New Heart English Bible

Jeremiah 20

1 Now Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.

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

3 It happened on the next day, that Pashhur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, "The LORD has not called your name 'Pashhur,' but 'Magor-Missabib.'

4 For thus says the LORD, 'Look, I will make you a terror to yourself, and to all your friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it; and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall kill them with the sword.

5 Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all its gains, and all the precious things of it, yes, all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies; and they shall make them a prey, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.

6 You, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house shall go into captivity; and you shall come to Babylon, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.'"

7 LORD, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded. You are stronger than I am, and have prevailed. I have become a laughing-stock all day long; everyone mocks me.

8 For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, "Violence and destruction." because the word of the LORD is made a reproach to me, and a derision, all the day.

9 If I say, "I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name," then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I can't contain it.

10 For 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 shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him."

11 But the LORD is with me as an awesome mighty one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail; they shall be utterly disappointed, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which shall never be forgotten.

12 But, the LORD of hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance on them; for to you have I revealed my cause.

13 Sing to the LORD, praise the LORD; for he has delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evildoers.

14 Cursed is the day in which I was born: do not let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed.

15 Cursed is the man who brought news to my father, saying, A boy is born to you; making him very glad.

16 Let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and did not repent: and let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime;

17 because he did not kill me from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great.

18 Why came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?