Old Testament · Jeremiah

Jeremiah 20

Pashhur Persecutes Jeremiah

1And Pashhur the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer, leader in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these words. 2And Pashhur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of the LORD.

3And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashhur brought Jeremiah out from the stocks. And Jeremiah said to him, the LORD has not called your name Pashhur, but Terror on every side^a. 4For thus says the LORD: Behold, I am making you a terror to yourself, and to all your friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes looking on; and all Judah I will give into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall smite them with the sword. 5And I will give all the wealth of this city, and all its labor, and all its precious things, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies, and they shall plunder them, and take them, and bring them to Babylon. 6And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house shall go into captivity; and you shall come to Babylon, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.

Jeremiah’s Complaint

7You have enticed me, O LORD, and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and have prevailed; I have become a laughingstock all the day, every one mocks me.
8For as often as I speak, I cry out; I call, Violence and spoil! For the word of the LORD has become to me a reproach and a derision all the day.
9And I said, I will not remember him, nor speak any more in his name; but his word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary of holding it in, and I could not.
10For I have heard the slander of many, Terror on every side! Denounce, and we will denounce him! Every man of my peace, watchers of my stumbling: Perhaps he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and take our vengeance on him.
11But the LORD is with me like a mighty terrible warrior; therefore my pursuers shall stumble, and shall not prevail; they shall be greatly ashamed, for they have not prospered, an everlasting disgrace that shall not be forgotten.
12And the LORD of hosts^b, tester of the righteous, seeing the kidneys and the heart, let me see your vengeance on them; for to you I have revealed my cause.
13Sing to the LORD, praise the LORD; for he has delivered the soul^c of the needy from the hand of evildoers.
14Cursed be the day on which I was born; the day my mother bore me, let it not be blessed.
15Cursed be the man^d who brought tidings to my father, saying, A male son is born to you, making him very glad.
16And let that man be like the cities which the LORD overthrew and did not relent; and let him hear an outcry in the morning, and an alarm at the time of noon.
17Because he did not kill me from the womb, and my mother would have been my grave, and her womb forever pregnant.
18Why is this that I came forth from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and that my days are consumed in shame?