Jeremiah 20:3

3 Then on the day after, Pashhur let Jeremiah loose. Then Jeremiah said to him, The Lord has given you the name of Magor-missabib (Cause-of-fear-on-every-side), not Pashhur.

Jeremiah 20:3 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 20:3

And it came to pass on the morrow
After the prophet was put into the stocks; so that he was there all night: that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks;
either to bring him before the priests, or the sanhedrim, to be examined; or in order to dismiss him, being either admonished by his friends, or convicted in his own conscience that he had done a wrong thing; then said Jeremiah unto him;
when he had brought him out, not being at all intimidated by him, and having a word from the Lord for him: the Lord hath not called thy name Pashur;
which, according to Jerom, signifies "blackness of mouth"; and, according to others, "diffusing paleness"; one that terrified others, and made their faces look pale; but now it should be otherwise, and he himself should be filled with terror, and have paleness of thee: but, according to a late etymologist, it signifies one abounding or "increased in liberty" F24, who in a little time would become a captive; for it is not suggested hereby that he should no more be called by this name, but that he should be in a condition which would not answer to it, but to another, as follows: but Magormissabib;
or, "fear round about"; signifying that terrors should be all around him, and he in the utmost fright and consternation. The Septuagint version renders it "one removing"; changing from place to place; that is, going into captivity; a stranger and wanderer, as the Syriac version. The Targum is,

``but there shall be gathered together against thee those that kill with the sword round about;''
meaning the Chaldeans, which would make him a "Magormissabib".
FOOTNOTES:

F24 (vp) "abundantiam" , & (rwx) liberum sonat", Hiller. Onomast. Sacr. p. 302. Paschchur, "auctus libertate", ib. p. 904.

Jeremiah 20:3 In-Context

1 Now it came to the ears of Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief in authority in the house of the Lord, that Jeremiah was saying these things;
2 And Pashhur gave blows to Jeremiah and had his feet chained in a framework of wood in the higher doorway of Benjamin, which was in the house of the Lord.
3 Then on the day after, Pashhur let Jeremiah loose. Then Jeremiah said to him, The Lord has given you the name of Magor-missabib (Cause-of-fear-on-every-side), not Pashhur.
4 For the Lord has said, See, I will make you a cause of fear to yourself and to all your friends: they will come to their death by the sword of their haters, and your eyes will see it: and I will give all Judah into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will take them away prisoners into Babylon and put them to the sword.
5 And more than this, I will give all the wealth of this town and all its profits and all its things of value, even all the stores of the kings of Judah will I give into the hands of their haters, who will put violent hands on them and take them away to Babylon.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.