Jeremiah · Bible in Basic English
Jeremiah 20 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Now it came to the ears of Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief in authority in the house of the Lord, that Jeremiah was saying these things;
1 Now Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in Yahweh’s house, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.
2 And Pashhur gave blows to Jeremiah and had his feet chained in a framework of wood in the higher doorway of Benjamin, which was in the house of the Lord.
2 Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in Yahweh’s house.
3 Then on the day after, Pashhur let Jeremiah loose. Then Jeremiah said to him, The Lord has given you the name of Magor-missabib (Cause-of-fear-on-every-side), not Pashhur.
3 On the next day, Pashhur released Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, “Yahweh has not called your name Pashhur, but Magormissabib.
4 For the Lord has said, See, I will make you a cause of fear to yourself and to all your friends: they will come to their death by the sword of their haters, and your eyes will see it: and I will give all Judah into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will take them away prisoners into Babylon and put them to the sword.
4 For Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes will see it. I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them captive to Babylon, and will kill them with the sword.
5 And more than this, I will give all the wealth of this town and all its profits and all its things of value, even all the stores of the kings of Judah will I give into the hands of their haters, who will put violent hands on them and take them away to Babylon.
5 Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all its gains, and all its precious things, yes, I will give all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies. They will make them captives, take them, and carry them to Babylon.
6 And you, Pashhur, and all who are in your house, will go away prisoners: you will come to Babylon, and there your body will be put to rest, you and all your friends, to whom you said false words.
6 You, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house will go into captivity. You will come to Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.’”
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.
7 Yahweh, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded. You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day. Everyone mocks me.
8 For every word I say is a cry for help; I say with a loud voice, Violent behaviour and wasting: because the word of the Lord is made a shame to me and a cause of laughing all the day.
8 For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, “Violence and destruction!” because Yahweh’s word has been made a reproach to me, and a derision, all day.
9 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.
9 If I say that I will not make mention of him, or speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones. I am weary with holding it in. I can’t.
10 For numbers of them say evil secretly in my hearing (there is fear on every side): they say, Come, let us give witness against him; all my nearest friends, who are watching for my fall, say, It may be that he will be taken by deceit, and we will get the better of him and give him punishment.
10 For I have heard the defaming of many: “Terror on every side! Denounce, and we will denounce him!” say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall. “Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him.”
11 But the Lord is with me as a great one, greatly to be feared: so my attackers will have a fall, and they will not overcome me: they will be greatly shamed, because they have not done wisely, even with an unending shame, kept in memory for ever.
11 But Yahweh is with me as an awesome mighty one. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they won’t prevail. They will be utterly disappointed because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which will never be forgotten.
12 But, O Lord of armies, testing the upright and seeing the thoughts and the heart, let me see your punishment come on them; for I have put my cause before you.
12 But Yahweh of Armies, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for I have revealed my cause to you.
13 Make melody to the Lord, give praise to the Lord: for he has made the soul of the poor man free from the hands of the evil-doers.
13 Sing to Yahweh! Praise Yahweh, for he has delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evildoers.
14 A curse on the day of my birth: let there be no blessing on the day when my mother had me.
14 Cursed is the day in which I was born. Don’t let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed.
15 A curse on the man who gave the news to my father, saying, You have a male child; making him very glad.
15 Cursed is the man who brought news to my father, saying, “A boy is born to you,” making him very glad.
16 May that man be like the towns overturned by the Lord without mercy: let a cry for help come to his ears in the morning, and the sound of war in the middle of the day;
16 Let that man be as the cities which Yahweh overthrew, and didn’t repent. Let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime,
17 Because he did not put me to death before my birth took place: so my mother's body would have been my last resting-place, and she would have been with child for ever.
17 because he didn’t kill me from the womb. So my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great.
18 Why did I come from my mother's body to see pain and sorrow, so that my days might be wasted with shame?
18 Why did I come out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Immer
Pashhur
The priest and chief official in the house of the LORD who struck Jeremiah and put him in the stocks.
Cited in the guide: Jeremiah 20:1; Jeremiah 20:3; Jeremiah 20:6
Cross references (18)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Ezra 2:37–38; 1 Chronicles 24:14; 2 Kings 25:18; Nehemiah 7:40–41; Acts 5:24
- 2 Jeremiah 37:13; Jeremiah 1:19; Zechariah 14:10; 2 Chronicles 16:10; Jeremiah 36:26
- 3 Jeremiah 20:10; Jeremiah 46:5; Lamentations 2:22; Psalm 31:13; Jeremiah 6:25
- 4 Jeremiah 29:21; Jeremiah 25:9; Jeremiah 32:27–31; Jeremiah 21:4–10; Jeremiah 39:6–7
- 5 Jeremiah 15:13; Ezekiel 22:25; 2 Chronicles 36:10; 2 Kings 20:17–18; Lamentations 1:10
- 6 Jeremiah 14:14–15; Lamentations 2:14; Jeremiah 20:4; Ezekiel 22:28; 2 Peter 2:1–3
- 7 Lamentations 3:14; Jeremiah 20:9; Psalm 22:6–7; Hosea 9:7; Ezekiel 3:14
- 8 2 Chronicles 36:16; Jeremiah 6:10; Jeremiah 5:15–17; Jeremiah 5:1; Jeremiah 28:8
- 9 Psalm 39:3; Job 32:18–20; Acts 4:20; 1 Corinthians 9:16–17; Acts 17:16
- 10 Psalm 41:9; Psalm 31:13; Isaiah 29:21; Jeremiah 18:18; Proverbs 10:18
- 11 Jeremiah 1:19; Jeremiah 1:8; Jeremiah 15:20; Jeremiah 17:18; Isaiah 41:10
- 12 Jeremiah 11:20; Psalm 62:8; Psalm 54:7; Jeremiah 17:10; Psalm 59:10
- 13 Isaiah 25:4; Psalm 69:33; Psalm 35:9–11; Psalm 72:4; Psalm 34:6
- 14 Jeremiah 15:10; Job 3:3–16
- 15 Jeremiah 1:5; Luke 1:14; Genesis 21:5–6
- 16 Jeremiah 18:22; Jeremiah 48:3–4; Deuteronomy 29:23; Luke 17:29; Ezekiel 21:22
- 17 Job 10:18–19; Job 3:10–11; Job 3:16; Ecclesiastes 6:3
- 18 Job 3:20; Job 14:1; Lamentations 3:1; 1 Peter 4:14–16; 1 Corinthians 4:9–13
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences