Jeremiah 20

CHAPTER 20

Yahweh Speaks Against Pashhur

¹Then Pashhur the priest, the son of ^aImmer, who was ^bruling overseer in the house of Yahweh, heard Jeremiah prophesying these words;

²and Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet ^astruck and put him in the ^bstocks that were at the upper ^cBenjamin Gate, which was by the house of Yahweh.

³Now it happened that on the next day, Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks. And Jeremiah said to him, “Pashhur is not the name Yahweh has ^acalled you, but rather ^1bMagor-missabib.

⁴“For thus says Yahweh, ‘Behold, I am going to make you a ^aterror to yourself and to all your friends; and while ^byour eyes look on, they will fall by the sword of their enemies. So I will ^cgive over all Judah to the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will take them away into ^dexile to Babylon and will strike them down with the sword.

⁵‘I will also give over all the ^awealth of this city, all the fruit of its labor, and all its precious things; even all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give over to the ^bhand of their enemies, and they will plunder them, take them away, and bring them to Babylon.

⁶‘And you, ^aPashhur, and all who live in your house will go into captivity; and you will enter Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you and all your ^bfriends to whom you have ^cprophesied lies.’”

Jeremiah Curses the Day He Was Born

⁷O Yahweh, You have enticed me, and I was enticed;

You were ^astronger than I, and You prevailed.

I have become a ^blaughingstock all day long;

Everyone ^cmocks me.

⁸For each time I speak, I cry aloud;

I ^acall out violence and devastation

Because for me the ^bword of Yahweh has ¹resulted

In reproach and derision all day long.

⁹But if I say, “I will not ^aremember Him

Or speak anymore in His name,”

Then in ^bmy heart it becomes like a burning fire

Shut up in my bones;

And I am weary of holding it in,

And ^cI cannot prevail.

¹⁰For ^aI have heard the bad report of many,

“^bTerror on every side!

^cDenounce him; yes, let us denounce him!”

¹All my ^dtrusted friends,

Keeping watch for my fall, say:

“Perhaps he will be ²deceived, so that we may ^eprevail against him

And take our revenge on him.”

¹¹But ^aYahweh is with me like a ruthless mighty one;

Therefore my ^bpersecutors will stumble and not prevail.

They will be utterly ashamed, because they have not prospered,

With an ^ceverlasting dishonor that will not be forgotten.

¹²Yet, O Yahweh of hosts, You who ^atest the righteous,

Who see the ¹mind and the heart;

Let me ^bsee Your vengeance on them,

For ^cto You I have revealed my cause.

^13aSing to Yahweh, praise Yahweh!

For He has ^bdelivered the soul of the needy one

From the hand of evildoers.

¹⁴Cursed be the ^aday when I was born;

Let the day not be blessed when my mother bore me!

¹⁵Cursed be the man who brought the good news

To my father, saying,

“A ^1ababy boy has been born to you!”

And made him very glad.

¹⁶But let that man be like the cities

Which Yahweh ^aoverthrew without ¹relenting,

And let him hear an ^boutcry in the morning

And a ²shout of war at noon,

¹⁷Because he did not ^aput me to death from the womb,

So that my mother would have been my grave,

And her womb ever pregnant.

¹⁸Why did I ever come forth from the womb

To ^alook on trouble and sorrow,

So that my ^bdays have been spent in ^cshame?