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Pashhur Strikes Jeremiah

20 Now Pashhur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord. On the next day Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, The Lord has not called your name Pashhur, but “Magor-missabib.”[a] For thus says the Lord: I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. And they will fall by the sword of their enemies while your eyes will see it. Thus I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them captive into Babylon and will slay them with the sword. Moreover I will deliver all the wealth of this city, and all its produce, and all the precious things; and all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies who will destroy them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon. You, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house will go into captivity; and you will come to Babylon, and there you will die and will be buried there, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.

Jeremiah Dejected

O Lord, You have deceived me and I was deceived;
    You are stronger than I and have prevailed.
I am held in derision daily;
    everyone mocks me.
For each time I speak, I cry out;
    I cry out, “Violence and devastation,”
because to me the word of the Lord has resulted
    in reproach and derision daily.
But if I say, “I will not make mention of Him
    nor speak any more in His name,”
then His word was in my heart
    as a burning fire shut up in my bones;
and I was weary of forbearing it,
    and I could not endure it.
10 For I heard the defaming of many,
    “Terror on every side!
    Denounce him. Yes, denounce him!”
All my familiar friends
    who watch for my fall, say,
“Perhaps he will be enticed
    so that we can prevail against him,
    and we will take our revenge on him.”

11 But the Lord is with me as a dread mighty One.
    Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not prevail.
They will be greatly ashamed, for they will not prosper.
    Their everlasting shame will never be forgotten.
12 But, O Lord of Hosts, who tests the righteous
    and sees the mind and the heart,
let me see Your vengeance on them,
    for to You I have presented my cause.

13 Sing to the Lord,
    praise the Lord.
For He has delivered the soul of the poor
    from the hand of evildoers.

14 Cursed be the day in which I was born.
    Let not the day be blessed in which my mother bore me.
15 Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father,
    saying, “A baby boy has been born to you!”
    and made him very glad.
16 Let that man be as the cities
    which the Lord overthrew and did not relent,
and let him hear the cry in the morning
    and the shout of alarm at noon,
17 because he did not kill me from the womb,
    so that my mother might have been my grave,
    and her womb be always pregnant.
18 Why did I come forth from the womb
    to see trouble and sorrow,
    so that my days are spent in shame?

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 20:3 Or Terror on Every Side.

A Message for Pashhur

20 Now Pashhur, the son of Immer, the priest who was officer in charge in the temple of Yahweh, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Gate of Benjamin, which was by the temple of Yahweh. And then[a] on the next day, when Pashhur brought Jeremiah out from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “Yahweh will not call your name Pashhur, but[b] Terror From All Around. For thus says Yahweh, ‘Look, I am making you a terror to yourself and to all your friends, and they will fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes will be seeing it.[c] And all Judah I will give into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will deport them to Babylon, and he will strike them with the sword. And I will give all the wealth of this city, and all its acquisitions, and all its precious items, and all of the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies, and they will plunder them, and they will seize them, and they will bring them to Babylon. And you, Pashhur, and all those who live in your house will go into captivity, and you will go to Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you, and all your friends to whom you have prophesied falsely.[d]’”

Jeremiah’s Lament

You have persuaded me, O Yahweh, and I was persuaded.
    You have overpowered me, and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day long.
    Everyone[e] is mocking me.
For as often as[f] I speak,
    I must cry out violence and destruction.
I must shout, for the word of Yahweh has become for me
    a disgrace and derision all day long.
But if I say, “I will not mention him
    and I will no longer speak in his name,”
then it becomes in my heart like a fire burning,
    locked up in my bones,
and I struggle to contain it,[g]
    and I am not able.
10 For I hear the rumor of many,
    “Terror is from all around, denounce him,[h]
    yes, let us denounce him!”
All my close friends[i] are watchers of my stumbling,
    saying, “perhaps he can be persuaded,
and we can prevail over him,
    and we can take our revenge on him.”
11 But Yahweh is with me like a powerful warrior.
    Therefore[j] my persecutors will stumble and will not prevail.
They will be very ashamed, for they will not achieve success.
    Their everlasting insult[k] will not be forgotten.
12 Yet, O Yahweh of hosts, who tests the righteous,
    who sees the heart[l] and the mind,[m]
let me see your retribution upon them,
    for to you I have revealed my legal case.
13 Sing to Yahweh, praise Yahweh,
    for he has delivered the life of the poor from the hand of evildoers.
14 Cursed be the day on which I was born,
    let not the day on which my mother gave birth to me be blessed.
15 Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father,
    saying,[n] “A child is born to you, a son!”
    and he made him very glad.
16 And let that man be like the cities
    that Yahweh demolished without regret,
and let him hear a cry for help in the morning,
    and an alarm at the time of noon.
17 Because he did not kill me in the womb,
    so that my mother would have been for me my grave,
    and her womb would be pregnant forever.
18 Why[o] did I come out from the womb,
    to see toil, and sorrow, and to end my days in shame?[p]

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 20:3 Literally “And it was”
  2. Jeremiah 20:3 Literally “but if”
  3. Jeremiah 20:4 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  4. Jeremiah 20:6 Literally “in the lie”
  5. Jeremiah 20:7 Literally “All of him”
  6. Jeremiah 20:8 Literally “from enough”
  7. Jeremiah 20:9 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  8. Jeremiah 20:10 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  9. Jeremiah 20:10 Literally “All the human being of my peace”
  10. Jeremiah 20:11 Literally “Unto thus”
  11. Jeremiah 20:11 Literally “insult of eternity”
  12. Jeremiah 20:12 Literally “kidneys”
  13. Jeremiah 20:12 Literally “heart”
  14. Jeremiah 20:15 Literally “to say”
  15. Jeremiah 20:18 Literally “To what this”
  16. Jeremiah 20:18 Literally “my days will come to an end in shame”