Jeremiah 20:14 kjv
Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
Jeremiah 20:14 nkjv
Cursed be the day in which I was born! Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me!
Jeremiah 20:14 niv
Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!
Jeremiah 20:14 esv
Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed!
Jeremiah 20:14 nlt
Yet I curse the day I was born!
May no one celebrate the day of my birth.
Jeremiah 20 14 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Job 3:3-5 | “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night... let darkness and deep shadow claim it..." | Job's similar lament, cursing his birth day |
| Job 10:18-19 | "Why did you bring me out from the womb? I wish I had died... never existed..." | Job wishes he had never been born. |
| Pss 58:8 | "Let them be like a slug that melts away... like the stillborn child who never sees the sun." | Desire for non-existence, stillborn state. |
| Jer 15:10 | Woe is me, my mother, that you gave me birth, a man of strife... | Jeremiah laments his very existence causing conflict. |
| Eccl 4:3 | "Better than both is he who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun." | A philosophical reflection preferring non-existence to suffering. |
| 1 Kgs 19:4 | But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came... that he might die... "It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life." | Elijah, another prophet, expresses a wish for death in despair. |
| Jonah 4:3 | "Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live." | Jonah, also a prophet, wishes for death out of frustration. |
| Num 11:15 | If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight... | Moses wishes for death due to burden of leadership. |
| Php 1:21-23 | For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain... My desire is to depart and be with Christ... | Paul’s contemplation of death vs. life, a different kind of desire. |
| Jer 1:5 | "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you..." | God's foreknowledge and calling of Jeremiah from the womb, in stark contrast. |
| Isa 49:1-5 | "The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name." | God's divine purpose and calling for a prophet from birth. |
| Gal 1:15 | But when he who had set me apart before I was born and called me by his grace... | Paul's similar assertion of divine election from birth. |
| Lk 6:22-23 | "Blessed are you when people hate you... for so their fathers did to the prophets." | Jesus links prophetic suffering with future blessedness. |
| Matt 5:10-12 | "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake... for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." | Christ's words about blessedness in persecution, paralleling prophetic experience. |
| 2 Tim 3:12 | Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. | Persecution as an expected part of living faithfully. |
| Heb 11:36-38 | "Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment... They were sawn in two..." | Describes the intense suffering endured by prophets and faithful people of God. |
| Gen 1:31 | And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. | Contrast to Jeremiah's "curse the day" – God's creation, including birth, was initially blessed. |
| Gen 12:3 | I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse... | Divine principle of blessing and cursing in response to human actions. |
| Job 1:21 | "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." | Job's initial, contrasting response of praising God despite loss. |
| Pss 88:15 | Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless. | An expression of prolonged suffering from early life, reflecting despair. |
| Pss 139:13-16 | For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb... | God's intentional and masterful work in creating individuals from conception. |
| Pss 22:6 | But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. | Expressing feeling worthless and rejected, aligning with Jeremiah's emotional state. |
| Gal 3:13 | Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us... | Ultimate redemption from a curse, though different context, highlights the weight of a curse. |
| Jas 3:9-10 | With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. | Emphasizes the power and gravity of words of blessing and cursing. |
Jeremiah 20 verses
Jeremiah 20 14 Meaning
Jeremiah 20:14 expresses the prophet Jeremiah's profound and desperate lament, wishing that the day of his birth had never occurred. Following intense persecution and deep anguish from his prophetic ministry, he reaches a point of extreme despair where he curses the day he was born and invokes a counter-blessing, asking that it remain unblessed. This cry reveals the overwhelming suffering and burden that God's calling has placed upon him, leading him to wish for an undoing of his very existence rather than continuing to bear such immense pain. It is an honest, raw outpouring of human brokenness in the face of divine demands.
Jeremiah 20 14 Context
Jeremiah 20:14 occurs immediately after Jeremiah's sixth and most profound "confession" or lament (Jeremiah 20:7-13). In this preceding passage, Jeremiah passionately describes feeling enticed and overcome by God's word, feeling it like a burning fire within him that he cannot hold back. Yet, his proclamation of God's message consistently brings him derision, reproach, and suffering. He had just endured being beaten and put in the stocks by Pashhur, the chief officer of the temple, for prophesying Jerusalem's destruction (Jer 20:1-6).
His lament in verses 7-13 describes his struggle, feeling betrayed by God ("You deceived me") yet simultaneously delivered ("The Lord is with me like a dread warrior..."), and he praises God for His vindication. This praise (v.13) quickly turns to the utter despair of cursing his birth day (v.14). This stark emotional swing from fervent praise to abject despair is characteristic of Jeremiah's authentic humanity and highlights the profound internal conflict and burden of his prophetic ministry. It's a reflection of the crushing weight of bearing God's unpopular message to a rebellious people. Historically, Jeremiah was a prophet in Jerusalem during its final decades before destruction, constantly warning Judah and its kings about impending judgment from Babylon, a message that earned him rejection, imprisonment, and near-death experiences.
