Jeremiah 20

1Pashhur son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in the house of Yahweh, heard Jeremiah prophesying these words.

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

3And it happened the next day, when Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks, that Jeremiah said to him, “Yahweh has not called your name Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side.”

4For thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am making you a terror to yourself and to all your loved ones, and they will fall by the sword of their enemies while your eyes look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them away to Babylon and strike them with the sword.

5And I will give all the wealth of this city, all its gains, all its precious things, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies. They will plunder them, take them, and bring them to Babylon.

6And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into captivity; and you will come to Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried—you and all your loved ones, to whom you prophesied falsely.

7You persuaded me, Yahweh, and I was persuaded; you overpowered me and prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.

8For whenever I speak, I cry out; I proclaim, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of Yahweh has become to me a reproach and a derision all day long.

9If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any longer in his name,” then in my heart it is like a burning fire, shut up in my bones; I grow weary of holding it in, and I cannot.

10For I have heard the whispering of many: “Terror on every side!” “Report, and let us report it!” All the men at peace with me are watching for my stumbling: “Perhaps he will be deceived, and we will prevail against him, and we will take our vengeance on him.”

11But Yahweh is with me like a mighty warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble and will not prevail. They will be utterly ashamed, because they have not acted wisely; their everlasting disgrace will not be forgotten.

12But you, O Yahweh of Armies, who test the righteous, who see the kidneys and the heart, let me see your vengeance on them, for to you I have revealed my case.

13Sing to Yahweh; praise Yahweh, for he has delivered the life of the poor 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 who brought my father the news, saying, “A son has been born to you,” making him very glad.

16Let that man be like the cities that Yahweh overthrew without relenting, and let him hear a cry in the morning and a battle shout at the time of noon.

17because he did not kill me from the womb, so that my mother would have been my grave, and her womb forever pregnant.

18Why did I come out from the womb to see trouble and sorrow, and for my days to end in shame?