Read & explore together
Jeremiah’s Complaint
In this passage, Jeremiah speaks directly to Yahweh about the pain of his calling. His words move from mockery and pressure, to confidence in Yahweh, and then to deep sorrow about his own birth.
Understanding the passage
The setting of this message
These verses are a complaint and prayer within Jeremiah’s prophetic message. The passage itself shows that speaking Yahweh’s word has brought Jeremiah mockery, reproach and danger. It also shows his conviction that Yahweh sees truly, tests the righteous and delivers the needy.
Jeremiah 20:7–18Main takeaway
Jeremiah 20:7–18 shows that a servant of Yahweh may speak honestly about deep suffering while still recognising Yahweh’s power and justice.
Explore the message
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Mocked because he speaksJeremiah says Yahweh has persuaded him, yet that calling has made him a laughingstock. When he speaks, his message is a cry about “Violence and destruction”.
Explanation
Jeremiah says Yahweh has persuaded him, yet that calling has made him a laughingstock. When he speaks, his message is a cry about “Violence and destruction”. Because he speaks Yahweh’s word, people treat him with reproach and derision all day. The passage presents the cost of speaking this message.
02The word he cannot hold inJeremiah says that even if he decides not to speak in Yahweh’s name, the word remains within him like a burning fire shut up in his bones.
Explanation
Jeremiah says that even if he decides not to speak in Yahweh’s name, the word remains within him like a burning fire shut up in his bones. He grows weary trying to keep silent. This picture shows inner compulsion, not ease. The message presses outward because he cannot contain it.
03Enemies, but also confidence in YahwehJeremiah hears defaming words, even from familiar friends who watch for his fall and hope to prevail over him.
Explanation
Jeremiah hears defaming words, even from familiar friends who watch for his fall and hope to prevail over him. Yet he answers that Yahweh is with him as an awesome mighty one. He calls Yahweh the one who tests the righteous and sees heart and mind, and he entrusts his cause to him.
04Praise beside overwhelming griefJeremiah says, “Sing to Yahweh! Praise Yahweh,” because Yahweh delivers the needy from evildoers.
Explanation
Jeremiah says, “Sing to Yahweh! Praise Yahweh,” because Yahweh delivers the needy from evildoers. Yet the passage then turns sharply into grief. He curses the day of his birth and the man who announced it, and asks why he came from the womb to see labour, sorrow and shame.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What words show the effect Jeremiah’s message has on how people treat him?
Look for the repeated descriptions of mockery, reproach and derision that follow his speaking.
02What image does Jeremiah use for the word he tries not to speak, and what does that image suggest?
Notice the comparison to a burning fire in his bones and his weariness in holding it in.
03How does the passage place praise and despair next to each other?
Compare Jeremiah’s call to praise Yahweh for delivering the needy with his later curses on the day of his birth.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Jeremiah 20:7–18
7Yahweh, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded. You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day. Everyone mocks me.
8For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, “Violence and destruction!” because Yahweh’s word has been made a reproach to me, and a derision, all day.
9If I say that I will not make mention of him, or speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones. I am weary with holding it in. I can’t.
10For 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 will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him.”
11But Yahweh is with me as an awesome mighty one. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they won’t prevail. They will be utterly disappointed because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which will never be forgotten.
12But Yahweh of Armies, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for I have revealed my cause to you.
13Sing to Yahweh! Praise Yahweh, for he has delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evildoers.
14Cursed is the day in which I was born. Don’t let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed.
15Cursed is the man who brought news to my father, saying, “A boy is born to you,” making him very glad.
16Let that man be as the cities which Yahweh overthrew, and didn’t repent. Let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime,
17because he didn’t kill me from the womb. So my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great.
18Why did I come out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?