are paying me back by digging a pit to trap me. I even begged you not to punish them.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Shall evil be rendered for good, because they have digged a pit for my soul? Remember that I have stood in thy sight, so speak good for them, and turn away thy indignation from them.

English Revised Version
Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before thee to speak good for them, to turn away thy fury from them.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Good should not be paid back with evil. They dig a pit to take my life. Remember how I stood in your presence and pleaded for them in order to turn your anger away from them.

Good News Translation
Is evil the payment for good? Yet they have dug a pit for me to fall in. Remember how I came to you and spoke on their behalf, so that you would not deal with them in anger.

International Standard Version
Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit to take my life. Remember! I stood before you and spoke good on their behalf in order to turn your wrath away from them.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Shall evil be recompensed for good? For they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before Thee To speak good for them, To turn away Thy wrath from them.

Literal Standard Version
Is evil repaid instead of good, | That they have dug a pit for my soul? Remember my standing before You to speak good of them, | To turn back Your wrath from them.

Majority Standard Bible
Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn Your wrath from them.

New American Bible
Must good be repaid with evil that they should dig a pit to take my life? Remember that I stood before you to speak on their behalf, to turn your wrath away from them.

NET Bible
Should good be paid back with evil? Yet they are virtually digging a pit to kill me. Just remember how I stood before you pleading on their behalf to keep you from venting your anger on them.

New Revised Standard Version
Is evil a recompense for good? Yet they have dug a pit for my life. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.

New Heart English Bible
Shall 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.

Webster's Bible Translation
Shall 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.

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.

Young's Literal Translation
Is evil recompensed instead of good, That they have dug a pit for my soul? Remember my standing before Thee to speak good of them, To turn back Thy wrath from them.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Plot Against Jeremiah
19Attend to me, O LORD. Hear what my accusers are saying! 20Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn Your wrath from them. 21Therefore, hand their children over to famine; pour out the power of the sword upon them. Let their wives become childless and widowed; let their husbands be slain by disease, their young men struck down by the sword in battle.…

Cross References
1 Samuel 19:4
Then Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul and said to him, "The king should not sin against his servant David; he has not sinned against you. In fact, his actions have been highly beneficial to you.

Psalm 35:7
For without cause they laid their net for me; without reason they dug a pit for my soul.

Psalm 35:12
They repay me evil for good, to the bereavement of my soul.

Psalm 57:6
They spread a net for my feet; my soul was despondent. They dug a pit before me, but they themselves have fallen into it! Selah

Psalm 106:23
So He said He would destroy them--had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach to divert His wrath from destroying them.

Psalm 109:4
In return for my love they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.

Proverbs 17:13
If anyone returns evil for good, evil will never leave his house.


Treasury of Scripture

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

evil.

1 Samuel 24:17-19
And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil…

Psalm 35:12
They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul.

Psalm 38:20
They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is.

digged.

Jeremiah 18:22
Let 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.

Job 6:27
Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your friend.

Psalm 7:15
He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.

remember.

Jeremiah 7:16
Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.

Jeremiah 11:14
Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.

Jeremiah 14:7-11,20-22
O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee…

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Behalf Deep Digged Dug Evil Good Hole Instead Life Mind Pit Recompense Recompensed Remember Repaid Reward Soul Speak Standing Stood Turn Word Wrath
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Behalf Deep Digged Dug Evil Good Hole Instead Life Mind Pit Recompense Recompensed Remember Repaid Reward Soul Speak Standing Stood Turn Word Wrath
Jeremiah 18
1. Under the type of a potter is shown God's absolute power in disposing of nations.
11. Judgments threatened to Judah for her strange revolt.
18. Jeremiah prays against his conspirators.














(20) They have digged a pit for my soul.--The image has become so familiar that we have all but lost its vividness. What it meant here (as in Psalm 57:6) was that the man was treated as a beast, the prophet who sought their good as the wolf or the jackal whom they entrapped and slew.

Remember that I stood before thee.--The phrase is used frequently, though not uniformly, of the act of worship, of the communion of the soul with God (comp. Jeremiah 7:10; Deuteronomy 10:8; Deuteronomy 19:17; Deuteronomy 29:10; 1Kings 19:11), and is clearly used in this sense here. The prophet refers to his repeated though fruitless entreaties for the people in Jeremiah 14, 15. It is interesting to note the description of Jeremiah, in 2 Maccabees 15:14, as "a lover of the brethren who prayeth much for the people and the holy city." Men had come to recognise that the spirit of intercession had been the prophet's dominant characteristic. . . .

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Should good
טוֹבָה֙ (ṭō·w·ḇāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2896: Pleasant, agreeable, good

be repaid
הַיְשֻׁלַּ֤ם (hay·šul·lam)
Verb - Pual - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 7999: To be safe, to be, completed, to be friendly, to reciprocate

with
תַּֽחַת־ (ta·ḥaṯ-)
Preposition
Strong's 8478: The bottom, below, in lieu of

evil?
רָעָ֔ה (rā·‘āh)
Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 7451: Bad, evil

Yet
כִּֽי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

they have dug
כָר֥וּ (ḵā·rū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 3738: To dig, to plot, to bore, open

a pit
שׁוּחָ֖ה (šū·ḥāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 7745: A chasm

for me.
לְנַפְשִׁ֑י (lə·nap̄·šî)
Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 5315: A soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion

Remember
זְכֹ֣ר ׀ (zə·ḵōr)
Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine singular
Strong's 2142: To mark, to remember, to mention, to be male

how I stood
עָמְדִ֣י (‘ā·mə·ḏî)
Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct | first person common singular
Strong's 5975: To stand, in various relations

before You
לְפָנֶ֗יךָ (lə·p̄ā·ne·ḵā)
Preposition-l | Noun - common plural construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 6440: The face

to speak
לְדַבֵּ֤ר (lə·ḏab·bêr)
Preposition-l | Verb - Piel - Infinitive construct
Strong's 1696: To arrange, to speak, to subdue

good
טוֹבָ֔ה (ṭō·w·ḇāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2896: Pleasant, agreeable, good

on their behalf,
עֲלֵיהֶם֙ (‘ă·lê·hem)
Preposition | third person masculine plural
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

to turn
לְהָשִׁ֥יב (lə·hā·šîḇ)
Preposition-l | Verb - Hifil - Infinitive construct
Strong's 7725: To turn back, in, to retreat, again

Your wrath
חֲמָתְךָ֖ (ḥă·mā·ṯə·ḵā)
Noun - feminine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 2534: Heat, anger, poison

from them.
מֵהֶֽם׃ (mê·hem)
Preposition-m | Pronoun - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1992: They


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OT Prophets: Jeremiah 18:20 Shall evil be recompensed for good? (Jer.)
Jeremiah 18:19
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