Jeremiah 20:1-6

v. 1. Now, Pashur, the son of Immer, the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the Lord, the highest commander of the Temple-watch, who was superior even to the captains of the individual orders in charge of the Temple in the course of their service, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.

v. 2. Then Pashur, by virtue of the police- and judicial power vested in him, which he believed he must exercise in this instance, smote Jeremiah, the prophet, whose office is here purposely mentioned, and put him in the stocks, a five-holed instrument of torture in which the neck, the two hands, and the two feet were thrust, that were in the high gate of Benjamin, the northern gate in the inner court of the Temple, which was in the house of the Lord.

v. 3. And it came to pass on the morrow, after Jeremiah had been kept in this crooked posture over night and suffered all its tortures, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The Lord hath not called thy name Pashur, which has been interpreted by linguists as meaning "largeness and security on every side," but Magor-mis-sabib, that is, "terror round about," the name, of course, signifying the fate that would befall him for his blasphemous behavior toward the Lord's servant.

v. 4. For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, so that his evil conscience and the fear of God's wrath would leave him no rest, and to all thy friends, who would be dismayed upon discovering the extent to which they had been duped; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, as a result of their having given heed to Pashur's leading them astray, and thine eyes shall behold it, and thus be tortured by anxiety for an indefinite, time; and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon and shall slay them with the sword, captivity and death being the fate which He had determined for them.

v. 5. Moreover, I will deliver all the strength of this city, the total resources of the capital city, and all the labors thereof, what they had gained in the course of time, the uncounted material wealth, and all the precious things thereof, whatever treasures had been heaped up there in the course of time, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah, their riches as amassed from time to time, will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them and take them and carry them to Babylon.

v. 6. And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house, all the members of his family following him in his wickedness, shall go into captivity; and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there, far from the land of his fathers, thou shalt die and shalt be buried there, thou and all thy friends to whom thou hast prophesied lies, abusing his office of priest for the purpose of deceiving people. Like Pashur, there are many men in high offices in the Church today who abuse their position for the purpose of leading men astray and dragging them down to ruin with themselves.