Jeremiah 20:7-8

Jeremiah Complains about the Reaction to His Ministry

20:7 Lord, you coerced me into being a prophet,

and I allowed you to do it.

You overcame my resistance and prevailed over me. ¹ 

Now I have become a constant laughingstock.

Everyone ridicules me.

20:8 For whenever I prophesy, ²  I must cry out, ³ 

“Violence and destruction are coming!” ⁴ 

This message from the Lord ⁵  has made me

an object of continual insults and derision.

Isaiah 5:19

5:19 They say, “Let him hurry, let him act quickly, ⁶ 

so we can see;

let the plan of the Holy One of Israel ⁷  take shape ⁸  and come to pass,

then we will know it!”

Ezekiel 12:22

12:22 “Son of man, what is this proverb you have in the land of Israel, ‘The days pass slowly, and every vision fails’?

Ezekiel 12:27-28

12:27 “Take note, son of man, the house of Israel is saying, ‘The vision that he sees is for distant days; he is prophesying about the far future.’ 12:28 Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: None of my words will be delayed any longer! The word I speak will come to pass, declares the sovereign Lord.’”

Amos 5:18

The Lord Demands Justice

5:18 Woe ⁹  to those who wish for the day of the Lord!

Why do you want the Lord’s day of judgment to come?

It will bring darkness, not light.

Amos 5:2

5:2 “The virgin ¹⁰  Israel has fallen down and will not get up again.

She is abandoned on her own land

with no one to help her get up.” ¹¹ 

Amos 3:3-4

3:3 Do two walk together without having met? ¹² 

3:4 Does a lion roar in the woods if he has not cornered his prey? ¹³ 

Does a young lion bellow from his den if he has not caught something?

[20:7]  ¹ tn The translation is admittedly interpretive but so is every other translation that tries to capture the nuance of the verb rendered here “coerced.” Here the Hebrew text reads: “You [ – ]ed me and I let myself be [ – ]ed. You overpowered me and prevailed.” The value one assigns to [ – ] is in every case interpretive based on what one thinks the context is referring to. The word is rendered “deceived” or “tricked” by several English versions (see, e.g., KJV, NASB, TEV, ICV) as though God had misled him. It is rendered “enticed” by some (see, e.g., NRSV, NJPS) as though God had tempted him with false hopes. Some go so far as to accuse Jeremiah of accusing God of metaphorically “raping” him. It is true that the word is used of “seducing” a virgin in Exod 22:15 and that it is used in several places to refer to “deceiving” someone with false words (Prov 24:28; Ps 78:36). It is also true that it is used of “coaxing” someone to reveal something he does not want to (Judg 14:15; 16:5) and of “enticing” someone to do something on the basis of false hopes (1 Kgs 22:20-22; Prov 1:10). However, it does not always have negative connotations or associations. In Hos 2:14 (2:16 HT) God “charms” or “woos” Israel, his estranged ‘wife,’ into the wilderness where he hopes to win her back to himself. What Jeremiah is alluding to here is crucial for translating and interpreting the word. There is no indication in this passage that Jeremiah is accusing God of misleading him or raising false hopes; God informed him at the outset that he would encounter opposition (1:17-19). Rather, he is alluding to his call to be a prophet, a call which he initially resisted but was persuaded to undertake because of God’s persistence (Jer 1:7-10). The best single word to translate ‘…’ with is thus “persuaded” or “coerced.” The translation spells out the allusion explicitly so the reader is not left wondering about what is being alluded to when Jeremiah speaks of being “coerced.” The translation “I let you do it” is a way of rendering the Niphal of the same verb which must be tolerative rather than passive since the normal passive for the Piel would be the Pual (See IBHS 389-90 §23.4g for discussion and examples.). The translation “you overcame my resistance” is based on allusion to the same context (1:7-10) and the parallel use of חָזַק (khazaq) as a transitive verb with a direct object in 1 Kgs 16:22.

[20:8]  ² tn Heb “speak,” but the speaking is in the context of speaking as a prophet.

[20:8]  ³ tn Heb “I cry out, I proclaim.”

[20:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “Violence and destruction.”

[20:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “the word of the Lord.” For the use of כִּי…כִּי (ki…ki) here in the sense of “for…and” see KBL 432 s.v. כּי 10.

[5:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “let his work hurry, let it hasten.” The pronoun “his” refers to God, as the parallel line makes clear. The reference to his “work” alludes back to v. 12, which refers to his ‘work” of judgment. With these words the people challenged the prophet’s warning of approaching judgment. They were in essence saying that they saw no evidence that God was about to work in such a way.

[5:19]  ⁷ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[5:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “draw near” (so NASB); NRSV “hasten to fulfillment.”

[5:18]  ⁹ tn The term הוֹי (hoy, “woe”) was used when mourning the dead (see the note on the word “dead” in 5:16). The prophet here either engages in role playing and mourns the death of the nation in advance or sarcastically taunts those who hold to this misplaced belief.

[5:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “young lady.” The term “Israel” is an appositional genitive.

[5:2]  ¹¹ tn Or “with no one to lift her up.”

[3:3]  ¹² sn The rhetorical questions in vv. 3-5 expect the answer, “No, of course not!” Those in v. 6 anticipate the answer, “Yes, of course they do/he is.” They all draw attention to the principle of cause and effect and lay the logical foundation for the argument in vv. 7-8. Also note the progression from a general question in v. 3 to the “meetings” of two animals (v. 4), to that of an animal and a human trap (v. 5), to a climax with the confrontation with the Lord (v. 6). Each of these meetings is disastrous.

[3:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “without having prey [or “food”].”