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Jeremiah

Chapter 20

Pashhur Persecutes Jeremiah and Jeremiah’s Complaint

Jeremiah 20 begins with the prophet humiliated by Pashhur at the temple gates, yet Jeremiah answers the abuse with a word of terror and exile from the LORD. The chapter then turns inward into one of Jeremiah's darkest confessions, where the prophet wrestles with the cost of speaking God's word, briefly breaks into praise for the LORD's presence, and then collapses again into a curse on the day of his birth.

This chapter is crucial for understanding the emotional and spiritual cost of Jeremiah's calling. It holds together public opposition, prophetic courage, inward compulsion, flashes of faith, and profound anguish without resolving the tension into something easy or neat.

2 sections·306 words·~1 min read

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Jeremiah 20

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vv. 1-6

Pashhur Persecutes Jeremiah

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W1hen Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer and the chief official in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, 2he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.

3The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The LORD does not call you Pashhur, but Magor-missabib. 4For this is what the LORD says: ‘I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies before your very eyes. And I will hand Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will carry them away to Babylon and put them to the sword. 5I will give away all the wealth of this city — all its products and valuables, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah — to their enemies. They will plunder them, seize them, and carry them off to Babylon. 6And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, will go into captivity. You will go to Babylon, and there you will die and be buried — you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied these lies.’”

vv. 7-18

Jeremiah’s Complaint

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Y7ou have deceived me, O LORD, and I was deceived. 8For whenever I speak, I cry out; 9If I say, “I will not mention Him 10For I have heard the whispering of many:

11But the LORD is with me like a fearsome warrior. 12O LORD of Hosts, who examines the righteous, 13Sing to the LORD!

14Cursed be the day I was born! 15Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, 16May that man be like the cities 17because he did not kill me in the womb 18Why did I come out of the womb

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  1. 01vv. 1-6Pashhur Persecutes JeremiahThe opening movement shows Jeremiah suffering directly at the hands of temple authority after proclaiming the judgment of chapter 19. Beaten and confined, he nevertheless rises the next day to rename Pashhur as "Terror on Every Side" and to announce that the man who tried to shame the prophet will himself see Babylonian captivity and die among the people he misled with lies.
  2. 02vv. 7-18Jeremiah’s ComplaintThe second movement exposes the interior toll of Jeremiah's ministry. He feels overpowered by the call of God and mocked whenever he speaks, yet he cannot keep silent because the word burns within him; though he knows the LORD stands with him as a warrior and worthy judge, his confidence gives way again to anguish so deep that he curses the day he was born.
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