Jeremiah 20:17
A plain-spoken deep dive on this verse. Read the chapter →
because he did not kill me in the womb so that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb forever enlarged.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
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, I. Jeremiah persecuted by Pashur for preaching that sermon (Jer 20:1, Jer 20:2). II. Pashur threatened for so doing, and the word which Jeremiah had preached confirmed (Jer 20:3-6). III. Jeremiah complaining to God concerning it, and the other instances of hard measure that he had since he began to be a prophet, and the grievous temptations he had struggled with (Jer 20:7-10), encouraging himself in God, lodging his appeal with him, not doubting but that he shall yet praise him, by which it appears that he had much grace (Jer 20:11-13) and yet peevishly cursing the day of his birth (Jer 20:14-18), by which it appears that he had sad remainders of corruption in him too, and was a man subject to like passions as we are.
Open source ↗20:17-18 Jeremiah saw no meaning to his life.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight?
A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.