Jeremiah 20:14-18
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
14 Cursed be the day
on which I was born!
The day when my mother bore me,
let it not be blessed!(A)
15 Cursed be the man
who brought the news to my father, saying,
“A child is born to you, a son,”
making him very glad.(B)
16 Let that man be like the cities
that the Lord overthrew without pity;
let him hear a cry in the morning
and an alarm at noon,(C)
17 because he did not kill me in the womb;
so my mother would have been my grave
and her womb forever pregnant.(D)
18 Why did I come forth from the womb
to see toil and sorrow
and spend my days in shame?(E)
Jeremiah 20:14-18
Common English Bible
14 Cursed be the day that I was born.
May the day my mother gave birth to me not be blessed.
15 Cursed be the one
who delivered the news to my father,
“You have a son!”—
filling him with joy.
16 May the bearer of that news be like the cities
that the Lord destroyed without mercy.
May he hear screams in the morning,
and the battle cries at noon,
17 because he didn’t kill me in the womb
and let my mother become my grave,
her womb pregnant forever.
18 Why was I ever born
when all I see is suffering and misery,
and my days are filled with shame?
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible