Jeremiah 20:7-14

Jeremiah’s Lament

7 You have persuaded me, [O] Yahweh, and I was persuaded. You have overpowered me, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day [long]. {Everyone} [is] mocking me.
8 For {as often as} I speak, I must cry out violence and destruction. I must shout, for the word of Yahweh has become for me a disgrace and derision all day [long].
9 But [if] I say, "I will not mention him and I will no longer speak in his name," then it becomes in my heart like a fire burning, locked up in my bones, and I struggle to contain [it], and I am not able.
10 For I hear the rumor of many, "Terror [is] from all around, denounce [him], yes, let us denounce him!" {All my close friends} [are] watchers of my stumbling, [saying], "perhaps he can be persuaded, and we can prevail over him, and we can take our revenge on him."
11 But Yahweh [is] with me like a powerful warrior. {Therefore} my persecutors will stumble and will not prevail. They will be very ashamed, for they will not achieve success. [Their] {everlasting insult} will not be forgotten.
12 Yet, [O] Yahweh of hosts, who tests [the] righteous, who sees [the] {heart} and [the] {mind}, let me see your retribution upon them, for to you I have revealed my legal case.
13 Sing to Yahweh, praise Yahweh, for he has delivered [the] life of [the] poor from [the] hand of evildoers.
14 Cursed be [the] day [on] which I was born, let not the day [on] which my mother gave birth to me be blessed.

Jeremiah 20:7-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 20

This chapter gives an account of the usage that Jeremiah met with from many for his prophecies, and the effect it had upon him. He was smitten and put in the stocks by Pashur the priest, who released him the next day, Jer 20:1-3; upon which he prophesies again of the delivery of the city of Jerusalem, with all its riches, and of the whole land, to the Chaldeans; and particularly that Pashur should be a terror to himself and all his friends; and that both he and they should be carried captive into Babylon, and die, and be buried there, Jer 20:4-6; and then he complains of his being mocked at by the people for the word of the Lord; which he therefore determined to make no more mention of, but was obliged to it; and of the defamations of him, and snares that were laid for him, Jer 20:7-10; under which he is supported with the consideration of the Lord's being with him, and that his enemies should not prevail, but be confounded; and appeals to him, and calls for vengeance from him on them; and, in the view of deliverance, not only praises the Lord himself, but calls upon others to join with him in it, Jer 20:11-13; and yet, after all, the chapter is concluded with his cursing the day of his birth, and the man that brought his father the news of it, Jer 20:14-18.

Footnotes 9

  • [a]. Literally "All of him"
  • [b]. Literally "from enough"
  • [c]. Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  • [d]. Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  • [e]. Literally "All the human being of my peace"
  • [f]. Literally "Unto thus"
  • [g]. Literally "insult of eternity"
  • [h]. Literally "kidneys"
  • [i]. Literally "heart"
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