Jeremiah 20:18

Jeremiah 20:18 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
• New International Version (NIV)Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?
• English Standard Version (ESV)Why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and spend my days in shame?
• New King James Version (NKJV)Why did I come forth from the womb to see labor and sorrow, That my days should be consumed with shame?

Context of Jeremiah 20:18

16May the Lord destroy that man, as he completely destroyed those cities long ago. I want that man to hear people who are weeping in the morning. I want him to hear the noise of battles at noon. 17He should have killed me before I was born. I should have died inside my mother. She would have held me inside her. That would have been my grave for ever. I should have stayed in that safe place. In my life, I only receive trouble and pain. When I die, all I will have is shame.

Jeremiah 20:18 word by word

לָ֤מָּה זֶּה֙ מֵרֶ֣חֶם יָצָ֔אתִי לִרְא֥וֹת עָמָ֖ל וְיָג֑וֹן וַיִּכְל֥וּ בְּבֹ֖שֶׁת יָמָֽי׃ פRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Wherefore came I forthיָצָאyâtsâ' · to come out: produceH3318
• out of the wombרֶ֫חֶםrechem · wombH7358
• to seeרָאָהrâ'âh · to see: seeH7200
• labourעָמָל‛âmâl · troubleH5999
• and sorrowיָגוֹןyâgôn · sorrowH3015
• that my daysיוֹםyôm · dayH3117
• should be consumedכָּלָהkâlâh · to end: expendH3615
• with shameבֹּ֫שֶׁתbôsheth · shameH1322

Cross-references for Jeremiah 20:18

• Job 3:20I am suffering very much. Why does God let me wake up each day? I am very upset, so why does God continue to let me live?
• Job 14:1Everyone that a woman gives birth to lives only for a short time. The days of his life are full of trouble.
• Lamentations 3:1I am the man who has seen trouble. God punished me because he was angry with me.
• Jeremiah 8:18I said, ‘I am very sad and upset. I will never get better again.
• Genesis 3:16God said to the woman, ‘I will cause you to have great pain when you give birth to children. You will want to please your husband. But he will rule over you as your master.’
• Psalms 90:10The number of our days make 70 years, or maybe 80 years if we are strong enough. But even in the best years of our lives, we have trouble and pain. Our lives quickly pass, and we hurry towards death.
• Lamentations 1:12‘Come and really look at me! All you people who pass me do not show any interest in me. But you have never seen anything as sad as I am. The Lord was very angry with me. So it was the Lord who did this to me.
• John 16:20I tell you this: You will be sad and you will cry. But the people who belong to this world will be happy. Yes, you will be sad. But soon after that, you will become happy instead.
• Hebrews 10:36You need to be patient and strong. Then you will continue to do what God wants. As a result, you will receive what God has promised.
• Psalms 69:19God, you know that people are insulting me. They laugh at me to make me feel ashamed. You can see what all my enemies are doing.
• Isaiah 1:6From the bottom of your feet, to the top of your head, everywhere hurts! There are wounds all over your body that are still bleeding. Nobody has cleaned your wounds or covered them. Nobody has put olive oil on them to make them better.
• Isaiah 61:7You will not be ashamed any more. Instead, you will receive twice as much blessing. People will not say that you are useless. Instead, you will live happily on your own land. Yes, my people will have twice the crops from their land, And so they will always be very happy.
• Acts 5:41The apostles went away from the meeting of the Jewish leaders. They were very happy because they thought to themselves, ‘These leaders have done bad things to us because we obey Jesus. That shows that God accepts us as his people.’
• 1 Corinthians 4:9This is what I think: as apostles, God has put us last of everyone. People see us like we are prisoners at the end of the line. They are taking us to die in a public place. Everybody in the world has come to look at us, both people and angels.
• 2 Timothy 1:12That is why I have these troubles. But I am not ashamed to be in prison. I have believed in Christ and I know him well. I know that I can trust him to keep his message safe. God has given me the authority to speak that message to people at this time. Christ has the power to keep it safe until that great day when he comes back.
• Hebrews 11:36Other people who trusted God received insults. Some of them were hit with whips. Enemies of God tied these people up and they put them in prison.

Commentaries on Jeremiah 20:18

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 18Wherefore came I forth - It would have been well had I never been born, as I have neither comfort in my life, nor comfort in my work.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 7-18Verses 7-18 In the rest of the chapter we have an outbreak of deep emotion, of which the first part ends in a cry of hope Jeremiah 20:13, followed nevertheless by curses upon the day of his birth. Was this the result of feelings wounded by the indignities of a public scourging and a night spent in the stocks? Or was it not the mental agony of knowing that his ministry had (as it seemed) failed? He stands indeed before the multitudes with unbending…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 14-18Verses 14-18 When grace has the victory, it is good to be ashamed of our folly, to admire the goodness of God, and be warned to guard our spirits another time. See how strong the temptation was, over which the prophet got the victory by Divine assistance! He is angry that his first breath was not his last. While we remember that these wishes are not recorded for us to utter the like, we may learn good lessons from them. See how much those who think they…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 17-18Jeremiah felt his life had no purpose.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 14-1814-18. The contrast between the spirit of this passage and the preceding thanksgiving is to be explained thus: to show how great was the deliverance (Jr 20:13), he subjoins a picture of what his wounded spirit had been previous to his deliverance; I had said in the time of my imprisonment, "Cursed be the day"; my feeling was that of Job (Job 3:3, 10, 11, whose words Jeremiah therefore copies). Though Jeremiah's zeal had been stirred up, not so much for…Read the comment

Topics related to Jeremiah 20:18

• Birthday
• Jeremiah
• Life
• Murmuring

In the dictionaries

• Derision
• Familiar
• Genesis
• Jeremiah (2)
• Job, Book of
• Shame
• Uriah; Uruah

Commentaries on Jeremiah 20

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings