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.
Parallel Translations
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
Cross-references (23)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 18:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 35:7 For without cause they have hidden their net in a pit for me. Without cause they have dug a pit for my soul.
- Psalms 57:6 They have prepared a net for my steps. My soul is bowed down. They dig a pit before me. They fall into the middle of it themselves.
- Psalms 106:23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had Moses, his chosen, not stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, so that he wouldn’t destroy them.
- 1 Samuel 24:17-19 He said to David, “You are more righteous than I; for you have done good to me, whereas I have done evil to you. You have declared today how you have dealt well with me, because when Yahweh had delivered me up into your hand, you didn’t kill me. For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away unharmed? Therefore may Yahweh reward you good for that which you have done to me today.
- Psalms 35:12 They reward me evil for good, to the bereaving of my soul.
- Psalms 109:4-5 In return for my love, they are my adversaries; but I am in prayer. They have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
- Psalms 119:95 The wicked have waited for me, to destroy me. I will consider your statutes.
- Proverbs 26:27 Whoever digs a pit shall fall into it. Whoever rolls a stone, it will come back on him.
- Ecclesiastes 10:8 He who digs a pit may fall into it; and whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.
- Jeremiah 18:22 Let a cry be heard from their houses when you bring a troop suddenly on them; for they have dug a pit to take me and hidden snares for my feet.
- Genesis 18:22-32 The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before Yahweh. Abraham came near, and said, “Will you consume the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it? May it be far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?” Yahweh said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place for their sake.” Abraham answered, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, although I am dust and ashes. What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?” He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” He spoke to him yet again, and said, “What if there are forty found there?” He said, “I will not do it for the forty’s sake.” He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there?” He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” He said, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. What if there are twenty found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the twenty’s sake.” He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake.”
- Job 6:27 Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless, and make merchandise of your friend.
- Psalms 7:15 He has dug a hole, and has fallen into the pit which he made.
- Psalms 38:20 They who render evil for good are also adversaries to me, because I follow what is good.
- Proverbs 17:13 Whoever rewards evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.
- Jeremiah 7:16 “Therefore don’t pray for this people. Don’t lift up a cry or prayer for them or make intercession to me; for I will not hear you.
- Jeremiah 11:14 “Therefore don’t pray for this people. Don’t lift up cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry to me because of their trouble.
- Jeremiah 14:7-11 Though our iniquities testify against us, work for your name’s sake, Yahweh; for our rebellions are many. We have sinned against you. You hope of Israel, its Savior in the time of trouble, why should you be as a foreigner in the land, and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to stay for a night? Why should you be like a scared man, as a mighty man who can’t save? Yet you, Yahweh, are in the middle of us, and we are called by your name. Don’t leave us. Yahweh says to this people, “Even so they have loved to wander. They have not restrained their feet. Therefore Yahweh does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and punish them for their sins.” Yahweh said to me, “Don’t pray for this people for their good.
- Jeremiah 14:20–15:1 We acknowledge, Yahweh, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against you. Do not abhor us, for your name’s sake. Do not disgrace the throne of your glory. Remember, and don’t break your covenant with us. Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the sky give showers? Aren’t you he, Yahweh our God? Therefore we will wait for you; for you have made all these things. Then Yahweh said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not turn toward this people. Cast them out of my sight, and let them go out!
- Ezekiel 22:30-31 “I sought for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. Therefore I have poured out my indignation on them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have brought their own way on their heads,” says the Lord Yahweh.
- Zechariah 3:1-2 He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before Yahweh’s angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary. Yahweh said to Satan, “Yahweh rebuke you, Satan! Yes, Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?”
- John 10:32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?”
- John 15:25 But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain The Prophet in this verse exaggerates the sin of…
The Prophet in this verse exaggerates the sin of his enemies, for they not only were ferocious against God, but also forgot everything humane, and wickedly assailed the Prophet himself. Impiety is indeed more detestable than inhumanity, inasmuch as God is far above all mortals; but inhumanity has in it more basenes, for it is, so to speak, more gross and more evident. The ungodly often hide their perfidy; but when they come to act towards men, then it appears immediately what they are. Hence the Prophet, having made known the impiety of his enemies, now adds, that they, when tried by the judgment of men, were found to be wholly intolerable, for they rendered a shameful reward to an innocent man who was sedulous in securing their salvation. We now understand the meaning of the Prophet.
