Jeremiah 20

1 Pashhur, the son of Immer, was a priest who supervised the temple guards. He heard those things that I had prophesied.

When Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer and the chief official in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things,

2 [So he arrested me]. Then he [commanded guards to] whip me and fasten my feet in (stocks/a wooden frame) at the Benjamin Gate of Yahweh’s temple.

he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.

3 The next day, when Pashhur released me, I said to him, “Pashhur, Yahweh is giving you a new name. From now on, your name will be ‘Surrounded by Terror’,

The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The LORD does not call you Pashhur, but Magor-missabib.

4 because Yahweh says this [to you]: ‘I will cause you and your friends to be terrified. You will watch them being killed by your enemies’ swords. I will enable the [army of the] king of Babylon to capture the people of Judah. Those soldiers will take some of the people to Babylon, and they will kill others with their swords.

For this is what the LORD says: ‘I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies before your very eyes. And I will hand Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will carry them away to Babylon and put them to the sword.

5 And I will enable their soldiers to take away [other things in] Jerusalem. They will take to Babylon all the very valuable things that belonged to your kings.

I will give away all the wealth of this city—all its products and valuables, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah—to their enemies. They will plunder them, seize them, and carry them off to Babylon.

6 And [as for] you, Pashhur, they will take you and all your family to Babylon. You and your family and all your friends who have prophesied things that are lies will die there and be buried there.’”

And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, will go into captivity. You will go to Babylon, and there you will die and be buried—you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied these lies.’”

7 [One day I said this to Yahweh]: “Yahweh, [when you chose me to be a prophet, ] deceived me, and I allowed you to deceive me. You insisted that I [become a prophet] and you are stronger than I am. And now everyone [HYP] ridicules me. They make fun of me all the day.

You have deceived me, O LORD, and I was deceived. You have overcome me and prevailed. I am a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.

8 When I tell [people your messages], I shout saying, ‘[Yahweh is going to cause you to experience] violence and destruction!’ So because I tell them those messages from you, they insult me and scoff at me all day long.

For whenever I speak, I cry out; I proclaim violence and destruction. For the word of the LORD has become to me a reproach and derision all day long.

9 But if I would say, ‘I will never mention Yahweh or say anything about him, [MTY]’ [it would be as though] your message would burn in my inner being like [SIM] a fire; it would be like a fire in my bones. Sometimes I try to remain silent and not proclaim your messages, but I am not able to do that.

If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of holding it in, and I cannot prevail.

10 I hear many people whispering [about me], saying ‘[He is the man who proclaims that there will be things that cause us to] be terrified everywhere. We must tell [the authorities what he is saying]! We must denounce him!’ [Even] my best friends are waiting for me to say something that is wrong. [They are saying], ‘Perhaps we can cause him to say something wrong, and if he does, we will be able to discredit him.’

For I have heard the whispering of many: “Terror is on every side! Report him; let us report him!” All my trusted friends watch for my fall: “Perhaps he will be deceived so that we may prevail against him and take our vengeance upon him.”

11 But [you], Yahweh, are helping me like [SIM] a strong warrior, so [it is as though] you will cause those who persecute me to stumble, and they will not defeat me. They will be completely disgraced because of being unable to defeat me; and other people will never forget that they were disgraced.

But the LORD is with me like a fearsome warrior. Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and will not prevail. Since they have not succeeded, they will be utterly put to shame, with an everlasting disgrace that will never be forgotten.

12 Commander of the armies of angels, you examine [all] those who are righteous; you know [all that is in] their inner beings and what they think. Allow me to see you getting revenge on those [who want to harm me], because I trust that you will do for me what is right.”

O LORD of Hosts, who examines the righteous, who sees the heart and mind, let me see Your vengeance upon them, for to You I have committed my cause.

13 Sing to Yahweh! Praise Yahweh! He rescues [poor and] needy people, from those [SYN] who are wicked.

Sing to the LORD! Praise the LORD! For He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers.

14 But I hope/desire that the day that I was born will be cursed. I do not want [anyone to] celebrate that day.

Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me never be blessed.

15 And [as for] that man who brought to my father the news, and caused him to be very happy, by saying “[You wife] has given birth to a son for you”, I hope/desire that he [also] will be cursed.

Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, saying, “A son is born to you,” bringing him great joy.

16 Allow him to be destroyed like the cities that Yahweh destroyed [long ago], without acting mercifully [toward them]. Cause that man to hear the people wailing in the morning, and [to hear the enemy soldiers shout their] battle cries at noon.

May that man be like the cities that the LORD overthrew without compassion. May he hear an outcry in the morning and a battle cry at noon,

17 [I want that to happen to him] because he did not kill me before I was born. I wish that I had died in my mother’s womb, and that my mother’s body would have been [like] [MET] my grave.

because he did not kill me in the womb so that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb forever enlarged.

18 I have continually experienced much trouble and sorrow, and I am disgraced now when I am about to die; why was it necessary [RHQ] for me to me born?

Why did I come out of the womb to see only trouble and sorrow, and to end my days in shame?