Jeremiah 20:7–18

Jeremiah’s Complaint

⁷You deceived^ai me, Lord, and I was deceived^b;

you overpowered^j me and prevailed.

I am ridiculed^k all day long;

everyone mocks^l me.

⁸Whenever I speak, I cry out

proclaiming violence and destruction.^m

So the word of the Lord has brought me

insult and reproachⁿ all day long.

⁹But if I say, “I will not mention his word

or speak anymore in his name,”^o

his word is in my heart like a fire,^p

a fire shut up in my bones.

I am weary of holding it in;^q

indeed, I cannot.

¹⁰I hear many whispering,

“Terror^r on every side!

Denounce^s him! Let’s denounce him!”

All my friends^t

are waiting for me to slip,^u saying,

“Perhaps he will be deceived;

then we will prevail^v over him

and take our revenge^w on him.”

¹¹But the Lord^x is with me like a mighty warrior;

so my persecutors^y will stumble and not prevail.^z

They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced;^a

their dishonor will never be forgotten.

¹²Lord Almighty, you who examine the righteous

and probe the heart and mind,^b

let me see your vengeance^c on them,

for to you I have committed^d my cause.

¹³Sing^e to the Lord!

Give praise to the Lord!

He rescues^f the life of the needy

from the hands of the wicked.^g

¹⁴Cursed be the day I was born!^h

May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!

¹⁵Cursed be the man who brought my father the news,

who made him very glad, saying,

“A child is born to you—a son!”

¹⁶May that man be like the townsⁱ

the Lord overthrew without pity.

May he hear wailing^j in the morning,

a battle cry at noon.

¹⁷For he did not kill me in the womb,^k

with my mother as my grave,

her womb enlarged forever.

¹⁸Why did I ever come out of the womb^l

to see trouble^m and sorrow

and to end my days in shame?ⁿ