Jeremiah 20:7–18

Jeremiah’s Complaint

7 O 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.

8 For 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.

9 But 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.

10 For 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.”

11 But 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.

12 Yet, 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.

13 aSing to the Lord, praise the Lord!

For He has bdelivered the soul of the needy one

From the hand of evildoers.

14 Cursed be the aday when I was born;

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

15 Cursed be the man who brought the news

To my father, saying,

“A 1ababy boy has been born to you!”

And made him very happy.

16 But 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;

17 Because he did not akill me 1before birth,

So that my mother would have been my grave,

And her womb ever pregnant.

18 Why did I ever come forth from the womb

To alook on trouble and sorrow,

So that my bdays have been spent in cshame?