Jeremiah 20:8

Jeremiah 20:8 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
• New International Version (NIV)Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long.
• English Standard Version (ESV)For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, "Violence and destruction!" For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.
• New King James Version (NKJV)For when I spoke, I cried out; I shouted, “Violence and plunder!” Because the word of the Lord was made to me A reproach and a derision daily.

Context of Jeremiah 20:8

6They will also take you, Pashhur, and everybody who lives in your house. They will take you as prisoners to Babylon. You will die there and people will bury you there. The same thing will happen to all your friends. You spoke false messages to these people, as if they were messages from me.” ’ 7Lord, you forced me to become a prophet, and I let you do that. You used your power to make me agree, and you won. Now everybody laughs at me and they insult me. When I speak your message, I have to say, ‘Terrible trouble is coming!’ When I shout that message from the Lord, people laugh at me. They insult me. 9Sometimes I think, ‘I will say nothing about the Lord or his message.’ But then his message burns like a fire inside me. It gives me pain in my mind and my body. I cannot keep his message to myself. I have to speak it. 10I hear what people are saying against me. They say, ‘Terror is all around him! We should tell the officers what he is saying.’ All my friends want me to make a mistake so that they can accuse me. They say, ‘Perhaps we can cause him to say something wrong. Then we will have power over him. We will pay him back for the trouble he has given us.’

Jeremiah 20:8 word by word

כִּֽי־מִדֵּ֤י אֲדַבֵּר֙ אֶזְעָ֔ק חָמָ֥ס וָשֹׁ֖ד אֶקְרָ֑א כִּֽי־הָיָ֨ה דְבַר־יְהוָ֥ה לִ֛י לְחֶרְפָּ֥ה וּלְקֶ֖לֶס כָּל־הַיּֽוֹם׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• For sinceדַּיday · sufficiencyH1767
• I spakeדָבַרdâbar · to speak: speakH1696
• I cried outזָעַקzâ‛aq · to cry outH2199
• I criedקָרָאqârâ' · to call: call outH7121
• violenceחָמָסchâmâs · violenceH2555
• and spoilשֹׁדshôd shôd · violenceH7701
• because the wordדָּבָרdâbâr · wordH1697
• of the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• was made a reproachחֶרְפָּהcherpâh · reproachH2781
• unto me, and a derisionקֶ֫לֶסqeles · derisionH7047
• dailyיוֹםyôm · dayH3117

Cross-references for Jeremiah 20:8

• Jeremiah 4:19I am so upset! My body is shaking with pain. My heart beats hard inside me. I cannot keep still. I cannot keep quiet. I have heard the noise of the enemy's trumpets and the shouts of their soldiers.
• Jeremiah 5:1The Lord said, ‘Run along all the streets of Jerusalem. Look carefully all around you. Look in all the public places of the city. Try to find one person who is honest. Try to find one person who wants to know the truth. If you find one person like that, I will forgive all the people in the city.
• Jeremiah 6:6This will happen because Lord Almighty has said, ‘Cut down the trees around Jerusalem. Use them to build towers to the top of the city's walls. I must punish Jerusalem. It is full of cruel people.
• Jeremiah 7:9You rob people. You murder people. You have sex with someone else's wife or husband. You tell lies in court when you have promised to tell the truth. You offer sacrifices to the false god, Baal. You serve other gods that you never knew before.
• Jeremiah 13:13Then tell them, “Now I will fill all the people who live in this land. I will fill the kings from David's family, the prophets, the priests and the people who live in Jerusalem. Yes, I will fill them all with so much wine that they become drunk!
• Jeremiah 15:1The Lord said to me, ‘Even if Moses and Samuel asked me not to punish these people, I would not agree. I still would not help them. Send them away! I do not want to see them again!
• Jeremiah 17:27But you must remember to obey me. You must keep the Sabbath day as a special day for me. You must not carry any loads in through Jerusalem's gates on a Sabbath day. If you do not obey this rule, I will burn Jerusalem's gates with fire. The fire will destroy all the strong buildings in Jerusalem. Nobody will be able to stop that fire.” ’
• Jeremiah 18:16So I will cause their land to become a terrible place. People will always see how disgusting my people are. Everybody who goes near there will be very surprised. They will shake their heads and they will insult my people.
• Jeremiah 19:7I will spoil all the ideas that the people of Judah and Jerusalem have. In this place I will put them under the power of their enemies. Their enemies will kill them in war. I will give their dead bodies as food to the birds and the wild animals.
• Jeremiah 28:8From long ago, there have been prophets, before you and I became prophets. They often prophesied that war, famine and disease would bring great trouble to many countries and kingdoms.
• Jeremiah 20:7Lord, you forced me to become a prophet, and I let you do that. You used your power to make me agree, and you won. Now everybody laughs at me and they insult me.
• Jeremiah 6:10I replied, ‘If I speak to people and I warn them, nobody will listen to me. They have shut their ears so that they cannot hear. They hate the Lord's message. They do not want to hear it.
• 2 Chronicles 36:16But they laughed at the men that God sent to them. They did not think that his messages were important. They insulted his prophets. Finally, the Lord became very angry with his people. Nothing could stop him from punishing them.
• Lamentations 3:61You have heard their cruel words against me, Lord. Yes, you know about all the bad things that they want to do to me.
• Luke 11:45Then a teacher of God's Law spoke out. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘when you say these things, you are also saying bad things about us.’
• Hebrews 11:26Moses could have been very rich in Egypt. But instead, he let people insult him. He chose to receive trouble because of God's special Messiah. He thought that was worth more than if he had a lot of money. He thought carefully about what God would give him at a future time.

Commentaries on Jeremiah 20:8

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 8I cried violence and spoil - This was the burden of the message thou didst give me.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. 7-13Verses 7-13 The prophet complains of the insult and injury he experienced. But Jr 20:7 may be read, Thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded. Thou wast stronger than I; and didst overpower me by the influence of thy Spirit upon me. So long as we see ourselves in the way of God, and of duty, it is weakness and folly, when we meet with difficulties and discouragements, to wish we had never set out in it. The prophet found the grace of God mighty in him…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 8-9Jeremiah could not stop speaking God's judgment, even though people mocked him for it (see also Job 32:18–20; Psalm 39:1–3; Acts 4:18–20).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 88. Rather, "Whenever I speak, I cry out. Concerning violence and spoil, I (am compelled to) cry out," that is, complain [Maurer]. English Version in the last clause is more graphic, "I cried violence and spoil" (Jr 6:7)! I could not speak in a calm tone; their desperate wickedness compelled me to "cry out." because--rather, "therefore," the apodosis of the previous sentence; because in discharging my prophetic functions, I not merely spake, but cried; and…Read the comment

Topics related to Jeremiah 20:8

• Jeremiah
• Persecution

In the dictionaries

• Derision
• Familiar
• Jeremiah (2)
• 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