Jeremiah 20:12-18

20:12 O 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.

20:13 Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord!

For he rescues the oppressed from the clutches of evildoers.

20:14 Cursed be the day I was born!

May that day not be blessed when my mother gave birth to me.

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!

20:16 May 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.

20:17 For he did not kill me before I came from the womb,

making my pregnant mother’s womb my grave forever.

20:18 Why did I ever come forth from my mother’s womb?

All I experience is trouble and grief,

and I spend my days in shame.