Jeremiah 20

A Message for Pashhur

¹Now Pashhur, the son of Immer, the priest who was officer in charge in the temple of Yahweh, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.

²Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Gate of Benjamin, which was by the temple of Yahweh.

³And then on the next day, when Pashhur brought Jeremiah out from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “Yahweh will not call your name Pashhur, but Terror From All Around.[#Literally “And it was”; #Literally “but if”]

⁴For thus says Yahweh, ‘Look, I am making you a terror to yourself and to all your friends, and they will fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes will be seeing it. And all Judah I will give into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will deport them to Babylon, and he will strike them with the sword.[#Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation]

⁵And I will give all the wealth of this city, and all its acquisitions, and all its precious items, and all of the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies, and they will plunder them, and they will seize them, and they will bring them to Babylon.

⁶And you, Pashhur, and all those who live in your house will go into captivity, and you will go to Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you, and all your friends to whom you have prophesied falsely.’ ”[#Literally “in the lie”]

Jeremiah’s Lament

⁷You have persuaded me, O Yahweh, and I was persuaded.

I have become a laughingstock all day long.

⁸For as often as I speak,[#Literally “from enough”]

I must shout, for the word of Yahweh has become for me

⁹But if I say, “I will not mention him

then it becomes in my heart like a fire burning,

and I struggle to contain it,

¹⁰For I hear the rumor of many,

All my close friends are watchers of my stumbling,

and we can prevail over him,

¹¹But Yahweh is with me like a powerful warrior.

They will be very ashamed, for they will not achieve success.

¹²Yet, O Yahweh of hosts, who tests the righteous,

let me see your retribution upon them,

¹³Sing to Yahweh, praise Yahweh,

¹⁴Cursed be the day on which I was born,

¹⁵Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father,

¹⁶And let that man be like the cities

and let him hear a cry for help in the morning,

¹⁷Because he did not kill me in the womb,

¹⁸Why did I come out from the womb,[#Literally “To what this”]