Jeremiah 20 — Legacy Standard Bible

Yahweh Speaks Against Pashhur

20Then 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 ¹^,^bMagor-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 devastationBecause for me the ^bword of Yahweh has ¹resultedIn reproach and derision all day long.⁹But if I say, “I will not ^aremember HimOr speak anymore in His name,”Then in ^bmy heart it becomes like a burning fireShut 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 himAnd 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.¹³^aSing to Yahweh, praise Yahweh!For He has ^bdelivered the soul of the needy oneFrom 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 newsTo my father, saying,“A ¹^,^ababy boy has been born to you!”And made him very glad.¹⁶But let that man be like the citiesWhich Yahweh ^aoverthrew without ¹relenting,And let him hear an ^boutcry in the morningAnd 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 wombTo ^alook on trouble and sorrow,So that my ^bdays have been spent in ^cshame?