20:14 Cursed be the day I was born!
May that day not be blessed when my mother gave birth to me. 1
20:15 Cursed be the man
who made my father very glad
when he brought him the news
that a baby boy had been born to him! 2
1 sn From the heights of exaltation, Jeremiah returns to the depths of despair. For similar mood swings in the psalms of lament compare Ps 102. Verses 14-18 are similar in tone and mood to Job 3:1-10. They are very forceful rhetorical ways of Job and Jeremiah expressing the wish that they had never been born.
2 tn Heb “Cursed be the man who brought my father the news saying, ‘A son, a male, has been born to you,’ making glad his joy.” This verse has been restructured for English stylistic purposes.