Jeremiah 20 14 Word analysis
- Cursed (אָרוּר, arur): This is a strong participial adjective, denoting a state of being cursed or condemned. It's an active wish for divine malediction, a total reversal of blessing. The term suggests exclusion from divine favor and the onset of judgment. It’s the antithesis of "blessed" (baruch). This powerful imprecation is not just a casual wish but a deeply felt, almost ritualistic declaration.
- be the day (יְהִי הַיּוֹם, yehi hayyom): "The day" here (hayyom) refers not merely to a twenty-four-hour period, but specifically to the unique event of his birth, marking his entrance into existence. The phrase "be the day" is a jussive, expressing a command or wish, echoing the language of creation (e.g., "Let there be light"). Here, it's used to unmake or undo a specific act of creation.
- on which I was born (אֲשֶׁר יֻלַּדְתִּי בּוֹ, asher yulladti bo): The verb yulladeti is in the Niphal (passive) perfect form, "I was caused to be born." This emphasizes Jeremiah’s passivity in the event; he had no choice in his birth or, by extension, his calling. The curse is directed at the day itself, seen as the starting point of his life and its consequent suffering.
- The day when my mother bore me (הַיּוֹם אֲשֶׁר יְלָדַתְנִי אִמִּי, hayyom asher yeladatni immi): This phrase serves as a poetic parallelism and intensification of the preceding thought. It rephrases the subject (the day of birth) with slightly different emphasis. "Bore me" (yeladatni) uses the Qal (active) perfect verb, specifically highlighting the mother's role, thus underscoring the most direct agent of his birth. This personalizes the regret, making it a reflection on a moment intimately connected to his familial origins.
- let it not be blessed! (אַל יְהִי בָרוּךְ, al yehi baruch): "Let it not be blessed" is a negative jussive, a forceful prohibition against blessing. It directly contrasts with the command to "curse the day." This redundancy emphasizes the prophet's depth of despair and the absolute nature of his wish. To be "unblessed" means to be devoid of divine favor, protection, and goodness—a profound negation of the joyful and blessed status typically associated with new life and creation. The original Hebrew structure enhances this sense of ultimate denial.
Words-group by words-group analysis:
- Cursed be the day on which I was born!: This opening declaration immediately sets the tone of utter desolation. It's a powerful invocation, reversing the normal human reaction of celebrating birth. The use of "cursed" (arur) points to a deep, divine-level rejection, not just a casual lament. It is a fundamental questioning of his very existence, linking it to the source of his current misery.
- The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed!: This second part of the verse mirrors and amplifies the first. The repetition stresses the intensity of Jeremiah’s pain. By explicitly mentioning his "mother," the prophet's sorrow becomes even more poignant, touching upon the most intimate and blessed act of human generation. Wishing it "not be blessed" is not merely the absence of blessing, but an active declaration for it to remain outside the sphere of divine favor and fruitfulness. This reinforces the desire to strip that day of any positive significance or remembrance.
Jeremiah 20 14 Bonus section
The "Confessions of Jeremiah," where this verse is situated, are a unique feature of the book of Jeremiah. They offer unparalleled insights into the inner life, psychological turmoil, and spiritual struggles of a prophet. This specific lament, expressing a wish to have never been born, not only underscores the depth of Jeremiah’s suffering but also provides a theological boundary: even the most faithful servant of God can experience moments of extreme despair without necessarily forfeiting their faith or God's calling. These moments serve to emphasize God's unwavering faithfulness even when His servants are most broken. It stands as a stark contrast to passages like Psalm 139, which celebrates God's miraculous formation of individuals in the womb. Jeremiah’s curse does not question God's power in creation, but the implication of his personal creation given the specific trajectory of suffering his life has taken. This paradoxical stance adds to the rich theological complexity of his character.
Jeremiah 20 14 Commentary
Jeremiah 20:14 encapsulates a raw, authentic human struggle experienced by God's chosen servant. It's a profound expression of lament, unique in its vehemence among the prophets. Far from being a rejection of God, it's a desperate cry from a soul pushed to its breaking point by the demands of a prophetic ministry that brought only ridicule and suffering, not success or comfort. This verse is deeply connected to the earlier lament in Job 3, reflecting a universal human experience of profound grief wishing for non-existence rather than enduring agony. Jeremiah's volatile emotions – from praise and trust in God's deliverance (v.13) to cursing his own birth – vividly illustrate the prophet's spiritual battlefield, showcasing his honesty and vulnerability before God. It highlights the immense personal cost of prophetic obedience and serves as a powerful reminder of the burdens faced by those who faithfully serve the Lord amidst opposition and pain, yet without denying God's ultimate sovereignty.