Jeremiah 20

Jeremiah and Pashhur

1 When the priest Pashhur son of Immer, the official in charge of the temple of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things,
2 he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin at the LORD’s temple.
3 The next day, when Pashhur released him from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The LORD’s name for you is not Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side.
4 For this is what the LORD says: ‘I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; with your own eyes you will see them fall by the sword of their enemies. I will give all Judah into the hands of the king of Babylon, who will carry them away to Babylon or put them to the sword.
5 I will deliver all the wealth of this city into the hands of their enemies—all its products, all its valuables and all the treasures of the kings of Judah. They will take it away as plunder and carry it off to Babylon.
6 And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into exile to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.’ ”

Jeremiah’s Complaint

7 You deceived[a] me, LORD, and I was deceived[b] ; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me.
8 Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long.
9 But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.
10 I hear many whispering, “Terror on every side! Denounce him! Let’s denounce him!” All my friends are waiting for me to slip, saying, “Perhaps he will be deceived; then we will prevail over him and take our revenge on him.”
11 But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonor will never be forgotten.
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.
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 45

  • 1. S 1 Chronicles 24:14
  • 2. 2 Kings 25:18; Luke 22:52
  • 3. Deuteronomy 25:2-3; S Jeremiah 1:19; Jeremiah 15:15; Jeremiah 37:15; 2 Corinthians 11:24
  • 4. S Job 13:27; Jeremiah 29:26; Acts 16:24; Hebrews 11:36
  • 5. S Job 29:7; Jeremiah 37:13; Jeremiah 38:7; Zechariah 14:10
  • 6. Hosea 1:4
  • 7. S ver 10; S Psalms 31:13
  • 8. Jeremiah 29:21
  • 9. Jeremiah 21:10; Jeremiah 25:9
  • 10. Jeremiah 13:19; Jeremiah 39:9; Jeremiah 52:27
  • 11. S 2 Kings 25:15; Jeremiah 17:3
  • 12. S 2 Kings 20:17
  • 13. S Jeremiah 14:15; Lamentations 2:14
  • 14. S Exodus 5:23; Exodus 22:16
  • 15. Isaiah 8:11; Amos 3:8; 1 Corinthians 9:16
  • 16. Job 12:4
  • 17. S Job 17:2; S Psalms 119:21
  • 18. Jeremiah 6:7; Jeremiah 28:8
  • 19. S 2 Chronicles 36:16; S Jeremiah 6:10
  • 20. Jeremiah 44:16
  • 21. S Psalms 39:3; S Jeremiah 4:19
  • 22. S Job 4:2; S Jeremiah 6:11; Amos 3:8; Job 32:18-20; Acts 4:20
  • 23. Psalms 31:13; Jeremiah 6:25
  • 24. Nehemiah 6:6-13; Isaiah 29:21
  • 25. S Job 19:14; S Jeremiah 13:21; Psalms 41:9
  • 26. S Psalms 57:4; S Jeremiah 18:22; Luke 11:53-54
  • 27. S 1 Kings 19:2
  • 28. S 1 Samuel 18:25; S Jeremiah 11:19
  • 29. Jeremiah 1:8; Romans 8:31
  • 30. Jeremiah 15:15; Jeremiah 17:18
  • 31. S Psalms 129:2; Jeremiah 15:20
  • 32. S Jeremiah 7:19; Jeremiah 23:40
  • 33. S Psalms 7:9; S Jeremiah 17:10
  • 34. Deuteronomy 32:35; S Romans 12:19; Psalms 54:7; Psalms 59:10
  • 35. Psalms 62:8; Jeremiah 11:20
  • 36. S Isaiah 12:6
  • 37. Psalms 34:6; Psalms 35:10
  • 38. S Psalms 97:10
  • 39. S Job 3:8,16; Job 3:3; Jeremiah 15:10
  • 40. S Genesis 19:25
  • 41. S Jeremiah 6:26
  • 42. S Job 3:16; S Job 10:18-19
  • 43. S Job 3:10-11; S Ecclesiastes 4:2
  • 44. S Genesis 3:17; S Job 5:7
  • 45. S 1 Kings 19:4; Psalms 90:9; Psalms 102:3

Footnotes 2

Jeremiah 20 Commentaries

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