Jeremiah 20:16

16 May that man be like the cities that the LORD destroyed without pity. May he hear a cry of alarm in the morning and a battle cry at noon.

Jeremiah 20:16 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 20:16

And let that man be as the cities which the Lord overthrew,
&c.] In his fury, as the Targum and Septuagint add. Meaning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, who were utterly destroyed, and were never recovered: and repented not;
whose sentence God never repented of, nor revoked: this was very severe and uncharitable, to wish for so sore a destruction upon an innocent person; and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide;
as soon as he is up in the morning, the first thing that salutes his ears, let it be the noise of an enemy invading the city he dwells in; and by noon let him hear the shouting of him, having broke in, and gotten the victory, seizing the plunder.

Jeremiah 20:16 In-Context

14 Cursed is the day that I was born, the day that my mother gave birth to me. May it not be blessed.

15 Cursed is the man who made my father very happy with the news that he had just become the father of a baby boy.

16 May that man be like the cities that the LORD destroyed without pity. May he hear a cry of alarm in the morning and a battle cry at noon.

17 If only he had killed me while I was in the womb. Then my mother would have been my grave, and she would have always been pregnant.

18 Why did I come out of the womb? All I've seen is trouble and grief. I will finish my days in shame.