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Jeremiah Beaten by Pashhur
1Pashhur the priest,20:1 1Ch 9:12; Jr 21:1; 38:1 the son of Immer20:1 1Ch 24:14; Ezr 2:37–38 and chief official in the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.
2So Pashhur had the prophet Jeremiah beaten and put him in the stocks20:2 Jb 13:27; Jr 29:26; Ac 16:24 at the Upper Benjamin Gate20:2 Jr 37:13; 38:7; Zch 14:10 in the Lord’s temple.
3The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call you Pashhur, but Terror Is on Every Side,20:3 = Magor-missabib
4for this is what the Lord says, ‘I am about to make you a terror to both yourself and those you love.20:4 Jr 6:25; 20:10; 46:5 They will fall by the sword of their enemies before your very eyes.20:4 2Sm 12:11; Is 1:7; Jr 16:9; 29:21; 39:16; 51:24 I will hand Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will deport them to Babylon and put them to the sword.
5I will give away all the wealth20:5 Pr 15:6 of this city, all its products20:5 Dt 28:33; Ezk 23:29 and valuables. Indeed, I will hand all the treasures of the kings of Judah over to their enemies. They will plunder them, seize them, and carry them off to Babylon.20:5 2Kg 20:17; 21:14; Lm 2:7
6As for you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, you will go into captivity. You will go to Babylon.20:6 Jr 34:3; Mc 4:10 There you will die, and there you will be buried, you and all your friends to whom you prophesied lies.’”20:6 Jr 5:31; 14:13–14; 23:25–26,32; 27:10,14–16; 29:9,21,31
Jeremiah Compelled to Preach

7You deceived20:7 1Kg 20:20–22; 2Ch 18:20; Jr 15:18 me, Lord, and I was deceived.
You seized me and prevailed.
I am a laughingstock all the time;20:7 Gn 38:23; Jb 12:4; Ps 44:14; Jr 48:26–27,39; Lm 2:15–17; 3:14
everyone ridicules me.
8For whenever I speak, I cry out,
I proclaim, “Violence and destruction!” 20:8 Jr 6:7
so the word of the Lord has become my
constant disgrace and derision.
9I say, “I won’t mention him
or speak any longer in his name.”20:9 Ex 5:23; Dt 18:20; Ac 5:40
But his message becomes a fire burning in my heart,20:9 Jb 32:18–20; Ps 39:3
shut up in my bones.
I become tired of holding it in,20:9 Jr 6:11; Am 3:8; 1Co 9:16
and I cannot prevail.
10For I have heard the gossip of many people,
“Terror is on every side!20:10 Jr 6:25; 20:3; 46:5; 49:29
Report him; let’s report him!”
Everyone I trusted20:10 Lit Every man of my peace watches for my fall.20:10 Ps 35:15; 41:9; 56:6
“Perhaps he will be deceived
so that we might prevail against him
and take our vengeance on him.”

11But the Lord is with me like a violent warrior.20:11 Ex 15:3
Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.
Since they have not succeeded, they will be utterly shamed,
an everlasting humiliation that will never be forgotten.20:11 Mc 3:7
12 Lord of Armies, testing the righteous
and seeing the heart20:12 Lit kidneys and mind,
let me see your vengeance on them,
for I have presented my case to you.20:12 Jr 11:20
13Sing to the Lord!
Praise the Lord,
for he rescues the life of the needy
from evil people.
Jeremiah’s Lament
14May the day I was born
be cursed.20:14 Jb 3:3
May the day my mother bore me
never be blessed.
15May the man be cursed
who brought the news to my father, saying,
“A male child is born to you,”
bringing him great joy.
16Let that man be like the cities
the Lord demolished without compassion.20:16 Gn 19:25
Let him hear an outcry in the morning20:16 Jr 18:22
and a war cry at noontime
17because he didn’t kill me in the womb20:17 Jb 3:10–11
so that my mother might have been my grave,
her womb eternally pregnant.

18Why did I come out of the womb
to see only struggle and sorrow,20:18 Jb 3:20; Lm 3:1
to end my life in shame?