New English Translation
Jeremiah 20:14
14Cursed be the day I was born! May that day not be blessed when my mother gave birth to me.
Jeremiah 20:14 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
- New International Version (NIV)Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!
- English Standard Version (ESV)Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed!
- New King James Version (NKJV)Cursed be the day in which I was born! Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me!
Context of Jeremiah 20:14
12O Lord who rules over all, you test and prove the righteous. You see into people’s hearts and minds. Pay them back for what they have done because I trust you to vindicate my cause. 13Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord! For he rescues the oppressed from the clutches of evildoers. Cursed be the day I was born! May that day not be blessed when my mother gave birth to me. 15Cursed be the man who made my father very glad when he brought him the news that a baby boy had been born to him! 16May that man be like the cities that the Lord destroyed without showing any mercy. May he hear a cry of distress in the morning and a battle cry at noon.
Read all of Jeremiah 20Jeremiah 20:14 word by word
אָר֣וּר הַיּ֔וֹם אֲשֶׁ֥ר יֻלַּ֖דְתִּי בּ֑וֹ י֛וֹם אֲשֶׁר־יְלָדַ֥תְנִי אִמִּ֖י אַל־יְהִ֥י בָרֽוּךְ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Jeremiah 20:14
- Jeremiah 15:10I said, “Oh, mother, how I regret that you ever gave birth to me! I am always starting arguments and quarrels with the people of this land. I have not lent money to anyone and I have not borrowed from anyone. Yet all of these people are treating me with contempt.”
- Job 3:3“Let the day on which I was born perish, and the night that said, ‘A man has been conceived!’
Commentaries on Jeremiah 20:14
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 14Cursed be the day wherein I was born - If we take these words literally, and suppose them to be in their proper place, they are utterly inconsistent with that state of confidence in which he exulted a few minutes before. If they are the language of Jeremiah, they must have been spoken on a prior occasion, when probably he had given way to a passionate hastiness. They might well comport with the state he was in Jeremiah 20:9. I really believe these verses…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. 14-18Jeremiah hoped for rescue, but he still faced harsh realities. Surprised by his persecution, he wished he were dead or had never been born (see Jeremiah 16:3–4; Job 3).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 20:14
In the dictionaries
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
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