English Standard Version

Jeremiah 20:1-10 English Standard Version (ESV)

1. Now Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.

2. Then Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate of the house of the Lord.

3. The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call your name Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side.

4. For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall strike them down with the sword.

5. Moreover, I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon.

6. And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. To Babylon you shall go, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.”

7. O Lord, you have deceived me,and I was deceived; you are stronger than I,and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day;everyone mocks me.

8. 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.

9. If I say, “I will not mention him,or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fireshut up in my bones,and I am weary with holding it in,and I cannot.

10. For I hear many whispering. Terror is on every side!“Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”say all my close friends, watching for my fall.“Perhaps he will be deceived;then we can overcome himand take our revenge on him.”