King James Version
Jeremiah 20
18 verses with commentary
Jeremiah and Pashhur
Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse introduces Pashur son of Immer, identified as 'priest' (kohen, כֹּהֵן) and 'chief governor in the house of the LORD' (paqid nagid, פָּקִיד נָגִיד). The title indicates Pashur held high authority over temple administration and security—essentially the chief temple police. The phrase 'heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things' connects to chapter 19, where Jeremiah proclaimed Jerusalem'...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
XX.
(1) **Pashur the son of Immer.**—The description must be remembered as distinguishing him from the son of Melchiah of the same name in Jeremiah 21:1. We may probably identify him with the father of the Gedaliah named in Jeremiah 38:1 as among the “princes” that at a later date opposed the prophet’s work, and with the section of the priesthood, the sixteenth, named in 1Chronicles 24:14, as head...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
7. Sample of His not being "discouraged" (Is 42:4; 49:5).
**set ... face like ... flint--**set Myself resolutely, not to be daunted from My work of love by shame or suffering (Eze 3:8, 9).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 20
The doom of Pashur, who ill-treated the prophet. (Jr 20:1-6) Jeremiah complains of hard usage. (Jr 20:7-13) He regrets his ever having been born. (Jr 20:14-18)
**Verses 1-6** Pashur smote Jeremiah, and put him in the stocks. Jeremiah was silent till God put a word into his mouth. To confirm this, Pashur has a name given him, "Fear on every side." It speaks a man not only in distre...
Read full commentary →Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.
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KJV Study Commentary
Pashur's response to Jeremiah was violent: 'smote' (nakah, נָכָה—struck, beat) and 'put him in the stocks' (mahpeket, מַהְפֶּכֶת). The Hebrew word for stocks refers to a torture device that twisted the body into painful contorted positions—not mere confinement but intentional infliction of pain and humiliation. The location 'in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD' made th...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet.**—It is the first time that he has been so described, the office to which he was called being apparently named to emphasise the outrage which had been inflicted on him. Other prophets had, under Ahab or Manasseh, been slain with the sword, but none, so far as we know (with the one exception of Hanani the seer in 2Chronicles 16:10), had ever before been...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
8. (Is 49:4). The believer, by virtue of his oneness with Christ, uses the same language (Psa 138:8; Ro 8:32-34). But "justify" in His case, is God's judicial acceptance and vindication of Him on the ground of His own righteousness (Lu 23:44-47; Ro 1:4; 1Ti 3:16, with which compare 1Pe 3:18); in their case, on the ground of His righteousness and meritorious death imputed to them (Ro 5:19).
**sta...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 20
The doom of Pashur, who ill-treated the prophet. (Jr 20:1-6) Jeremiah complains of hard usage. (Jr 20:7-13) He regrets his ever having been born. (Jr 20:14-18)
**Verses 1-6** Pashur smote Jeremiah, and put him in the stocks. Jeremiah was silent till God put a word into his mouth. To confirm this, Pashur has a name given him, "Fear on every side." It speaks a man not only in distre...
Read full commentary →And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magormissabib. Magormissabib: that is, Fear round about
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KJV Study Commentary
When released from stocks the next morning, Jeremiah immediately prophesies judgment on Pashur. The name change from Pashur to 'Magor-missabib' (מָגוֹר מִסָּבִיב, literally 'terror on every side' or 'fear all around') functions as prophetic indictment and prediction. In Hebrew culture, names carried significance—changing someone's name declared their true identity or fate. This new name prophesied...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **Magor-missabib.**—The words are a quotation from Psalm 31:13, and are rightly rendered, “Fear is round about;” they had already been used by the prophet in Jeremiah 6:25. We may venture to think that the Psalm had been his comfort in those night-watches of suffering, and that he now uttered the words which described the bitterness of the Psalmist’s sorrow, as at last feeling sure that they b...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9. (Compare "deal," or "proper," Is 52:13, Margin; Is 53:10; Psa 118:6; Jr 23:5).
