Jeremiah 20

New American Standard Bible

Pashhur Persecutes Jeremiah

20 When Pashhur the priest, the son of ^(A)Immer, who was ^(B)chief overseer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, ²Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet ^(C)beaten and put him in the ^(D)stocks that were at the upper ^(E)Benjamin Gate, which was by the house of the Lord. ³Then on the next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “Pashhur is not the name the Lord has ^(F)called you, but rather ^[a]^(G)Magor-missabib. ⁴For this is what the Lord says: ‘Behold, I am going to make you a ^(H)horror to yourself and to all your friends; and while ^(I)your eyes look on, they will fall by the sword of their enemies. So I will ^(J)hand all Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will take them away as ^(K)exiles to Babylon and will kill them with the sword. ⁵I will also give all the ^(L)wealth of this city, all its produce and all its valuable things—even all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will ^(M)hand over to their enemies, and they will plunder them, take them away, and bring them to Babylon. ⁶And you, ^(N)Pashhur, 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 ^(O)friends to whom you have ^(P)falsely prophesied.’”

Jeremiah’s Complaint

⁷Lord, You persuaded me and I let myself be persuaded;
You have ^(Q)overcome me and prevailed.
I have become a ^(R)laughingstock all day long;
Everyone ^(S)mocks me.
⁸For each time I speak, I cry aloud;
I ^(T)proclaim violence and destruction,
Because for me the ^(U)word of the Lord has ^[b]resulted
In taunting and derision all day long.
⁹But if I say, “I will not ^(V)remember Him
Nor speak anymore in His name,”
Then in ^(W)my heart it becomes like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
And I am tired of holding it in,
And ^(X)I cannot endure it.
¹⁰For ^(Y)I have heard the whispering of many,
“^(Z)Terror on every side!
^(AA)Denounce him; let’s denounce him!”
^[c]All my ^(AB)trusted friends,
Watching for my fall, say:
“Perhaps he will be persuaded, so that we may ^(AC)prevail against him
And take our revenge on him.”
¹¹But the ^(AD)Lord is with me like a powerful champion;
Therefore my ^(AE)persecutors will stumble and not prevail.
They will be put to great shame because they have ^[d]failed,
An ^(AF)everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten.
¹²Yet, Lord of armies, who ^(AG)tests the righteous,
Who sees the ^[e]mind and the heart;
Let me ^(AH)see Your vengeance on them,
For ^(AI)to You I have disclosed my cause.
¹³^(AJ)Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord!
For He has ^(AK)saved the soul of the needy one
From the hand of evildoers.

¹⁴Cursed be the ^(AL)day when I was born;
May the day when my mother gave birth to me not be blessed!
¹⁵Cursed be the man who brought the news
To my father, saying,
“A ^[f]^(AM)boy has been born to you!”
And made him very happy.
¹⁶But may that man be like the cities
Which the Lord ^(AN)overthrew without ^[g]relenting,
And may he hear an ^(AO)outcry in the morning
And ^[h]an alarm for war at noon;
¹⁷Because he did not ^(AP)kill me ^[i]before birth,
So that my mother would have been my grave,
And her womb forever pregnant.
¹⁸Why did I ever come out of the womb
To ^(AQ)look at trouble and sorrow,
So that my ^(AR)days have been spent in ^(AS)shame?