Jeremiah 20:12

12 Lord All-Powerful, you test good people; you look deeply into the heart and mind of a person. I have told you my arguments against these people, so let me see you give them the punishment they deserve.

Jeremiah 20:12 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 20:12

But, O Lord, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins
and the heart
That tries the cause of the righteous, and vindicates them, rights their wrongs, and does them justice; being the omniscient God, the seer and searcher of the hearts and reins; who knows the uprightness of their hearts, as well as their ways, and the sincerity of their affections: or that tries the faith and patience of the righteous, their constancy and integrity; and upon trial finds that their affections are real, and their souls sincere; let me see thy vengeance on them;
his enemies and persecutors; he does not seek vengeance himself, but desires it of the Lord; he does not ask to see his vengeance, but the Lord's vengeance on them, what he thought was just and proper to inflict on them; he knew that vengeance belonged to the Lord, and therefore left it with him, and prayed for it from him. The Targum is,

``let me see the vengeance of thy judgments on them;''
for unto thee have I opened my cause;
or "revealed", or "made it manifest" F11; this he did in prayer, at this time, when he laid before the Lord his whole case, and appealed and applied to him for justice, who judgeth righteous persons, and judgeth righteously.
FOOTNOTES:

F11 (ybyr ta ytylg) "revelavi causam meam", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. So Schmidt.

Jeremiah 20:12 In-Context

10 I hear many people whispering about me: "Terror on every side! Tell on him! Let's tell the rulers about him." My friends are all just waiting for me to make some mistake. They are saying, "Maybe we can trick him so we can defeat him and pay him back."
11 But the Lord is with me like a strong warrior, so those who are chasing me will trip and fall; they will not defeat me. They will be ashamed because they have failed, and their shame will never be forgotten.
12 Lord All-Powerful, you test good people; you look deeply into the heart and mind of a person. I have told you my arguments against these people, so let me see you give them the punishment they deserve.
13 Sing to the Lord! He saves the life of the poor from the power of the wicked.
14 Let there be a curse on the day I was born; let there be no blessing on the day when my mother gave birth to me.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.