Jeremiah 20 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

Jeremiah and Pashhur

Jer 20:1Now Pashhur son of Immer, the priest in charge of the Temple of the LORD, heard what Jeremiah was prophesying.

Jer 20:2So he arrested Jeremiah the prophet and had him whipped and put in stocks at the Benjamin Gate of the LORD’s Temple.

Jer 20:3

Jer 20:3The next day, when Pashhur finally released him, Jeremiah said, “Pashhur, the LORD has changed your name. From now on you are to be called ‘The Man Who Lives in Terror.’[fn]

Jer 20:4

Jer 20:4For this is what the LORD says: ‘I will send terror upon you and all your friends, and you will watch as they are slaughtered by the swords of the enemy. I will hand the people of Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will take them captive to Babylon or run them through with the sword.

Jer 20:5

Jer 20:5And I will let your enemies plunder Jerusalem. All the famed treasures of the city—the precious jewels and gold and silver of your kings—will be carried off to Babylon.

Jer 20:6

Jer 20:6As for you, Pashhur, you and all your household will go as captives to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you prophesied that everything would be all right.’”

Jeremiah’s Complaint

Jer 20:7

Jer 20:7O LORD, you misled me,
and I allowed myself to be misled.
You are stronger than I am,
and you overpowered me.
Now I am mocked every day;
everyone laughs at me.

Jer 20:8

Jer 20:8When I speak, the words burst out.
“Violence and destruction!” I shout.
So these messages from the LORD
have made me a household joke.

Jer 20:9

Jer 20:9But if I say I’ll never mention the LORD
or speak in his name,
his word burns in my heart like a fire.
It’s like a fire in my bones!
I am worn out trying to hold it in!
I can’t do it!

Jer 20:10

Jer 20:10I have heard the many rumors about me.
They call me “The Man Who Lives in Terror.”
They threaten, “If you say anything, we will report it.”
Even my old friends are watching me,
waiting for a fatal slip.
“He will trap himself,” they say,
“and then we will get our revenge on him.”

Jer 20:11

Jer 20:11But the LORD stands beside me like a great warrior.
Before him my persecutors will stumble.
They cannot defeat me.
They will fail and be thoroughly humiliated.
Their dishonor will never be forgotten.

Jer 20:12

Jer 20:12O LORD of Heaven’s Armies,
you test those who are righteous,
and you examine the deepest thoughts and secrets.
Let me see your vengeance against them,
for I have committed my cause to you.

Jer 20:13

Jer 20:13Sing to the LORD!
Praise the LORD!
For though I was poor and needy,
he rescued me from my oppressors.

Jer 20:14

Jer 20:14Yet I curse the day I was born!
May no one celebrate the day of my birth.

Jer 20:15

Jer 20:15I curse the messenger who told my father,
“Good news—you have a son!”

Jer 20:16

Jer 20:16Let him be destroyed like the cities of old
that the LORD overthrew without mercy.
Terrify him all day long with battle shouts,

Jer 20:17

Jer 20:17because he did not kill me at birth.
Oh, that I had died in my mother’s womb,
that her body had been my grave!

Jer 20:18

Jer 20:18Why was I ever born?
My entire life has been filled
with trouble, sorrow, and shame.

See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NLT Footnotes

(20:3)

Hebrew Magor-missabib, which means “surrounded by terror”; also in 20:10.

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For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

Jeremiah Chapter 20 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras

Jeremiah 20 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

NLT Footnotes

Jeremiah Chapter 20 — Additional Translations:

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