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Jeremiah 20

Jeremiah declares God’s judgment despite persecution, then brings his trust, exhaustion, and despair into speech before YHWH.

Pashhur, a chief officer in YHWH’s house, strikes Jeremiah and confines him in stocks after hearing his prophecy. Released the next day, Jeremiah announces that Pashhur and his household will go into captivity in Babylon, where Pashhur will die. Jeremiah then addresses YHWH about the mockery and threats surrounding his work. He cannot hold back God’s word. His prayer moves through confidence and praise before ending with a curse on his birth and a question about his suffering.

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1Now Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in the LORD’s house, 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 in the LORD’s house.
3On the next day, Pashhur released Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, “The LORD has not called your name Pashhur, but Magormissabib.
4For the LORD says, ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes will see it. I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them captive to Babylon, and will kill them with the sword.
5Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all its gains, and all its precious things, yes, I will give all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies. They will make them captives, take them, and carry them to Babylon.
6You, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house will go into captivity. You will come to Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.’”
7LORD, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded. You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day. Everyone mocks me.
8For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, “Violence and destruction!” because the LORD’s word has been made a reproach to me, and a derision, all day.
9If I say that I will not make mention of him, or speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones. I am weary with holding it in. I can’t.
10For I have heard the defaming of many: “Terror on every side! Denounce, and we will denounce him!” say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall. “Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him.”
11But the LORD is with me as an awesome mighty one. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they won’t prevail. They will be utterly disappointed because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which will never be forgotten.
12But the LORD of Armies, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for I have revealed my cause to you.
13Sing to the LORD! Praise the LORD, for he has delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evildoers.
15Cursed is the man who brought news to my father, saying, “A boy is born to you,” making him very glad.
16Let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and didn’t repent. Let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime,
17because he didn’t kill me from the womb. So my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great.
18Why did I come out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Jeremiah 20:11Jeremiah’s confidence rests on YHWH’s presence and strength, even as the surrounding verses expose his distress.
Jeremiah 20:10The threats reach into Jeremiah’s friendships, showing how betrayal compounds the public shame of his prophetic work.
Jeremiah 20:9God’s word burns within Jeremiah when he considers silence, making his calling inseparable from the conflict that exhausts him.
Where this chapter reaches

Psalm shares Jeremiah’s language of surrounding terror and appeals for God to judge persecutors, while Job shares his curse on the day of his birth. Acts also records God’s messengers facing physical punishment and pressure to stop speaking, yet continuing to bear witness.

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After reading the whole chapter

What do you notice about Jeremiah’s praise followed by his curse on the day of his birth?

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How does Jeremiah’s image of fire in his bones shape your understanding of his wish to stop speaking?

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Questions people ask about Jeremiah 20

What does the fire in Jeremiah’s bones mean in Jeremiah 20:9?

The fire describes Jeremiah’s experience when he tries to stop speaking in YHWH’s name. Proclaiming God’s word has brought him ridicule, yet holding it back becomes unbearable. The image expresses the force of the word within him and the strain of a calling that brings public hostility.

Why does Jeremiah curse the day he was born?

Jeremiah connects his birth with a life consumed by labor, sorrow, and shame. His curse expresses anguish so severe that he wishes his life had never begun. These verses follow his praise of YHWH without explaining the shift. The chapter preserves that unresolved tension between confidence in God and despair.

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What the Bible says about doubt →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).