**as a garment--**(Is 51:6, 8; Psa 102:26). A leading constituent of wealth in the East is change of raiment, which is always liable to the inroads of the moth; hence the frequency of the image in Scripture.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 20
The doom of Pashur, who ill-treated the prophet. (Jr 20:1-6) Jeremiah complains of hard usage. (Jr 20:7-13) He regrets his ever having been born. (Jr 20:14-18)
**Verses 1-6** Pashur smote Jeremiah, and put him in the stocks. Jeremiah was silent till God put a word into his mouth. To confirm this, Pashur has a name given him, "Fear on every side." It speaks a man not only in distre...
Read full commentary →For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword.
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KJV Study Commentary
God's judgment on Pashur is comprehensive and ironic. The phrase 'I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends' reveals that Pashur's name (Magor-missabib, 'terror on every side') will be fulfilled personally—he will experience the very fear he should have felt when opposing God's word. The Hebrew 'terror' (magor, מָגוֹר) speaks of dread and horror. Instead of being a source of sec...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends.**—We should have looked for a different explanation, indicating that terrors from without should gather round the cruel and relentless persecutor, but the prophet’s words go deeper. He should be an object of self-loathing, outer fears intensifying his inward terror and acting through him on others. He is the centre from which terr...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
10. Messiah exhorts the godly after His example (Is 49:4, 5; 42:4) when in circumstances of trial ("darkness," Is 47:5), to trust in the arm of Jehovah alone.
**Who is, &c.--**that is, Whosoever (Jud 7:3).
**obeyeth ... servant--**namely, Messiah. The godly "honor the Son, even as they honor the Father" (Joh 5:23).
**darkness--**(Mi 7:8, 9). God never had a son who was not sometimes in t...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 20
The doom of Pashur, who ill-treated the prophet. (Jr 20:1-6) Jeremiah complains of hard usage. (Jr 20:7-13) He regrets his ever having been born. (Jr 20:14-18)
**Verses 1-6** Pashur smote Jeremiah, and put him in the stocks. Jeremiah was silent till God put a word into his mouth. To confirm this, Pashur has a name given him, "Fear on every side." It speaks a man not only in distre...
Read full commentary →Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labours thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse expands the prophecy's scope from Pashur personally to all Jerusalem. The phrase 'all the strength of this city' (kol-yegia, כָּל־יְגִיעַ) refers to the wealth, resources, and labor accumulated in Jerusalem—everything built, created, and stored. 'All the labours thereof' emphasizes the work invested in the city's prosperity. 'All the precious things' (kol-yiqar, כָּל־יְקָר) includes tre...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **All the strength.**—i.e., the treasure or “substance” of the city.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
11. In contrast to the godly (Is 50:10), the wicked, in times of darkness, instead of trusting in God, trust in themselves (kindle a light for themselves to walk by) (Ec 11:9). The image is continued from Is 50:10, "darkness"; human devices for salvation (Pr 19:21; 16:9, 25) are like the spark that goes out in an instant in darkness (compare Job 18:6; 21:17, with Psa 18:28).
**sparks--**not a st...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 20
The doom of Pashur, who ill-treated the prophet. (Jr 20:1-6) Jeremiah complains of hard usage. (Jr 20:7-13) He regrets his ever having been born. (Jr 20:14-18)
**Verses 1-6** Pashur smote Jeremiah, and put him in the stocks. Jeremiah was silent till God put a word into his mouth. To confirm this, Pashur has a name given him, "Fear on every side." It speaks a man not only in distre...
Read full commentary →And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.
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KJV Study Commentary
The judgment returns to Pashur personally with devastating specificity. The pronoun 'thou' (atah, אַתָּה) is emphatic—Pashur himself, not just others. 'All that dwell in thine house' extends judgment to his household, reflecting ancient corporate solidarity and the far-reaching effects of sin. The phrase 'shall go into captivity' (yavo bashshevi, יָבוֹא בַּשֶּׁבִי) describes forced deportation. Th...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **Thou shalt come to Babylon . . .**—The sons of Immer, the section of priests to which Pashur belonged, were found in large numbers at Babylon (Ezra 2:37-38), and it lies in the nature of the case that he, as a high official, would be among the captives when Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile all but the “poorer sort of the people of the land.”
