Jeremiah 20:18

18 Why went I out of the womb, that I should see travail and sorrow, and that my days shall be wasted in shame? (O why was I born, so that I could see struggle, or trouble, and sorrow, and that my days would be wasted in shame?)

Jeremiah 20:18 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 20:18

Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and
sorrow
"Labour" in performing his work and office as a prophet; and "sorrow" in suffering reproach, contempt, and persecution for it; which to avoid, he wishes he had never been born: a sign of a very fretful and impatient spirit, and of a carnal frame. Jarchi thinks this refers to the destruction of the temple; that my days should be consumed with shame?
through the bad usage of him, the reproach that was cast upon him, and the contempt he was had in for prophesying in the name of the Lord. All this shows that there is sin in the best of men, and what they are when left to themselves; how weak, foolish, and sinful they appear. And Jeremiah recording these his sins and failings, is an argument of the uprightness and sincerity of the man, and of the truth of Scripture.

Jeremiah 20:18 In-Context

16 That man be as the cities be, which the Lord destroyed, and it repented not him; [Be that man as be the cities, that the Lord turned upside-down, and it repented him not; hear he (the) cry early, and yelling in midday time,] (May that man be like the cities, which the Lord destroyed, and he did not repent for doing that; let him hear the cries of alarm in the morning, and the yelling at midday,)

17 he that killed not me from the womb, hear cry early, and yelling in the time of midday; that my mother were [made] a sepulchre to me, and her womb were an everlasting conceiving. [that me (he) slew not from the privy womb; that made were to me my mother a sepulchre, and her privy womb conceiving everlasting. (that he did not kill me in the womb; so that my mother was made a tomb for me, and within her womb I was an everlasting conception.)] (because the Lord did not kill me in the womb, so that my mother was made my tomb, and I was an everlasting, or never born, conception, within her womb.)

18 Why went I out of the womb, that I should see travail and sorrow, and that my days shall be wasted in shame? (O why was I born, so that I could see struggle, or trouble, and sorrow, and that my days would be wasted in shame?)