Jeremiah 20:10-18

10 I have heard many whispering their plot: "'Terror in every direction'? Denounce him! Let's denounce him!" Even all my close friends are watching for me to make a false step - "Maybe he can be tricked, then we'll get the better of him, then we'll take our revenge on him."
11 But ADONAI is with me like a dreaded warrior; so my persecutors will stumble, defeated, greatly ashamed because of their failure; their lasting disgrace will not be forgotten.
12 ADONAI-Tzva'ot, you who test the righteous and see people's hearts and thoughts, let me see you take vengeance on them, for I have committed my cause to you.
13 Sing to ADONAI! Praise ADONAI! For he rescues those in need from the clutches of evildoers.
14 A curse on the day I was born! The day my mother gave birth to me - let it not be blessed!
15 A curse on the man who brought the news to my father, "A son has been born to you!" - thus making him very happy.
16 Let that man be like the cities ADONAI overthrew without mercy! Let him hear cries of alarm in the morning and the sound of battle at noon,
17 because God did not put me to death in the womb and let my mother become my grave, her womb forever filled with me.
18 Why did I have to emerge from the womb, just to see toil and sorrow, and end my days in shame?

Jeremiah 20:10-18 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.

Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.