**To whom thou hast prophesied lies.**—The specia...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 20
The doom of Pashur, who ill-treated the prophet. (Jr 20:1-6) Jeremiah complains of hard usage. (Jr 20:7-13) He regrets his ever having been born. (Jr 20:14-18)
**Verses 1-6** Pashur smote Jeremiah, and put him in the stocks. Jeremiah was silent till God put a word into his mouth. To confirm this, Pashur has a name given him, "Fear on every side." It speaks a man not only in distre...
Read full commentary →Jeremiah's Complaint
O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me. was deceived: or, was enticed
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KJV Study Commentary
This startling verse opens Jeremiah's most anguished confession, where the prophet accuses God of deceiving him into prophetic ministry. The Hebrew <em>pathah</em> (פָּתָה) can mean 'enticed,' 'persuaded,' or 'deceived'—the same word used for seduction. Jeremiah feels God overpowered him, and now he suffers mockery and derision daily for proclaiming God's word.<br><br>This raw honesty reveals the ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **O Lord, thou hast deceived me.**—There is an obvious break between Jeremiah 20:6-7. The narrative ends, and a psalm of passionate complaint begins. Its position probably indicates that the compiler of the prophecies in their present form looked on the complaints as belonging to this period of the prophet’s work, representing the thoughts of that night of shame which was, as it were, the extr...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 51 Is 51:1-23. Encouragement to the Faithful Remnant of Israel to Trust in God for Deliverance, Both from Their Long Babylonian Exile, and from Their Present Dispersion.
**1. me--**the God of your fathers.
**ye ... follow after righteousness--**the godly portion of the nation; Is 51:7 shows this (Pr 15:9; 1Ti 6:11). "Ye follow righteousness," seek it therefore from Me, who "bring it nea...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-13** The prophet complains of the insult and injury he experienced. But Jr 20:7 may be read, Thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded. Thou wast stronger than I; and didst overpower me by the influence of thy Spirit upon me. So long as we see ourselves in the way of God, and of duty, it is weakness and folly, when we meet with difficulties and discouragements, to wish we had never se...
Read full commentary →For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
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KJV Study Commentary
Jeremiah explains why his prophetic ministry has become such a burden—every time he speaks God's word, he must proclaim 'violence and spoil,' announcing coming judgment. The Hebrew construction emphasizes continual action: he keeps crying out, keeps proclaiming destruction. This relentless negative message has made him a laughingstock; 'the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a deris...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **I cried out, I cried.**—The two Hebrew words are not, as in the English, alike, the first being the cry of complaint, the second of protest: *When I speak *(the tense implies from the beginning of his work till now), *I complain; I call out *(*against*)* violence and spoil. *They had formed the burden of his discourses, he had borne his witness against them, and yet “the word of Jehovah” so ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. alone--**translate, "I called him when he was but one" (Eze 33:24). The argument is: the same God who had so blessed "one" individual, as to become a mighty nation (Ge 12:1; 22:7), can also increase and bless the small remnant of Israel, both that left in the Babylonish captivity, and that left in the present and latter days (Zec 14:2); "the residue" (Is 13:8, 9).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-13** The prophet complains of the insult and injury he experienced. But Jr 20:7 may be read, Thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded. Thou wast stronger than I; and didst overpower me by the influence of thy Spirit upon me. So long as we see ourselves in the way of God, and of duty, it is weakness and folly, when we meet with difficulties and discouragements, to wish we had never se...
Read full commentary →Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse captures Jeremiah's internal struggle with his prophetic calling. 'Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name' reveals the prophet's decision to quit—to stop prophesying and cease representing Yahweh. The persecution, rejection, and mockery (vv. 7-8) had become unbearable. Jeremiah resolves to remain silent. 'But his word was in mine heart as a burning f...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **Then I said . . .**—The sense of a hopeless work, destined to fail, weighed on the prophet’s soul, and he would fain have withdrawn from it; but *it *(the words in italics, though they do not spoil the sense, are hardly needed) burnt like fire within him, and would not be restrained.
