Jeremiah 20:17

17 because he did not kill me before I was born. Then my mother would have been my grave; she would have stayed pregnant forever.

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.

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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 Let there be a curse on the man who brought my father the news: "You have a son!" This made my father very glad.

16 Let that man be like the towns the Lord destroyed without pity. Let him hear loud crying in the morning and battle cries at noon,

17 because he did not kill me before I was born. Then my mother would have been my grave; she would have stayed pregnant forever.

18 Why did I have to come out of my mother's body? All I have known is trouble and sorrow, and my life will end in shame.