Jeremiah 20:7–18

Jeremiah Argues With the Lord

⁷Lord, you tricked me, and I was tricked.

You overpowered me and won.

People make fun of me all day long.

Everyone laughs at me.

⁸Every time I speak, I cry out.

All you ever tell me to talk about

is fighting and trouble.

Your message has brought me nothing but dishonor.

It has made me suffer shame all day long.

⁹Sometimes I think, “I won’t talk about him anymore.

I’ll never speak in his name again.”

But then your message burns in my heart.

It’s like a fire inside my very bones.

I’m tired of holding it in.

In fact, I can’t.

¹⁰I hear many people whispering,

“There is terror on every side!

Report Jeremiah! Let’s report him to the authorities!”

All of my friends

are waiting for me to slip.

They are saying, “Perhaps he will be tricked

into making a mistake.

Then we’ll win out over him.

We’ll get even with him.”

¹¹But you are with me like a mighty warrior.

So those who are trying to harm me will trip and fall.

They won’t win out over me.

They will fail. They’ll be totally put to shame.

Their dishonor will never be forgotten.

¹²Lord, you rule over all.

You test those who do what is right.

You see what is in people’s hearts and minds.

So pay them back for what they’ve done.

I’ve committed my cause to you.

¹³Sing to the Lord, you people!

Give praise to him!

He saves the lives of those who are in need.

He saves them from the powerful hands of sinful people.

¹⁴May the day I was born be under a curse!

May the day I was born to my mother not be blessed!

¹⁵May the man who brought my father the news be under a curse!

He’s the one who made my father very glad.

He said, “You have had a baby! It’s a boy!”

¹⁶May that man be like the towns

the Lord destroyed without pity.

May that man hear loud sobs in the morning.

May he hear a battle cry at noon.

¹⁷He should have killed me in my mother’s body.

He should have made my mother my grave.

He should have let her body stay large forever.

¹⁸Why did I ever come out of my mother’s body?

I’ve seen nothing but trouble and sorrow.

My days will end in shame.