Jeremiah 20

Jeremiah Beaten by Pashhur

¹Pashhur the priest, ^a the son of Immer ^b and chief official in the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. ²So Pashhur had the prophet Jeremiah beaten and put him in the stocks ^c at the Upper Benjamin Gate ^d in the Lord’s temple. ³The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call you Pashhur, but Terror Is on Every Side, ^{e 4}for this is what the Lord says, ‘I am about to make you a terror to both yourself and those you love. ^f They will fall by the sword of their enemies before your very eyes. ^g I will hand Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will deport them to Babylon and put them to the sword. ⁵I will give away all the wealth ^h of this city, all its products ⁱ and valuables. Indeed, I will hand all the treasures of the kings of Judah over to their enemies. They will plunder them, seize them, and carry them off to Babylon. ^{j 6}As for you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, you will go into captivity. You will go to Babylon. ^k There you will die, and there you will be buried, you and all your friends to whom you prophesied lies.’ ” ^l

Jeremiah Compelled to Preach

⁷You deceived ^m me, Lord, and I was deceived.

You seized me and prevailed.

I am a laughingstock all the time; ⁿ

everyone ridicules me.

⁸For whenever I speak, I cry out,

I proclaim, “Violence and destruction! ” ^o

so the word of the Lord has become my

constant disgrace and derision.

⁹I say, “I won’t mention him

or speak any longer in his name.” ^p

But his message becomes a fire burning in my heart, ^q

shut up in my bones.

I become tired of holding it in, ^r

and I cannot prevail.

¹⁰For I have heard the gossip of many people,

“Terror is on every side! ^s

Report him; let’s report him! ”

Everyone I trusted ^t watches for my fall. ^u

“Perhaps he will be deceived

so that we might prevail against him

and take our vengeance on him.”

¹¹But the Lord is with me like a violent warrior. ^v

Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.

Since they have not succeeded, they will be utterly shamed,

an everlasting humiliation that will never be forgotten. ^w

¹²Lord of Armies, testing the righteous

and seeing the heart ^x and mind,

let me see your vengeance on them,

for I have presented my case to you. ^y

¹³Sing to the Lord!

Praise the Lord,

for he rescues the life of the needy

from evil people.

Jeremiah’s Lament

¹⁴May the day I was born

be cursed. ^z

May the day my mother bore me

never be blessed.

¹⁵May the man be cursed

who brought the news to my father, saying,

“A male child is born to you,”

bringing him great joy.

¹⁶Let that man be like the cities

the Lord demolished without compassion. ^aa

Let him hear an outcry in the morning ^ab

and a war cry at noontime

¹⁷because he didn’t kill me in the womb ^ac

so that my mother might have been my grave,

her womb eternally pregnant.

¹⁸Why did I come out of the womb

to see only struggle and sorrow, ^ad

to end my life in shame?