Why does Jeremiah ask the Lord to put to shame those who persecute him and to bring on them the day of disaster?
Jeremiah calls on the Lord to fulfill his word. He longs for the Lord to vindicate him by bringing the judgment that Jeremiah has spoken of. Let those be put to shame who persecute me, but let me not be dismayed.
This is once again an appeal for the Lord to act on the promise made in Jeremiah 1:17.
Jeremiah’s lament is over, but unlike his other laments and those in the Psalms, there is no response at all from the Lord. God's silence to Jeremiah's prayer matches his silence to his people. We hear Jeremiah's complaint and his pain and then…nothing.
1 This does not mean that the Lord has abandoned Jeremiah, but it certainly sends a very sobering message to Judah: things are becoming desperate when the Lord does not even respond to the cries of his prophet.
18 Que mes persécuteurs soient confus, et que je ne sois pas confus; Qu'ils tremblent, et que je ne tremble pas, moi! Fais venir sur eux le jour du malheur, Frappe-les d'une double plaie!