Jeremiah 20:8

8 For {as often as} I speak, I must cry out violence and destruction. I must shout, for the word of Yahweh has become for me a disgrace and derision all day [long].

Jeremiah 20:8 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 20:8

For since I spake, I cried out
Or, "when I speak, I cry" {a}; whensoever I speak in the name of the Lord, and deliver message from him to the people, I lift up my voice and cry aloud, that all may hear and understand; and as showing zeal, fervour, and diligence: or, "I cry" with grief and trouble at the usage I meet with, and the contempt that is cast upon the word; or because of what I am obliged to declare to them, as follows. The Targum takes in both sense, of the word thus,

``for at the time that I prophesy, I lift up my voice, weeping, and crying.''

I cried violence and spoil:
or, "proclaimed" it ^F2, for a different word is here used; that is, he publicly declared the rapine and oppression they were guilty of, inveighed against it, and reproved them for it; and foretold the violence of the enemy, and the spoil that he should make of them, when he should come upon them, even the king of Babylon; as well as cried out and complained of the injurious treatment he himself met with from them; because the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me, and a
derision daily;
which is a reason either why he cried with grief and sorrow; or why he cried violence and spoil, ruin and destruction: or, "though the word of the Lord was" ^F3, &c; yet he went on publishing and proclaiming it: or, "surely the word of the Lord was made a reproach" ^F4, &c; either because of the matter of it, it not being believed, or the manner in which it was delivered; or because it was not immediately fulfilled.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 (qeza rbda ydm) "quum loquor exclamavi, i.e. loquor exclamans", Gataker.
F2 (arqa) "clamo", Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius; "proclamo", Piscator.
F3 (rbd hyh yk) "quamvis".
F4 "Verum, verbum Domini", so some in Vatablus; "utique", De Dieu, Gataker.

Jeremiah 20:8 In-Context

6 And you, Pashhur, and all [those who] live [in] your house will go into captivity, and you will go [to] Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you, and all your friends to whom you have prophesied {falsely}.'"

7 You have persuaded me, [O] Yahweh, and I was persuaded. You have overpowered me, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day [long]. {Everyone} [is] mocking me.

8 For {as often as} I speak, I must cry out violence and destruction. I must shout, for the word of Yahweh has become for me a disgrace and derision all day [long].

9 But [if] I say, "I will not mention him and I will no longer speak in his name," then it becomes in my heart like a fire burning, locked up in my bones, and I struggle to contain [it], and I am not able.

10 For I hear the rumor of many, "Terror [is] from all around, denounce [him], yes, let us denounce him!" {All my close friends} [are] watchers of my stumbling, [saying], "perhaps he can be persuaded, and we can prevail over him, and we can take our revenge on him."

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "from enough"