Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 18:20

"Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before thee to speak good for them, to turn away thy wrath from them." — Jeremiah 18:20 (ASV)

They have digged a pit for my soul. The image has become so familiar that we have almost lost its vividness. What it meant here was that the man was treated as a beast, the prophet who sought their good as the wolf or the jackal whom they entrapped and killed.

Remember that I stood before thee. The phrase is used frequently, though not uniformly, of the act of worship, of the communion of the soul with God (Deuteronomy 10:8; Deuteronomy 19:17; Deuteronomy 29:10; 1 Kings 19:11), and is clearly used in this sense here. The prophet refers to his repeated though fruitless entreaties for the people in Jeremiah 14:15. It is interesting to note the description of Jeremiah, in 2 Maccabees 15:14, as “a lover of the brethren who prayeth much for the people and the holy city.” Men had come to recognise that the spirit of intercession had been the prophet’s dominant characteristic.