Moff JER Chapter 20

◄ JER 20 ► ║ ©

20 Now when Pashhur, the son of the priest Immer, who was in charge of the Eternal’s house, heard Jeremiah making this prophecy, 2 Pashhur struck the prophet Jeremiah and put him in the stocks at the upper Gate of Benjamin, beside the house of the Eternal. 3 Next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Eternal’s name for you is not Pashhur but Terror; 4 for this is what the Eternal says, ‘I will make you a terror both to yourself and to all your friends; they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, while you look on. I will hand over all Judah to the king of Babylon, to be carried off in exile to Babylon and slain by the sword; 5 moreover, I will hand over all the wealth of this city and all its possessions, all the treasures of the kings of Judah, to their enemies, who shall rifle and seize them and bear them off to Babylon. 6 And as for you and your household, Pashhur, you shall be exiled; you shall go to Babylon and die there and be buried there, you and all the friends to whom you have been a false prophet.’ ” * * *

Cursed be the day

when I was born,

unblessed the day

my mother bore me!

Cursed be the man

who told my father,

crying, “A son is born to you!”

and giving him joy.

May that man fare as fared the towns

that the Eternal pitilessly crushed!

May he hear shrieks at dawn,

and the battle-cry at noon,

because he did not stifle me in the womb!

Then would my mother have been my tomb,

and her womb ever big with me.

Why did I ever leave the womb,

only for toil and trouble,

only to wear out my life with shame?

Eternal One, thou didst persuade me,

and I let myself be persuaded!

Thou wast too strong for me;

I had to yield.

Now all day long I am a laughing-stock;

men all deride me.

Whenever I speak, they mock,

and they ill-treat me;

for uttering the Eternal’s word day after day,

I am taunted and insulted.

If I say, “I will not mention it,

I will not speak in his name any more,”

then I feel within me as it were

a fire that burns my very being.

I am tired of this,

so tired I cannot bear it any longer;

at every turn I am in terror,

for I hear many whispering,

“Denounce him! let us denounce him!”

My very friends are on the watch for a false step;

“Perhaps,” they whisper, “he will make a slip;

and then we have him,

then for our revenge!”

Ah, but I have the Eternal on my side,

a dread and doughty champion!

My persecutors shall collapse

and miss their aim;

bitter shall be their shame

over their failure,

a lasting shame to them,

never to be forgotten. * * *

◄ JER 20 ► ║ ©

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