Jeremiah 20:7–18

Jeremiah’s Complaint

⁷O Lord, You have deceived me and I was deceived;

You have ^aovercome me and prevailed.

I have become a ^blaughingstock all day long;

Everyone ^cmocks me.

⁸For each time I speak, I cry aloud;

I ^aproclaim violence and destruction,

Because for me the ^bword of the Lord 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 endure it.

¹⁰For ^aI have heard the whispering of many,

“^bTerror on every side!

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

¹All my ^dtrusted friends,

Watching for my fall, say:

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

And take our revenge on him.”

¹¹But the ^aLord is with me like a dread champion;

Therefore my ^bpersecutors will stumble and not prevail.

They will be utterly ashamed, because they have ¹failed,

With an ^ceverlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten.

¹²Yet, O Lord 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 set forth my cause.

^13aSing to the Lord, praise the Lord!

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 news

To my father, saying,

“A ^1ababy boy has been born to you!”

And made him very happy.

¹⁶But let that man be like the cities

Which the Lord ^aoverthrew without ¹relenting,

And let him hear an ^boutcry in the morning

And a ²shout of alarm at noon;

¹⁷Because he did not ^akill me ¹before birth,

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?