Jeremiah 20

Jeremiah Beaten by Pashhur

20Pashhur the priest, ^hthe son of Immer ⁱand chief official in the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. ²So Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put him in the stocks ^jat the Upper Benjamin Gate ^kin the Lord’s temple. ³The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call you Pashhur, but Magor-missabib, ^l4for this is what the Lord says, ‘I am about to make you a terror to both yourself and those you love. ^mThey will fall by the sword of their enemies before your very eyes. ⁿI will hand Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will deport them to Babylon and put them to the sword. ⁵I will give away all the wealth ^oof this city, all its products ^pand valuables. Indeed, I will hand all the treasures of the kings of Judah over to their enemies. They will plunder them, seize them, and carry them off to Babylon. ^q6As for you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, you will go into captivity. You will go to Babylon. ^rThere you will die, and there you will be buried, you and all your friends that you prophesied falsely ^sto.’ ”

Jeremiah Compelled to Preach

⁷You deceived ^tme, Lord, and I was deceived.

You seized me and prevailed.

I am a laughingstock all the time; ^u

everyone ridicules me.

⁸For whenever I speak, I cry out,

I proclaim, “Violence and destruction!” ^v

because the word of the Lord has become for me

constant disgrace and derision.

⁹If I say, “I won’t mention Him

or speak any longer in His name,” ^w

His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, ^x

shut up in my bones.

I become tired of holding it in, ^y

and I cannot prevail.

¹⁰For I have heard the gossip of many people,

“Terror is on every side! ^za

Report him; let’s report him!”

Everyone I trusted ^bwatches for my fall. ^c

“Perhaps he will be deceived

so that we might prevail against him

and take our vengeance on him.”

¹¹But the Lord is with me like a violent warrior. ^d

Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.

Since they have not succeeded, they will be utterly shamed,

an everlasting humiliation that will never be forgotten. ^e

¹²Lord of Hosts, testing the righteous

and seeing the heart ^fand mind,

let me see Your vengeance on them,

for I have presented my case to You. ^g

¹³Sing to the Lord!

Praise the Lord,

for He rescues the life of the needy

from the hand of evil people.

Jeremiah’s Lament

¹⁴May the day I was born

be cursed. ^h

May the day my mother bore me

never be blessed.

¹⁵May the man be cursed

who brought the news to my father, saying,

“A male child is born to you,”

bringing him great joy.

¹⁶Let that man be like the cities

the Lord demolished without compassion. ⁱ

Let him hear an outcry in the morning ^j

and a war cry at noontime

¹⁷because he didn’t kill me in the womb ^k

so that my mother might have been my grave,

her womb eternally pregnant.

¹⁸Why did I come out of the womb

to see only struggle and sorrow, ^l

to end my life in shame?