The Lord now responds to Jeremiah’s prayer for vengeance. Only now does the reader discover the details of the plot that the Lord has revealed to Jeremiah. Those conspiring against him are the men of Anathoth,
Jeremiah’s hometown. They are threatening to kill Jeremiah if he does not stop prophesying in the name of the Lord. The reader is not told exactly why people from his hometown want to be rid of him, but it is not hard to imagine that Jeremiah’s message of judgment and his scathing criticism of the nation’s religious failure, especially that of the priests would have been a very unpopular message in Anathoth. They could very easily have thought that Jeremiah has brought shame on his hometown. The reader may not know the exact reasons, but what is clear is that the threat against Jeremiah and his message is very real.
21 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, and say, “Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will die by our hand”