Jeremiah 20
Open in the reader1When Liberation the priest, the son of He-Has-Said and the chief official in the house of He-Who-Is, heard He-Who-Is-Will-Rise prophesying these things,
2he had He-Who-Is-Will-Rise the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Son-of-the-Right-Hand, which was by the house of He-Who-Is.
3The next day, when Liberation released He-Who-Is-Will-Rise from the stocks, He-Who-Is-Will-Rise said to him, “He-Who-Is does not call you Liberation, but Magor-missabib.
4For this is what He-Who-Is 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 Praised over to the king of Confusion, and he will carry them away to Confusion 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 Praised—to their enemies. They will plunder them, seize them, and carry them off to Confusion.
6And you, Liberation, and all who live in your house, will go into captivity. You will go to Confusion, and there you will die and be buried—you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied these lies.’”
7You have deceived me, O He-Who-Is, and I was deceived. You have overcome me and prevailed. I am a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.
8For whenever I speak, I cry out; I proclaim violence and destruction. For the word of He-Who-Is has become to me a reproach and derision all day long.
9If 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.
10For 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.”
11But He-Who-Is 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.
12O He-Who-Is 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.
13Sing to He-Who-Is! Praise He-Who-Is! For He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers.
14Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me never be blessed.
15Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, saying, “A son is born to you,” bringing him great joy.
16May that man be like the cities that He-Who-Is overthrew without compassion. May he hear an outcry in the morning and a battle cry at noon,
17because he did not kill me in the womb so that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb forever enlarged.
18Why did I come out of the womb to see only trouble and sorrow, and to end my days in shame?