Jeremia 20:17

17 weil er mich nicht tötete im Mutterleibe, so daß meine Mutter mir zu meinem Grabe geworden und ihr Leib ewig schwanger geblieben wäre!

Jeremia 20:17 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 20:17

Because he slew me not from the womb
As soon as he came out of it; that is, as soon as he was born; either because God slew him not so soon, as Kimchi; or the angel of death, as Jarchi: or rather the man that carried the tidings of his birth to his father, who is all along spoken of in the two former verses; he curses him for not doing that, which, had he done, would have been exceeding criminal in him indeed; for not committing murder, even for not murdering an innocent babe; or that my mother might have been my grave;
he wishes he had died in her womb, and had never been brought forth; and so that had been his grave, where he should have been at ease and safety: and her womb [to be] always great [with me];
or, "her womb an everlasting conception" F13; his wish was, that she had been always conceiving, or ever big with child of him, but never bring forth; which was a more cruel and unnatural wish than the former concerning the man, the carrier of the tidings of his birth; since this was wishing a perpetual, painful, and intolerable evil to his own mother.


FOOTNOTES:

F13 (Mlwe trh hmxrw) "et ejus uterus, conceptus perpetuus", Munster; "et vulva ejus, conceptio perpetua", Pagninus, "et vulva ejus praegnans perpetuo", Vatablus.

Jeremia 20:17 In-Context

15 Verflucht sei der Mann, der meinem Vater die frohe Botschaft brachte und sprach: "Ein männliches Kind ist dir geboren", und der ihn hoch erfreute!
16 Und jener Mann werde den Städten gleich, die Jehova umgekehrt hat, ohne sich's gereuen zu lassen; und er höre ein Geschrei am Morgen und Feldgeschrei zur Mittagszeit:
17 weil er mich nicht tötete im Mutterleibe, so daß meine Mutter mir zu meinem Grabe geworden und ihr Leib ewig schwanger geblieben wäre!
18 Warum bin ich doch aus dem Mutterleibe hervorgekommen, um Mühsal und Kummer zu sehen, und daß meine Tage in Schande vergingen? -
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