18:12. And they said; We have no hopes: for we will go after our own thoughts, and we will do every one according to the perverseness of his evil heart.
18:13. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Ask among the nations: Who hath heard such horrible things, as the virgin of Israel hath done to excess?
18:14. Shall the snow of Libanus fail from the rock of the field? or can the cold waters that gush out and run down, be taken away?
18:15. Because my people have forgotten me, sacrificing in vain, and stumbling in their ways, in ancient paths, to walk by them in a way not trodden:
18:16. That their land might be given up to desolation, and to a perpetual hissing: every one that shall pass by it, shall be astonished, and wag his head.
18:17. As a burning wind will I scatter them before the enemy: I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their destruction.
18:18. And they said: Come, and let us invent devices against Jeremias: for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet: come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us give no heed to all his words.
18:19. Give heed to me, O Lord, and hear the voice of my adversaries.
18:20. Shall evil be rendered for good, because they have digged a pit for my soul? Remember that I have stood in thy sight, to speak good for them, and to turn away thy indignation from them.
Remember, etc. . .This is spoken in the person of Christ, persecuted by the Jews, and prophetically denouncing the evils that should fall upon them in punishment of their crimes.