**I could not stay.**—Better, *I prevailed not. *Here again the interpolated word is needless, and in part sp...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. For--**See for the argument, see on Is 51:2.
**the garden of the Lord--**restoration of the primeval paradise (Ge 2:8; Eze 28:13; Re 2:7).
**melody--**Hebrew, "psalm." God's praises shall again be heard.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-13** The prophet complains of the insult and injury he experienced. But Jr 20:7 may be read, Thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded. Thou wast stronger than I; and didst overpower me by the influence of thy Spirit upon me. So long as we see ourselves in the way of God, and of duty, it is weakness and folly, when we meet with difficulties and discouragements, to wish we had never se...
Read full commentary →For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting , saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him. All: Heb. Every man of my peace
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse shifts from Pashur's persecution (vv. 1-6) to Jeremiah's lament, revealing the prophet's inner turmoil. The phrase 'I heard the defaming of many' (dibbat rabbim, דִּבַּת רַבִּים) describes widespread slander and false accusation. 'Fear on every side' (magor missabib, מָגוֹר מִסָּבִיב) ironically repeats the very name Jeremiah gave Pashur (v. 3)—now Jeremiah himself experiences the terro...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **The defaming of many.**—Another quotation from the Psalms (Psalm 31:13), where the Authorised Version has “the slander of many.”
**Fear on every side.**—The *Magor-missabib *still rings in the prophet’s ears, and, for himself as for others, is the burden of his cry. It may be noted that this also comes from the same verse of the psalm just quoted.
**Report, say they, and we will report it.*...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. my people--**the Jews. This reading is better than that of Gesenius: "O peoples ... nations," namely, the Gentiles. The Jews are called on to hear and rejoice in the extension of the true religion to the nations; for, at the first preaching of the Gospel, as in the final age to come, it was from Jerusalem that the gospel law was, and is, to go forth (Is 2:3).
**law ... judgment--**the gospe...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-13** The prophet complains of the insult and injury he experienced. But Jr 20:7 may be read, Thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded. Thou wast stronger than I; and didst overpower me by the influence of thy Spirit upon me. So long as we see ourselves in the way of God, and of duty, it is weakness and folly, when we meet with difficulties and discouragements, to wish we had never se...
Read full commentary →But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
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KJV Study Commentary
After expressing his anguish (vv. 7-10), Jeremiah pivots to confident trust in God's presence and power. The phrase 'mighty terrible one' (<em>gibbor arits</em>, גִּבּוֹר עָרִיץ) depicts God as a warrior-champion, fearsome and invincible. The prophet declares that his persecutors will stumble and fail because the LORD fights for him. This theological certainty—that God's purposes cannot be thwarte...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **But the Lord is with me.**—As in Psalms 22 and other like utterances, the prophet, though perplexed. is yet not in despair (2Corinthians 4:8). He passes through the deep waters, but struggles out of them to the rock of refuge. The word “terrible” was used with a special significance. Jehovah had promised to deliver the prophet from the “terrible” ones (Jeremiah 15:21). He, the mighty God (I...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. righteousness ... near--**that is, faithful fulfilment of the promised deliverance, answering to "salvation" in the parallel clause (Is 46:13; 56:1; Ro 10:8, 9). Ye follow after "righteousness"; seek it therefore, from Me, and you will not have far to go for it (Is 51:1).
**arms--**put for Himself; I by My might.
**judge--**(Is 2:3, 4; Psa 98:9).
**isles, &c.--**(Is 60:9).
**arm--...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-13** The prophet complains of the insult and injury he experienced. But Jr 20:7 may be read, Thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded. Thou wast stronger than I; and didst overpower me by the influence of thy Spirit upon me. So long as we see ourselves in the way of God, and of duty, it is weakness and folly, when we meet with difficulties and discouragements, to wish we had never se...
Read full commentary →But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I opened my cause.
