Jeremiah 20:7–18

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?