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14 Cursed be the (A)day when I was born;
Let the day not be blessed when my mother bore me!
15 Cursed be the man who brought the good news
To my father, saying,
“A [a](B)baby boy has been born to you!”
And made him very glad.
16 But let that man be like the cities
Which Yahweh (C)overthrew without [b]relenting,
And let him hear an (D)outcry in the morning
And a [c]shout of war at noon,
17 Because he did not (E)put me to death from the womb,
So that my mother would have been my grave,
And her womb ever pregnant.
18 Why did I ever come forth from the womb
To (F)look on trouble and sorrow,
So that my (G)days have been spent in (H)shame?

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 20:15 Lit male child
  2. Jeremiah 20:16 Or regret
  3. Jeremiah 20:16 Or trumpet blast

14 Yet I curse the day I was born!
    May no one celebrate the day of my birth.
15 I curse the messenger who told my father,
    “Good news—you have a son!”
16 Let him be destroyed like the cities of old
    that the Lord overthrew without mercy.
Terrify him all day long with battle shouts,
17     because he did not kill me at birth.
Oh, that I had died in my mother’s womb,
    that her body had been my grave!
18 Why was I ever born?
    My entire life has been filled
    with trouble, sorrow, and shame.

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