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KJV Study Commentary
Jeremiah appeals to God as the righteous judge who tests hearts and minds (<em>bochen tsaddiq roeh kelayot valev</em>—'tests the righteous, sees kidneys and heart'). In Hebrew anthropology, the kidneys and heart represent the innermost being—emotions, desires, and will. The prophet asks God to vindicate him by executing vengeance on his persecutors, for he has committed his cause entirely to the L...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **But, O Lord of hosts . . .**—The verse is almost verbally identical with Jeremiah 11:20, where see Note.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
6. (Is 40:6, 8; Psa 102:26; He 1:11, 12).
**vanish away--**literally, "shall be torn asunder," as a garment [Maurer]; which accords with the context.
**in like manner--**But Gesenius, "Like a gnat"; like the smallest and vilest insect. Jerome translates, as English Version, and infers that "in like manner" as man, the heavens (that is, the sky) and earth are not to be annihilated, but changed ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-13** The prophet complains of the insult and injury he experienced. But Jr 20:7 may be read, Thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded. Thou wast stronger than I; and didst overpower me by the influence of thy Spirit upon me. So long as we see ourselves in the way of God, and of duty, it is weakness and folly, when we meet with difficulties and discouragements, to wish we had never se...
Read full commentary →Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.
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KJV Study Commentary
This sudden shift from lament and imprecation to praise is theologically profound. Jeremiah, still in the midst of suffering, calls himself and others to worship because 'he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.' This is praise based not on changed circumstances but on unchanging theological truth—God is faithful to deliver His people.<br><br>The prophet's movement from c...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **Sing unto the Lord . . .**—It was as though heaviness had endured for a night, and joy had come in the morning. As with so many of the Psalms (Psalm 22:22 is, perhaps, the most striking parallel), what began in a cry *De profundis *ends in a Hallelujah.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. know righteousness--**(See on Is 51:1).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-13** The prophet complains of the insult and injury he experienced. But Jr 20:7 may be read, Thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded. Thou wast stronger than I; and didst overpower me by the influence of thy Spirit upon me. So long as we see ourselves in the way of God, and of duty, it is weakness and folly, when we meet with difficulties and discouragements, to wish we had never se...
Read full commentary →Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse begins one of Scripture's most shocking passages—Jeremiah cursing the day of his birth. The intensity is stark: 'Cursed be the day wherein I was born' (arur hayom, אָרוּר הַיּוֹם). This is covenant curse language (Deuteronomy 27-28) applied to his own birth. The parallel negative command 'let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed' (barukh, בָּרוּךְ) continues the curse. This ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **Cursed be the day wherein I was born . . .**—The apparent strangeness of this relapse from the confidence of the two previous verses into a despair yet deeper than before is best explained by the supposition that it is in no sense part of the same poem or meditation, but a distinct fragment belonging to the same period, and placed in its present position by Jeremiah himself, or by the first...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
8. (See on Is 50:9; Job 4:18-20). Not that the moth eats men up, but they shall be destroyed by as insignificant instrumentality as the moth that eats a garment.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 14-18** When grace has the victory, it is good to be ashamed of our folly, to admire the goodness of God, and be warned to guard our spirits another time. See how strong the temptation was, over which the prophet got the victory by Divine assistance! He is angry that his first breath was not his last. While we remember that these wishes are not recorded for us to utter the like, we may le...
Read full commentary →Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad.
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KJV Study Commentary
Jeremiah extends his curse from the day to the messenger: 'Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father.' In ancient culture, announcing a son's birth (especially a male heir) was joyous occasion deserving reward. Jeremiah curses this messenger for bringing news that brought his father gladness ('making him very glad,' same'ach, שָׂמֵחַ). The irrationality here is deliberate—the messenger di...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **Making him very glad.**—The memory, or rather the thought of that day, the joy of father and another when their child was born (John 16:21) was wanted, as in the irony of destiny, to add the keenest pang to the misery of the present. The “sorrow’s crown of sorrow” was found in remembering happier days. We note the same tenderness turned to bitterness as in Jeremiah 15:10. The day of his bir...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9. Impassioned prayer of the exiled Jews.
