JeremiahChapter 20

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¹Pashhur the priest was the son of Immer. He was the chief officer in the house of the LORD. He heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. ²So Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet beaten. He had him locked in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin, by the house of the LORD. ³The next day Pashhur let Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, "The LORD does not call you Pashhur. He calls you Magor-missabib.a ⁴For this is what the LORD says: 'I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will be killed by the sword of their enemies while you watch. I will hand Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will carry them away to Babylon and kill them with the sword. ⁵I will give all the riches of this city to their enemies. I will give away all it makes, all its valuable things, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah. Their enemies will rob them, take them, and carry them off to Babylon. ⁶And you, Pashhur, and everyone who lives in your house will be taken away as captives. You will go to Babylon. There you will die and be buried. So will all your friends to whom you have prophesied these lies.'" ⁷LORD, you fooled me, and I was fooled.
You were stronger than me, and you won.
People laugh at me all day long.
Everyone makes fun of me. ⁸Whenever I speak, I cry out.
I shout, "Violence and destruction!"
For the word of the LORD has brought me
shame and mocking all day long. ⁹But suppose I say, "I won't mention him.
I won't speak in his name anymore."
Then his message becomes like a fire burning in my heart.
It is shut up in my bones.
I am worn out from holding it in.
I can't do it. ¹⁰I have heard many people whispering,
"Terror is on every side!
Report him! Let's report him!"
All my close friends are waiting for me to fall.
They say, "Maybe he will be tricked.
Then we can beat him and get our revenge on him." ¹¹But the LORD is with me like a fearsome warrior.
So those who hurt me will trip and fall.
They will not win.
They have failed,
so they will be put to complete shame.
Their shame will last forever.
It will never be forgotten. ¹²LORD of Hosts, you test those who do what is right.
You see the heart and mind.
Let me see you pay them back,
for I have trusted my case to you. ¹³Sing to the LORD!
Praise the LORD!
For he saves the life of the needy
from the hands of evil people. ¹⁴Cursed be the day I was born!
May the day my mother gave birth to me
never be blessed. ¹⁵Cursed be the man who brought my father the news.
He said, "You have a son!"
It made my father very glad. ¹⁶May that man be like the cities
that the LORD destroyed without mercy.
May he hear screams in the morning
and a battle cry at noon. ¹⁷For he did not kill me before I was born.
Then my mother would have been my grave.
I would have stayed inside her forever. ¹⁸Why was I ever born?
Was it only to see trouble and sorrow,
and to end my life in shame?