Jeremiah 20 — WBMS

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20And Pashur, the son of Immer, the priest, that was ordained prince in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremy prophesying these words.^{Verse 2}And Pashur smote Jeremy, the prophet, and sent him into the stocks, that were in the higher gate of Benjamin, in the house of the Lord.^{Verse 3}And when it was clear in the morrow, Pashur led Jeremy out of the stocks. And Jeremy said to him, The Lord called not Pashur thy name, but Dread on each side.^{Verse 4}For the Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall give thee and all thy friends into dread, and they shall fall down by the sword of their enemies; and thine eyes shall see; and I shall give all Judah in the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall lead them over into Babylon, and he shall smite them with sword.^{Verse 5}And I shall give all the chattel [or substance] of this city, and all the travail thereof, and all the price; and I shall give all the treasures of the kings of Judah in the hand of their enemies; and they shall ravish them, and shall take, and lead [them] forth into Babylon.^{Verse 6}Forsooth thou, Pashur, and all the dwellers of thine house, shall go into captivity; and thou shalt come into Babylon, and thou shalt die there; and thou shalt be buried there, thou and all thy friends, to which thou prophesiedest leasing.^{Verse 7}Lord, thou deceivedest me, and I am deceived; thou were stronger than I, and thou haddest the mastery; I am made into scorn all day. All men bemock me,^{Verse 8}for now a while ago I spake, crying [out] wickedness, and I cried destroying. And the word of the Lord is made to me into shame, and into scorn all day.^{Verse 9}And I said, I shall not have mind on him, and I shall no more speak in his name. And the word of the Lord was made, as fire swelling in mine heart, and enclosed in my bones; and I failed, not suffering to bear.^{Verse 10}For I heard despisings of many men, and dread in compass, Pursue ye, and pursue we him, of all men that were peaceable to me, and keeping my side; if in any manner he be deceived, and we have the mastery against him, and get vengeance of him.^{Verse 11}Forsooth the Lord as a strong warrior is with me, therefore they that pursue me shall fall, and they shall be feeble; and they shall be shamed greatly, for they understood not everlasting shame, that shall never be done away.^{Verse 12}And thou, Lord of hosts, the prover of a just [or rightwise] man, which seest the reins and [the] heart, I beseech, see I thy vengeance of them; for I have showed my cause to thee.^{Verse 13}Sing ye to the Lord, praise ye the Lord, for he delivered the soul of a poor man from the hand of evil men.^{Verse 14}Cursed be the day wherein I was born, the day wherein my mother childed me be not blessed.^{Verse 15}Cursed be the man, that told to my father, and said, A knave child is born to thee, and made him glad as with joy.^{Verse 16}That man be as the cities be, which the Lord destroyed, and it repented not him; [Be that man as be the cities, that the Lord turned upside-down, and it repented him not; hear he cry early, and yelling in midday time,]^{Verse 17}he that killed not me from the womb, hear cry early, and yelling in the time of midday; that my mother were [made] a sepulchre to me, and her womb were an everlasting conceiving. [that me he slew not from the privy womb; that made were to me my mother a sepulchre, and her privy womb conceiving everlasting.]^{Verse 18}Why went I out of the womb, that I should see travail and sorrow, and that my days shall be wasted in shame?

Commentary

Jer 20:1-3 When the chief overseer of the temple, Pashur, heard this prophecy, he had the prophet beaten, and put him over-night in the stocks at the upper gate of Benjamin in the temple. Pashur is by the appellation: son of Immer, distinguished from other priests of this name, e.g., Pashur, son of Malchijah, Ch1 9:12. It cannot be determined whether Immer is here the name of the 16th class of priests (Ch1 24:14) or of one of the greater priestly clans (Ezr 2:37; Neh 7:40). Pashur held the office of פּקיד נגיד, chief overseer in the house of God. נגיד is an official name attached to פּקיד to explain it. In the latter word lies the idea of overseeing, while the former denotes the official standing or rank of the overseer. The position of נגיד was a high one, as may be seen from the fact that the priest Zephaniah, who, according to Jer 29:26, held this post, is quoted in Jer 52:24 (Kg2 25:18) as next to the high priest. The compound expression without article implies that there were several נגידים of the temple. In Ch2 35:8 there are three mentioned under Josiah; which is not contradicted by Ch2 31:13; Ch1 9:11; Neh 11:11, where particular persons are called 'נגיד. As chief overseer of the temple, Pashur conceived it to be his duty to take summary magisterial steps against Jeremiah, for his public appearance in the temple. To put this procedure of the priest and temple-warden in its proper light, Jeremiah is designated by the name of his office, הנּביא. (Note: As this official designation of Jeremiah is not found in Jer 1-19, but occurs frequently in the succeeding chapters, recent critics have taken it to be an idle addition of the editor of the later prophecies, and have laid stress on the fact as a proof of the later composition, or at least later editing, of these pieces; cf. Graf, S. xxxix. Ng., etc. This assumption is totally erroneous. The designation of Jeremiah as הנּביא occurs only where the mention of the man's official character was of importance. It is used partly in contradistinction to the false prophets, Jer 28:5-6, Jer 28:10-12, Jer 28:15, to the elders, priests, and false prophets, Jer 29:1, Jer 29:29; Jer 37:3, Jer 37:6,Jer 37:13; Jer 42:2, Jer 42:4, to the king, Jer 32:2; Jer 34:6; Jer 37:2, and partly to distinguish from persons of other conditions in life, Jer 43:6; Jer 45:1; Jer 51:59. We never find the title in the headings of the prophecies save in Jer 25:2, with reference to the fact that here, Jer 20:4, he upbraids the people for not regarding the sayings of all the prophets of the Lord; and in the oracles against foreign peoples, Jer 46:1, Jer 46:13; Jer 47:1; Jer 49:34, and Jer 50:1, where the name of his calling gave him credentials for these prophecies. - There is no further use of the name in the entire book.)

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