UNROLL
Dawn in a stone gateway by the temple: in its passage a heavy wooden stocks frame stands empty, long shadows across the paving, pale sky above the court wall.

Covenant and complaint

Jeremiah 20

The book doesn’t date this oracle. Have you ever wanted to quit what God gave you to do?

18 verses≈ 4 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1The callJosiah’s thirteenth year (about 627 BC): a prophet to the nations
  2. 2–6Return to MeBroken cisterns, faithless Judah, disaster from the north
  3. 7–10The temple gateThe temple sermon, a weeping prophet, the living God
  4. 11–20Covenant and complaintThe broken covenant, the potter, Jeremiah’s confessionsChapter 20
  5. 21–29Shepherds and prophetsKings judged, the Branch, seventy years, the yoke, the letter
  6. 30–33The Book of ComfortRestoration, the new covenant, a field bought in a siege
  7. 34–39The last days of JudahThe scroll burned, the cistern, Jerusalem falls (586 BC)
  8. 40–45After the fallGedaliah at Mizpah, the flight to Egypt, a word for Baruch
  9. 46–51The nationsEgypt to Babylon: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
  10. 52Jerusalem fallsThe record of 586 BC, and a king released

Pashhur Persecutes Jeremiah

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

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Jeremiah
Morning in the gate passage: the prophet stands upright in profile, rubbing one wrist, facing a senior priest in white linen; two temple officers stand behind.

The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The LORD does not call you Pashhur, but Magor-missabib.

God

For 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.

God
Far off on a dusty road north of the city, ox carts loaded with bronze basins, chests and bundled goods, with Babylonian soldiers walking beside them.

I 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.

God

And 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.’”

Question

Quick question

Released from the stocks, Jeremiah spoke first. Look at what he called the man who put him there (20:3).

What new name did Jeremiah give Pashhur?

Jeremiah’s Complaint

Jeremiah
The temple’s outer court: the prophet, seen from behind, walks alone across the paving while groups of men turn to watch, one youth pointing and laughing.

You have deceived me, O LORD, and I was deceived.

You have overcome me and prevailed.

I am a laughingstock all day long;

everyone mocks me.

Jeremiah

For whenever I speak, I cry out;

I proclaim violence and destruction.

For the word of the LORD has become to me

a reproach and derision all day long.

Jeremiah

If I say, “I will not mention Him

or speak any more in His name,”

His message becomes a fire burning in my heart,

shut up in my bones,

and I become weary of holding it in,

and I cannot prevail.

Jeremiah 20:9

Jeremiah
Dusk in a narrow stepped lane: three men lean close in a doorway, speaking low, one glancing down the lane after a lone cloaked figure far off.

For I have heard the whispering of many:

“Terror is on every side!

Report him; let us report him!”

All my trusted friends

watch for my fall:

“Perhaps he will be deceived

so that we may prevail against him

and take our vengeance upon him.”

Jeremiah

But the LORD is with me like a fearsome warrior. Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and will not prevail. Since they have not succeeded, they will be utterly put to shame, with an everlasting disgrace that will never be forgotten.

Jeremiah

O LORD of Hosts, who examines the righteous,

who sees the heart and mind,

let me see Your vengeance upon them,

for to You I have committed my cause.

Jeremiah
First light breaking over the hills east of the city, the roofs still in shadow, a lone man small and far off on a rooftop, seen from behind.

Sing to the LORD!

Praise the LORD!

For He rescues the life of the needy

from the hands of evildoers.

0:06

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Jeremiah

Cursed be the day I was born!

May the day my mother bore me never be blessed.

Jeremiah

Cursed be the man who brought my father the news,

saying, “A son is born to you,”

bringing him great joy.

Jeremiah

May that man be like the cities

that the LORD overthrew without compassion.

Jeremiah

May he hear an outcry in the morning

and a battle cry at noon,

because he did not kill me in the womb

so that my mother might have been my grave,

and her womb forever enlarged.

Jeremiah

Why did I come out of the womb

to see only trouble and sorrow,

and to end my days in shame?

Pray

Pray

LORD, You knew me before You formed me in the womb. On the days I wish I had never been born, hear my honest words, and keep me in Your hand until the morning. Amen.

Jeremiah’s six laments

A lamb led toslaughter11:18–12:6Your words, myjoy15:10–21Heal me, O LORD17:14–18They dug a pit18:18–23Fire in mybones20:7–13Cursed be theday20:14–18

Whiteboard

He told God everything. God answered, and kept every word in His book.

You’ve experienced

Jeremiah 20

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A verse to carry with you

If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of holding it in, and I cannot prevail.

Jeremiah 20:9

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