⁸ Every time I speak, I cry out.
    All you ever tell me to talk about
    is fighting and trouble.
Your message has brought me nothing but dishonor.
    It has made me suffer shame all day long.
⁹ Sometimes I think, “I won’t talk about his message anymore.
    I’ll never speak in his name again.”
But then your message burns in my heart.
    It’s like a fire deep inside my bones.
I’m tired of holding it in.
    In fact, I can’t.
¹⁰ I hear many people whispering,
    “There is terror on every side!
    Bring charges against Jeremiah! Let’s bring charges against him!”
All my friends
    are waiting for me to slip.
They are saying, “Perhaps he will be tricked
    into making a mistake.
Then we’ll win out over him.
    We’ll get even with him.”

¹¹ But you are with me like a mighty warrior.
    So those who are trying to harm me will trip and fall.
    They won’t win out over me.
They will fail. They’ll be totally put to shame.
    Their dishonor will never be forgotten.

¹² Lord, you rule over all.
    You test those who do what is right.
    You see what is in people’s hearts and minds.
So pay them back for what they’ve done.
    I’ve committed my cause to you.

¹³ Sing to the Lord, you people!
    Give praise to him!
He saves the lives of people in need.
    He saves them from the power of sinful people.

¹⁴ May the day I was born be cursed!
    May the day I was born to my mother not be blessed!
¹⁵ May the man who brought my father the news be cursed!
    He’s the one who made my father very glad.
    He said, “You have had a baby! It’s a boy!”
¹⁶ May that man be like the towns
    the Lord destroyed without pity.
May that man hear loud weeping in the morning.
    May he hear a battle cry at noon.
¹⁷ He should have killed me in my mother’s body.
    He should have made my mother my grave.
    He should have let her body stay large forever.
¹⁸ Why did I ever come out of my mother’s body?
    I’ve seen nothing but trouble and sorrow.
    My days will end in shame.