Jeremiah 20 explained: A Prophet in Stocks and Despair

Beaten and put in the stocks (vv. 1-2)

Pashhur, the priest in charge of the temple, heard Jeremiah's warning from the previous chapter that Jerusalem would be smashed like a clay jar, and he had him beaten without any proper hearing. The stocks were a wooden frame that held the body in a cramped, painful position, set at a temple gate facing the land of Benjamin, so the punishment was also public shame.

A new name for Pashhur (vv. 3-6)

When released, Jeremiah says God gives Pashhur a new name meaning terror all around, because he will watch his friends die and will himself be taken to Babylon and buried there. The charge is that Pashhur had been telling people lies, apparently reassuring them that no such ruin would come.

Pulled in and mocked (vv. 7-8)

Jeremiah says God overpowered him into this work; the Hebrew word can mean persuaded, enticed or even deceived, and scholars debate how harsh it is meant to sound. Because his message is always about violence and destruction, it has made him a public joke.

A fire he cannot hold in (vv. 9-10)

He tries to stop speaking for God, but the message burns inside him until he cannot keep silent. Meanwhile people, even those he counted as friends, whisper his own warning phrase back at him and wait for him to slip so they can bring charges.

Trust, revenge and praise (vv. 11-13)

He turns to confidence that God stands with him like a strong warrior, and he asks plainly to see God's vengeance on his attackers. Then he breaks into a short song praising God for rescuing people who are powerless against the wicked.

Cursing his own birth (vv. 14-18)

He curses the day he was born and the man who brought his father the happy news, wishing that man the fate of destroyed cities (likely Sodom and Gomorrah) and wishing he himself had died before birth. The words closely echo Job's lament, the chapter ends without resolution, and interpreters are unsure why praise and despair sit side by side.

Key verse: Jeremiah 20:9

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether Jeremiah's accusation that God deceived him and his curse on his own birth are lapses of faith to learn from, or honest prayers the Bible deliberately keeps as an acceptable way to speak to God.

Something to think about

Is there anything you feel you cannot keep quiet about, even when saying it costs you, and where do you think that pull comes from?