14 Cursed be the (A)day when I was born;
May the day when my mother gave birth to me not be blessed!
15 Cursed be the man who brought the news
To my father, saying,
“A [a](B)boy has been born to you!”
And made him very happy.
16 But may that man be like the cities
Which the Lord (C)overthrew without [b]relenting,
And may he hear an (D)outcry in the morning
And [c]an alarm for war at noon;
17 Because he did not (E)kill me [d]before birth,
So that my mother would have been my grave,
And her womb forever pregnant.
18 Why did I ever come out of the womb
To (F)look at trouble and sorrow,
So that my (G)days have been spent in (H)shame?

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 20:15 Lit male child
  2. Jeremiah 20:16 Lit being sorry
  3. Jeremiah 20:16 Or a trumpet blast
  4. Jeremiah 20:17 Lit from the womb

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.

Read full chapter