**ancient days--**(Psa 44:1).
**Rahab--**poetical name for Egypt (see on Is 30:7).
**dragon--**Hebrew, tannin. The crocodile, an emblem of Egypt, as represented on coins struck after the conquest of Egypt by Augustus; or rather here, "its king," Pharaoh (see on Is 27:1; Psa 74:13, 14; Eze 32:2, Margin; Eze 29:3).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 14-18** When grace has the victory, it is good to be ashamed of our folly, to admire the goodness of God, and be warned to guard our spirits another time. See how strong the temptation was, over which the prophet got the victory by Divine assistance! He is angry that his first breath was not his last. While we remember that these wishes are not recorded for us to utter the like, we may le...
Read full commentary →And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide ;
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KJV Study Commentary
Jeremiah's lament continues with another hyperbolic curse: 'let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and repented not.' This clearly references Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24-25), paradigmatic examples of divine judgment. The phrase 'and repented not' (lo nicham, לֹא נִחָם) emphasizes the finality and irrevocability of that judgment—God did not relent or change His mind. The vivi...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **The cities which the Lord overthrew.**—The verb is the same as that used in Genesis 19:29, and the reference is clearly to the “cities of the plain,” whose destruction is there described. The reference to them in Deuteronomy 32:32; Isaiah 1:9-10, shows that they had already become familiar to men as the great representative instances both of evil and its punishment.
**The cry . . . the shou...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. it--**the arm.
**Art not Thou the same Almighty power that ... ? dried the sea--**the Red Sea (Is 43:16; Ex 14:21).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 14-18** When grace has the victory, it is good to be ashamed of our folly, to admire the goodness of God, and be warned to guard our spirits another time. See how strong the temptation was, over which the prophet got the victory by Divine assistance! He is angry that his first breath was not his last. While we remember that these wishes are not recorded for us to utter the like, we may le...
Read full commentary →Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.
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KJV Study Commentary
Jeremiah now expresses his wish that death had occurred in the womb: 'Because he slew me not from the womb.' The verb 'slew' (mot, מוֹת) is stark—he wishes the messenger had announced his stillbirth rather than live birth. The parallel phrase 'or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me' (perpetually pregnant) is anatomically impossible but poetically powerf...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **Because he slew me not . . .**—The wish that he had never been born is uttered by the prophet in strange, bold language. It would have been better that the messenger that told that he was born had slain him before his birth, that his mother’s womb had been his grave, that she had never had strength to bring him forth. Thought, structure, even grammar are, in their abruptness and irregularit...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
11. (Is 35:10).
**Therefore--**assurance of faith; or else the answer of Jehovah corresponding to their prayer. As surely as God redeemed Israel out of Egypt, He shall redeem them from Babylon, both the literal in the age following, and mystical in the last ages (Re 18:20, 21). There shall be a second exodus (Is 11:11-16; 27:12, 13).
**singing--**image from the custom of singing on a journey w...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 14-18** When grace has the victory, it is good to be ashamed of our folly, to admire the goodness of God, and be warned to guard our spirits another time. See how strong the temptation was, over which the prophet got the victory by Divine assistance! He is angry that his first breath was not his last. While we remember that these wishes are not recorded for us to utter the like, we may le...
Read full commentary →Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
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KJV Study Commentary
The lament concludes with the question 'Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?' The Hebrew 'Wherefore' (lamah, לָמָּה) is a why-question directed at God—'Why did You allow my birth?' The phrase 'to see labour and sorrow' (amal veyagon, עָמָל וְיָגוֹן) describes a life of toil and grief. 'That my days should be consumed with sham...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) **Wherefore came I forth . . .?**—Like the preceding verse, this is in its tone, almost in its words, an echo of Job 3:11-12; Job 3:20.
**Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12. comforteth--**(Is 51:3; Is 40:1).
**thou--**Zion.
**son of man--**frail and dying as his parent Adam.
**be made as grass--**wither as grass (Is 40:6, 7).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 14-18** When grace has the victory, it is good to be ashamed of our folly, to admire the goodness of God, and be warned to guard our spirits another time. See how strong the temptation was, over which the prophet got the victory by Divine assistance! He is angry that his first breath was not his last. While we remember that these wishes are not recorded for us to utter the like, we may le...
Read full commentary →