Jeremiah 20:14

14 Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!

Jeremiah 20:14 in Other Translations

14 Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.

14 Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed!

14 Yet I curse the day I was born! May no one celebrate the day of my birth.

14 Curse the day I was born! The day my mother bore me - a curse on it, I say!

14 Cursed be the day on which I was born. The day my mother bore me- let it never be blessed.

Jeremiah 20:14 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 20:14

Cursed [be] the day wherein I was born
If this was said immediately upon the foregoing, it was a most strange and sudden change of frame indeed that the prophet came into, from praising God, to cursing the day of his birth; wherefore some have thought it was delivered at another time, when in great anguish of spirit; very likely when so ill used by Pashur, as before related; but here repeated, to show in what distress he had been, and what reason there was for praise and thanksgiving; for the words may be connected with the preceding, thus, "for he hath delivered from the hand of evil doers the soul of the poor, who said" ^F12, in the time of his distress, "cursed be the day", &c; but, whenever it was spoke, it showed the impatience of the prophet, the weakness of his faith, and the greatness of his folly, to curse a day, and his birth day too, as Job did, when under affliction, ( Job 3:1-16 ) ; let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed;
to myself or others; let it be reckoned among the unhappy and unfortunate days; let it not be blessed with the light of the sun, or with the light of joy and prosperity; see ( Job 3:4 Job 3:7 ) ; let it not be said on this occasion, as commonly is, we wish you joy on your birth day, and may you see many happy days of this kind. Abendana observes, that some of their Rabbins say, that Jeremiah cursed the day of his birth, because it was the ninth of Ab, the day on which the temple was burnt.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 So it is supplied by Grotius and Schmidt.

Jeremiah 20:14 In-Context

12 LORD Almighty, you who examine the righteous and probe the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for to you I have committed my cause.

13 Sing to the LORD! Give praise to the LORD! He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked.

14 Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!

15 Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, who made him very glad, saying, “A child is born to you—a son!”

16 May that man be like the towns the LORD overthrew without pity. May he hear wailing in the morning, a battle cry at noon.

Cross References

• 1. S Job 3:8,16; Job 3:3; Jeremiah 15:10