Jeremiah 20 Study Notes

20:10 A gossip campaign began to build against Jeremiah as they nicknamed him Mr. Terror . . . on every side.

20:11 Jeremiah believed that God would turn the tables on his persecutors. God had promised him that he would be with him like a violent warrior or “a mighty champion” (1:8,18; 15:20-24).

20:12 This verse is virtually the same as 11:20, bracketing the first and last of the prophet’s “confessions.”

20:13 Some question the genuineness of this verse because they find it difficult to imagine Jeremiah singing for joy in these circumstances. But his heart understandably fluctuated with conflicting emotions. His task was grueling and doom surrounded him, yet God was with him.

20:14-15 Whereas a messenger who brought news of a birth was usually rewarded in that culture, Jeremiah said the man who announced his birth should have been cursed. Notice that Jeremiah did not curse his parents for bringing him into the world. Cursing one’s parents was forbidden (Ex 21:17).

20:16 Jeremiah wished the messenger’s demise would be like that of the cities the Lord demolished. Those cities, Sodom and Gomorrah (Gn 19:24-25), were examples of God’s sudden destruction.

20:17 He wished he had just stayed in his mother’s womb.

20:18 Because of all the criticism Jeremiah had to take, he struggled inwardly. But he never wavered in fulfilling his mission.