7 O Lord, you have been false to me, and I was tricked; you are stronger than I, and have overcome me: I have become a thing to be laughed at all the day, everyone makes sport of me.
I have become the sport of all the peoples; I am their song all the day.
And the wind, lifting me up, took me away: and I went in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of the Lord was strong on me.
I am on fire with passion for your house; and the hard things which are said about you have come on me. My bitter weeping, and my going without food, were turned to my shame. When I put on the clothing of grief, they said evil of me. I am a cause of wonder to those in authority; a song to those who are given to strong drink.
But I am a worm and not a man; cursed by men, and looked down on by the people. I am laughed at by all those who see me: pushing out their lips and shaking their heads they say,
And the Pharisees, who had a great love of money, hearing these things, were making sport of him.
Or I only and Barnabas, have we no right to take a rest from work?
For it seems to me that God has put us the Apostles last of all, as men whose fate is death: for we are put on view to the world, and to angels, and to men. We are made to seem foolish for Christ, but you are wise in Christ; we are feeble, but you are strong; you have glory, but we have shame. Even to this hour we are without food, drink, and clothing, we are given blows and have no certain resting-place; And with our hands we do the hardest work: when they give us curses we give blessings, when we undergo punishment we take it quietly; When evil things are said about us we give gentle answers: we are made as the unclean things of the world, as that for which no one has any use, even till now.
And some of those who were supporters of the theories of the Epicureans and the Stoics, had a meeting with him. And some said, What is this talker of foolish words saying? And others, He seems to be a preacher of strange gods: because he was preaching of Jesus and his coming back from the dead.
And the people were looking on. And the rulers made sport of him, saying, He was a saviour of others; let him do something for himself, if he is the Christ, the man of God's selection. And the men of the army made sport of him, coming to him and giving him bitter wine,
And the men in whose hands Jesus was, made sport of him and gave him blows. And, covering his eyes, they said to him, Are you prophet enough to say who gave you that blow?
But I truly am full of the spirit of the Lord, with power of judging and with strength to make clear to Jacob his wrongdoing and to Israel his sin.
The Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada the priest, to be an overseer in the house of the Lord for every man who is off his head and is acting as a prophet, to put such men in prison and in chains.
And if I say, I will not keep him in mind, I will not say another word in his name; then it is in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am tired of keeping myself in, I am not able to do it.
Why is my pain unending and my wound without hope of being made well? Sorrow is mine, for you are to me as a stream offering false hope and as waters which are not certain.
Sorrow is mine, my mother, because you have given birth to me, a cause of fighting and argument in all the earth! I have not made men my creditors and I am not in debt to any, but every one of them is cursing me.
For see, this day have I made you a walled town, and an iron pillar, and walls of brass, against all the land, against the kings of Judah, against its captains, against its priests, and against the people of the land. They will be fighting against you, but they will not overcome you: for I am with you, says the Lord, to give you salvation.
But they took pleasure in my trouble, and came together, yes, low persons came together against me without my knowledge; they never came to an end of wounding me. Like men of deceit they put me to shame; the voice of their wrath was loud against me.
Then from there he went up to Beth-el; and on his way, some little boys came out from the town and made sport of him, crying, Go up, old no-hair! go up, old no-hair!
And Moses said to the Lord, Why have you done me this evil? and why have I not grace in your eyes, that you have put on me the care of all this people? Am I the father of all this people? have I given them birth, that you say to me, Take them in your arms, like a child at the breast, to the land which you gave by an oath to their fathers? Where am I to get flesh to give to all this people? For they are weeping to me and saying, Give us flesh for our food. I am not able by myself to take the weight of all this people, for it is more than my strength. If this is to be my fate, put me to death now in answer to my prayer, if I have grace in your eyes; and let me not see my shame.
And Moses went back to the Lord and said, Lord, why have you done evil to this people? why have you sent me? For from the time when I came to Pharaoh to put your words before him, he has done evil to this people, and you have given them no help.
Then said I, O Lord God! see, I have no power of words, for I am a child. But the Lord said to me, Do not say, I am a child: for wherever I send you, you are to go, and whatever I give you orders to say, you are to say. Have no fear because of them: for I am with you, to keep you safe, says the Lord.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 20
Commentary on Jeremiah 20 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 20
Such plain dealing as Jeremiah used in the foregoing chapter, one might easily foresee, if it did not convince and humble men, would provoke and exasperate them; and so it did; for here we find,
Jer 20:1-6
Here is,
Jer 20:7-13
Pashur's doom was to be a terror to himself; Jeremiah, even now, in this hour of temptation, is far from being so; and yet it cannot be denied but that he is here, through the infirmity of the flesh, strangely agitated within himself. Good men are but men at the best. God is not extreme to mark what they say and do amiss, and therefore we must not be so, but make the best of it. In these verses it appears that, upon occasion of the great indignation and injury that Pashur did to Jeremiah, there was a struggle in his breast between his graces and his corruptions. His discourse with himself and with his God, upon this occasion, was somewhat perplexed; let us try to methodize it.
Jer 20:14-18
What is the meaning of this? Does there proceed out of the same mouth blessing and cursing? Could he that said so cheerfully (v. 13), Sing unto the Lord, praise you the Lord, say so passionately (v. 14), Cursed be the day wherein I was born? How shall we reconcile these? What we have in these verses the prophet records, I suppose, to his own shame, as he had recorded that in the foregoing verses to God's glory. It seems to be a relation of the ferment he had been in while he was in the stocks, out of which by faith and hope he had recovered himself, rather than a new temptation which he afterwards fell into, and it should come in like that of David (Ps. 31:22), I said in my haste, I am cut off; this is also implied, Ps. 77:7. When grace has got the victory it is good to remember the struggles of corruption, that we may be ashamed of ourselves and our own folly, may admire the goodness of God in not taking us at our word, and may be warned by it to double our guard upon our spirits another time. See here how strong the temptation was which the prophet, by divine assistance, got the victory over, and how far he yielded to it, that we may not despair if we through the weakness of the flesh be at any time thus tempted. Let us see here,