O Lord, unto me give Thou heed, 19 And hark to the voice of my plea!(720) Shall evil be rendered for good, 20 That they dig a pit for my life?(721) O remember my standing before Thee, To bespeak their good— To turn Thy fury from off them. Give therefore their sons to famine, 21 And spill them out to the sword. Let their wives be widows and childless And their men be slain of death— And smitten their youths by the sword in battle. May crying be heard from their homes, 22 As a troop comes sudden upon them! For a pit have they dug to catch me, And hidden snares for my feet. But Thou, O Lord, hast known 23 Their counsels for death against me. Pardon Thou not their iniquities,(722) Nor blot from Thy Presence their sins;(723) But let them be tumbled before Thee Deal with them in time of Thy wrath. Verses 21-23 are rejected by Duhm and Cornill, along with XI. 22_b_, 23, XII. 3_b_, XVII. 18 for no textual or metrical reasons, but only because these scholars shrink from attributing to Jeremiah such outbursts of passion: just as we have seen them for similarly sheer reasons of sentiment refuse to consider as his the advice to desert to the enemy.(724) Yet they admit inconsistently the genuineness of VI. 11, XI. 20, XV. 15.(725) Lord, Thou beguiledst me, and beguiled I let myself be, XX. 7 Too strong for me, Thou hast conquered, A jest I have been all the day, Every one mocks me. As oft as I speak I must shriek, 8 Crying “Violence and spoil.” Yea, the Word of the Lord is become my reproach All day a derision. If I said, I’ll not mind Him(726) 9 Nor speak in His name,(727) Then in my heart ’tis a burning fire, Shut up in my bones. I am worn away with refraining, I cannot hold on.(728) For I hear the whispering of many, 10 Terror all round! “Denounce, and let us denounce him,” —And these my familiars!— Keep ye watch for him tripping, Perchance he’ll be fooled, “And we be more than enough for him, And get our revenge.” Yet the Lord He is with me, 11 Mighty and Terrible! So they that hunt me shall stumble And shall not prevail. Put to dire shame shall they be When they fail to succeed. Be their confusion eternal, Nor ever forgotten! O Lord,(729) Who triest the righteous, 12 Who lookest to the reins and the heart, Let me see Thy vengeance upon them, For to Thee I have opened my cause.(730)