Jeremiah 20:12

12 O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, you test those who are righteous, and you examine the deepest thoughts and secrets. Let me see your vengeance against them, for I have committed my cause to you.

Jeremiah 20:12 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 20:12

But, O Lord, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins
and the heart
That tries the cause of the righteous, and vindicates them, rights their wrongs, and does them justice; being the omniscient God, the seer and searcher of the hearts and reins; who knows the uprightness of their hearts, as well as their ways, and the sincerity of their affections: or that tries the faith and patience of the righteous, their constancy and integrity; and upon trial finds that their affections are real, and their souls sincere; let me see thy vengeance on them;
his enemies and persecutors; he does not seek vengeance himself, but desires it of the Lord; he does not ask to see his vengeance, but the Lord's vengeance on them, what he thought was just and proper to inflict on them; he knew that vengeance belonged to the Lord, and therefore left it with him, and prayed for it from him. The Targum is,

``let me see the vengeance of thy judgments on them;''
for unto thee have I opened my cause;
or "revealed", or "made it manifest" F11; this he did in prayer, at this time, when he laid before the Lord his whole case, and appealed and applied to him for justice, who judgeth righteous persons, and judgeth righteously.
FOOTNOTES:

F11 (ybyr ta ytylg) "revelavi causam meam", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. So Schmidt.

Jeremiah 20:12 In-Context

10 I have heard the many rumors about me. They call me “The Man Who Lives in Terror.” They threaten, “If you say anything, we will report it.” Even my old friends are watching me, waiting for a fatal slip. “He will trap himself,” they say, “and then we will get our revenge on him.”
11 But the LORD stands beside me like a great warrior. Before him my persecutors will stumble. They cannot defeat me. They will fail and be thoroughly humiliated. Their dishonor will never be forgotten.
12 O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, you test those who are righteous, and you examine the deepest thoughts and secrets. Let me see your vengeance against them, for I have committed my cause to you.
13 Sing to the LORD ! Praise the LORD ! For though I was poor and needy, he rescued me from my oppressors.
14 Yet I curse the day I was born! May no one celebrate the day of my birth.
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