Jeremiah now pleads with the Lord in prayer. He says the Lord knows
him. The Hebrew word is yadda, and speaks of the deep, intimate knowledge of the covenant. The Lord has tested Jeremiah’s heart and knows him as someone who has been a faithful covenant partner, and the Lord appointed him as his prophet (see Jeremiah 1:5). Unlike his enemies, there is no hypocrisy in Jeremiah.1 It is striking that Jeremiah claims innocence for himself having just questioned the Lord’s justice in this situation.2 He then pleads that the tables would be turned. Whereas he was the one who was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter
(Jeremiah 11:19), he now asks the Lord to Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter and set them apart for the day of slaughter.
He wants the Lord to pour out judgment onto those plotting to kill him.
3 But you, O LORD, know me; you see me, and test my heart toward you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and set them apart for the day of slaughter.