Though it often happens that evil is rendered for good, and ingratitude is a common vice, yet nature itself detests ingratitude: hence it has been said that there is no law against the ungrateful, because ingratitude seems a monstrous thing. As then nature dictates that merit deserves a reward, and this ought to be a fixed principle in the hearts of all, the Prophet reasons according to the common sense and judgment of all mankind.
Read full note →
Shall evil, he says, be rendered for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul? and yet I prayed for them, and endeavored to turn away the wrath of God. Since I have set myself humbly to pray for their salvation, how great is their savageness and inhumanity in persecuting me? But as he saw that it was vain to speak to the deaf, he again appeals to God as a witness to his integrity; Remember, he says, that I stood before thy face to speak for them; as though he had said, “Even if malignity prevent men to own what I am, and how I have conducted myself towards them, God will be to me a sufficient witness, and I shall be satisfied with his judgment.” It then follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 18:20 Shall evil be recompensed for good? for…
Jer 18:20 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.
Ver. 20. Shall evil be recompensed for good?] q.d., That is greatest disingenuity and unthankfulness. To render good for evil is divine; good for good is human; evil for evil is brutish; but evil for good devilish. Lo, with such breathing devils had Jeremiah here to do; and, indeed, what good man hath not? See 1Sa 24:17 Psa 35:12; Psa 109:5.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Shall evil be recompensed for good? to requite good…
Shall evil be recompensed for good? to requite good for evil is divine, God maketh his sun to shine, and his rain to fall, upon the just and unjust; to requite evil for evil, or good for good, is but human, what the nature of reasonable men prompt them to; but to requite evil for good is diabolical, and the character of those that are the children of the evil one.
For they have digged a pit for my soul; Lord, saith the prophet, these men have done thus, they have laid snares for my life; though thou knowest that as a prophet I stood before thee, both preaching and praying for their good. Their wrath is kindled to a great height against me, and thou knowest my business was, both in my preachings to them, and prayers for them,
Read full note →
to turn away thy wrath from them. Lord, remember this, both for good to me, and for vengeance upon them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Let a cry be heard from their houses,.... A…
Let a cry be heard from their houses,.... A shrieking of women and children, not only for the loss of husbands and parents, but because of the entrance of the enemy into the city, and into their houses, to take away their lives and their substance; as follows:
when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them; or an army, as the Targum; either the Chaldean army, or rather the Roman army:
Read full note →
for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet: and therefore it was a just retaliation, that a troop or army should suddenly come upon them, and seize their persons and substance; though Kimchi understands it, as before, of poison, which they would have given him; but Jarchi, of a suspicion and vile calumny they raised of him, that he was guilty of adultery with another man's wife; a "whore" being called a "deep ditch" by the wise man, Pro 23:27; and so it is in the Talmud (h).
(h) T. Bab. Kama, fol. 16. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 20. They have digged a pit for my…
Verse 20. They have digged a pit for my soul.] For my life; this they wish to take away.
Stood before thee to speak good for them] I was their continual intercessor.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Jeremiah had been laboring earnestly to avert the ruin…
Jeremiah had been laboring earnestly to avert the ruin of his country, but the Jews treated him as farmers do some noxious animal which wastes their fields, and for which they dig pitfalls.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Remember, &c. This is spoken in the person of…
Remember, &c. This is spoken in the person of Christ, persecuted by the Jews, and prophetically denouncing the evils that should fall upon them in punishment for their crimes. (Challoner) --- Jeremias had prayed earnestly for the people, chap. xiv. 17. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain In the particulars here specified, Jeremiah was a type…
In the particulars here specified, Jeremiah was a type of Jesus Christ (Psa 109:4-5; Joh 15:25).
my soul--my life; me (Psa 35:7).
Read full note →
I stood before thee . . . to turn away thy wrath--so Moses (Psa 106:23; compare Eze 22:30). So Jesus Christ, the antitype of previous partial intercessors (Isa 59:16).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 20. Shall evil be recompensed for good?] Jeremiah had…
20. Shall evil be recompensed for good?] Jeremiah had interceded for the people in times past, e.g. ch. Jer_14:7; Jer_14:21.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (20) They have digged a pit for my soul.—The…
(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 Psa_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. Jer_7:10; Deu_10:8; Deu_19:17; Deu_29:10; 1Ki_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 2Ma_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.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.