18 Why `is' this? from the womb I have come out, To see labour and sorrow, Yea, consumed in shame are my days!
Why giveth He to the miserable light, and life to the bitter soul?
I `am' the man `who' hath seen affliction By the rod of His wrath.
for I think that God did set forth us the apostles last -- as appointed to death, because a spectacle we became to the world, and messengers, and men; we `are' fools because of Christ, and ye wise in Christ; we `are' ailing, and ye strong; ye glorious, and we dishonoured; unto the present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and wander about, and labour, working with `our' own hands; being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer; being spoken evil of, we entreat; as filth of the world we did become -- of all things an offscouring -- till now.
For all our days pined away in Thy wrath, We consumed our years as a meditation. Days of our years, in them `are' seventy years, And if, by reason of might, eighty years, Yet `is' their enlargement labour and vanity, For it hath been cut off hastily, and we fly away.
and others of mockings and scourgings did receive trial, and yet of bonds and imprisonment;
if ye be reproached in the name of Christ -- happy `are ye', because the Spirit of glory and of God upon you doth rest; in regard, indeed, to them, he is evil-spoken of, and in regard to you, he is glorified; for let none of you suffer as a murderer, or thief, or evil-doer, or as an inspector into other men's matters; and if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; and let him glorify God in this respect;
looking to the author and perfecter of faith -- Jesus, who, over-against the joy set before him -- did endure a cross, shame having despised, on the right hand also of the throne of God did sit down;
Unto the woman He said, `Multiplying I multiply thy sorrow and thy conception, in sorrow dost thou bear children, and toward thy husband `is' thy desire, and he doth rule over thee.' And to the man He said, `Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and dost eat of the tree concerning which I have charged thee, saying, Thou dost not eat of it, cursed `is' the ground on thine account; in sorrow thou dost eat of it all days of thy life, and thorn and bramble it doth bring forth to thee, and thou hast eaten the herb of the field; by the sweat of thy face thou dost eat bread till thy return unto the ground, for out of it hast thou been taken, for dust thou `art', and unto dust thou turnest back.'
for which cause also these things I suffer, but I am not ashamed, for I have known in whom I have believed, and have been persuaded that he is able that which I have committed to him to guard -- to that day.
they, indeed, then, departed from the presence of the sanhedrim, rejoicing that for his name they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour,
`Is it' nothing to you, all ye passing by the way? Look attentively, and see, If there is any pain like my pain, That He is rolling to me? Whom Jehovah hath afflicted In the day of the fierceness of His anger.
My refreshing for me `is' sorrow, For me my heart `is' sick.
From the sole of the foot -- unto the head, There is no soundness in it, Wound, and bruise, and fresh smiting! They have not been closed nor bound, Nor have they softened with ointment.
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,