The verse of prose in Jeremiah 18:18 has set the scene for the passage of poetry in Jeremiah 18:19–23, as Jeremiah cries out to the Lord in another of his confessions. He calls on the Lord to hear.
The same Hebrew root qasab that is used in Jeremiah 18:18 (pay attention
), is used here.1 His adversaries say they will not listen to Jeremiah’s words (Jeremiah 18:18), and so he calls on the Lord to listen to what they are saying. It is after all the Lord’s word that they refuse to listen to.
18 Et ils ont dit: Venez, complotons contre Jérémie! Car la loi ne périra pas faute de sacrificateurs, Ni le conseil faute de sages, ni la parole faute de prophètes. Venez, tuons-le avec la langue; Ne prenons pas garde à tous ses discours!