Jeremiah 20:17

17 for not killing me before I was born. Then my mother's womb would have been my grave.

Jeremiah 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.

Jeremiah 20:17 In-Context

15 Curse the one who made my father glad by bringing him the news, "It's a boy! You have a son!"
16 May he be like those cities that the Lord destroyed without mercy. May he hear cries of pain in the morning and the battle alarm at noon,
17 for not killing me before I was born. Then my mother's womb would have been my grave.
18 Why was I born? Was it only to have trouble and sorrow, to end my life in disgrace?
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.