Shared Word Translation
Jeremiah 20
Jeremiah’s Complaint
You enticed me, O LORD, and I was enticed;
you overpowered me and prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all the day;
everyone mocks me.
For whenever I speak, I cry out;
I proclaim, “Violence and destruction!”
For the word of the LORD has become for me
a reproach and derision all the day.
If I say, “I will not mention 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 of holding it in,
and I cannot.
For I hear the whispering of many:
“Terror on every side!
Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”
All my close friends
watch for my stumbling:
“Perhaps he will be enticed,
and we can prevail against him
and take our revenge on him.”
The LORD Is with Me
But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble,
and they will not prevail.
They will be greatly put to shame,
for they will not succeed;
their everlasting disgrace
will not be forgotten.
O LORD of Hosts, who tests the righteous,
who sees the kidneys and the heart,
let me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.
Sing to the LORD;
praise the LORD!
For he has delivered the life of the needy
from the hand of evildoers.