Jeremiah 20:17

17 For he did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave, her womb enlarged forever.

Jeremiah 20:17 in Other Translations

17 Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.

17 because he did not kill me in the womb; so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb forever great.

17 because he did not kill me at birth. Oh, that I had died in my mother’s womb, that her body had been my grave!

17 He should have killed me before I was born, with that womb as my tomb, My mother pregnant for the rest of her life with a baby dead in her womb.

17 because he slew me not from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great.

17 If only he had killed me while I was in the womb. Then my mother would have been my grave, and she would have always been pregnant.

17 because he didn't kill me in the womb so that my mother might have been my grave, her womb eternally pregnant.

17 He should have killed me in my mother's body. He should have made my mother my grave. He should have let her body stay large forever.

Jeremiah 20:17 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 20:17

Because he slew me not from the womb
As soon as he came out of it; that is, as soon as he was born; either because God slew him not so soon, as Kimchi; or the angel of death, as Jarchi: or rather the man that carried the tidings of his birth to his father, who is all along spoken of in the two former verses; he curses him for not doing that, which, had he done, would have been exceeding criminal in him indeed; for not committing murder, even for not murdering an innocent babe; or that my mother might have been my grave;
he wishes he had died in her womb, and had never been brought forth; and so that had been his grave, where he should have been at ease and safety: and her womb [to be] always great [with me];
or, "her womb an everlasting conception" ^F13; his wish was, that she had been always conceiving, or ever big with child of him, but never bring forth; which was a more cruel and unnatural wish than the former concerning the man, the carrier of the tidings of his birth; since this was wishing a perpetual, painful, and intolerable evil to his own mother.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 (Mlwe trh hmxrw) "et ejus uterus, conceptus perpetuus", Munster; "et vulva ejus, conceptio perpetua", Pagninus, "et vulva ejus praegnans perpetuo", Vatablus.

Jeremiah 20:17 In-Context

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.

17 For he did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave, her womb enlarged forever.

18 Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?

Cross References

• 1. S Job 3:16; S Job 10:18-19