Jeremiah 18:20 Commentary: Should Evil Be Recompensed for Good?

The setting of this verse is Jeremiah chapter 18, where the prophet has delivered a sermon using the potter’s house as a metaphor for God’s sovereign right to shape nations (vv.1-11). The people reject the warning, insisting on their own way (v.12). Then in verse 18, the leaders of Jerusalem, priests, wise men, and prophets, conspire against Jeremiah. They say, “Come, let’s devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law won’t perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let’s strike him with the tongue.” They are confident that their own religious institutions are sufficient; they do not need this troublemaker.

Into this conspiracy Jeremiah cries out in verse 19-20. The “pit” image (שוחה, shuchah) was a common metaphor for deadly traps, as seen in Psalm 7:15 (“He has dug a hole, and has fallen into the pit which he made”) and Psalm 35:7 (“Without cause they have dug a pit for my soul”). In ancient Israel, such pits were used by hunters and farmers to capture wild animals. By digging a pit for Jeremiah, his enemies are dehumanizing him, treating him as prey. The irony is that Jeremiah had been the one pleading for their lives. The phrase “stood before you to speak good for them” recalls the tradition of prophetic intercession exemplified by Abraham (Genesis 18:22-32) and Moses (Psalm 106:23; Ezekiel 22:30). Jeremiah had literally stood in God’s presence, asking God to relent from judgment. Now the same people he interceded for are plotting his death.

This verse is the hinge of a lament that will turn into a fierce prayer for justice in verses 21-23. The raw honesty of the prophet’s words models for believers the kind of unfiltered conversation with God that the Psalms often display. Verse 20 invites us into the anguish of a faithful servant who trusted God even when his own people turned on him. It reminds us that God receives our true feelings, even the painful ones.

The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for this verse. Calvin observes that the Septuagint and Vulgate render the opening interrogative as a negative question (“Is not evil rendered for good?”), while the Masoretic Text and most English translations read it as a rhetorical question. This is a translational difference, not a manuscript variant, and does not affect the meaning.

Throughout church history, this verse has been read as a testimony to the unjust suffering of God’s faithful servants. The Reformers, including Calvin, used the verse to expose the cruelty of those who reject God’s messengers. Gill and Matthew Henry emphasized the horror of ingratitude, with Henry calling it a wonder of mercy that God bears so long with the ungrateful. In the Wesleyan tradition, Clarke highlighted Jeremiah’s role as a “continual intercessor.” Modern readers often struggle with the imprecatory section that follows, but many pastors use verse 20 as a model for honest lament, teaching that God welcomes our raw complaints. The verse also finds resonance among those who read the psalms of lament as a pattern for bringing cries for justice to God.

Three-point outline

1. The shock of ingratitude: Jeremiah’s rhetorical question appeals to universal justice. Even nature recoils when good is repaid with evil. The prophet expected gratitude, but he received a death plot.
2. The specifics of betrayal: The people have dug a pit for his soul. Considered in eastern imagery, this is a hunter's trick against a human life. It shows complete dehumanization of the messenger.
3. The prophet's appeal: Jeremiah reminds God of his faithful service: “Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them.” He trusts that God sees the full story, even when human courts do not.

Five-point outline

1. The faithful intercessor: Jeremiah stood before God for the people. This was his calling and his sacrifice.
2. The people's response: Instead of gratitude, they dig a pit, an active, deliberate plot to kill him.
3. The cry of injustice: “Should evil be recompensed for good?” The question expects an answer: No. This is not how the world is supposed to work.
4. The memory of mercy: “I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath.” He interceded when judgment threatened.
5. The hope of divine justice: Jeremiah brings his complaint to God. He does not take revenge himself, but entrusts the matter to the Judge of all the earth.

Illustration hooks

• A person who advocates for a coworker, speaking up for them during a layoff, only to later discover that coworker spread rumors to get them fired.
• A volunteer who spends years building a community program, then finds the same community suspicious of their motives and trying to shut them down.
• Jesus himself, the ultimate intercessor, betrayed by those he came to save, and yet he prayed, “Father forgive them.”

Questions your congregation is asking

• Is it okay to feel angry and cry out to God when someone repays my kindness with cruelty?
• Does God really hear prayers for justice against those who hurt us, or should we only forgive?
• How do I stay faithful in intercession when it seems nobody appreciates it?

This verse drops us into the raw emotion of a prophet who has given everything for his people. He pleaded with God on their behalf, only to have them plot his death. In this session, your group can explore what honest lament looks like and whether we are allowed to bring our anger to God.

Discussion questions

1. Read Jeremiah 18:18-20. What does verse 18 reveal about the people’s attitude toward God’s word through Jeremiah? Why are they so confident?
2. How does Jeremiah describe his own actions in verse 20? What does “stood before you to speak good for them” mean in this context?
3. Why do you think Jeremiah uses the image of a pit? Flip to Psalm 7:15 and Psalm 35:7. What do those verses add to the picture?
4. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown says Jeremiah was a type of Jesus Christ. In what ways do you see similarities between Jeremiah’s suffering and Christ’s?
5. Verse 20 ends with “to turn away your wrath from them.” How is this statement a contrast to the people’s actions? What does it reveal about Jeremiah’s heart?
6. The verses that follow (21-23) contain harsh imprecations. How do we as Christians wrestle with these words in light of Jesus’ command to love our enemies?
7. When have you experienced a situation where your good deed was repaid with harm? How did you respond, and what does this passage suggest about bringing that pain to God?