Jeremiah 20:14
Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed!
English Standard Version (ESV)
This page isn't yet indexed by search engines.
What's easy to miss here is the profound connection to Job's lament, revealing this isn't just Jeremiah's raw pain, but an echoing cry of deep suffering across time. This isn't about Jeremiah being inconsistent; it highlights that even those who know God's strength can plunge into despair, finding voice in ancient expressions of utter brokenness.
Jeremiah has just experienced a profound moment of deliverance and expressed deep gratitude to God for His faithfulness in the midst of suffering and opposition. However, this verse reveals a raw, almost jarring shift, as Jeremiah plunges into extreme despair, lamenting his very birth and wishing it had never happened, echoing the anguish found in the book of Job. This outburst isn't a contradiction of his previous praise but shows the intense emotional toll his prophetic calling took, a testament to the immense pressure and suffering he endured from his enemies.
Understand the original words
arar · Hebrew Verb/Adjective
To be under a divine ban or judgment; a state of being separated from God’s favor and excluded from His blessing.
Ask a follow-up
Ask Sola things like:
Live chat about Jeremiah 20:14 is available in the Sola app.
While the verse itself is a powerful expression of personal anguish, it reflects the prophet Jeremiah's profound despair during a time of intense persecution and the impending destruction of Jerusalem, mirroring the language of Job in similar trials.
c. 627 BC
Jeremiah's Call to Prophecy
Jeremiah is called by God to be a prophet to Judah, a time of deep spiritual and political crisis.
c. 609-605 BC
Josiah's Reforms and Death
King Josiah's religious reforms aimed at restoring true worship, but his death in battle against Egypt marked a turning point for Judah.
605 BC
First Deportation to Babylon
King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon conquers Judah and deports a group of elite citizens, including the young man Daniel, to Babylon.
c. 597 BC
Second Deportation to Babylon
Another wave of exiles, including the priest Ezekiel, is deported to Babylon, intensifying the crisis for Judah.
c. 587-586 BC
Fall of Jerusalem
Jerusalem is besieged and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar's army, the Temple israzed, and the majority of the remaining population is exiled.
Likely c. 597-586 BC— this verse
Jeremiah's Imprisonment and Anguish
Jeremiah faces severe opposition, imprisonment, and public ridicule for his prophecies of doom, leading to intense personal suffering and despair.
This passage is a direct parallel where Job, like Jeremiah, curses the day of his birth due to intense suffering and despair, highlighting a shared human experience of profound anguish in the face of hardship.
2 Samuel 1:21David's lament over Saul and Jonathan curses the mountains of Gilboa. This shows a pattern in Scripture where deep sorrow can lead to imprecations against inanimate objects or events, reflecting the overwhelming nature of grief.
Jonah 4:3Jonah, like Jeremiah, expresses a wish for death and curses his own existence due to frustration with God's actions, illustrating how even faithful servants can experience moments of deep despair and questioning.
Romans 7:24Paul's cry, 'Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?' echoes a profound sense of being trapped and desperate, similar to Jeremiah's lament, though Paul ultimately finds deliverance in Christ.
clarkeJeremiah 20:14: "Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed."
Cursed 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…
ellicottJeremiah 20:14: "Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed."
(14) Cursed be the day wherein I was born . . . —The apparent strangeness of this relapse from the confidence of the two previous verses into a despair yet deeper than before is best explained by the supposition that it is in no sense part of the same poem or meditation, but a distinct fragment belonging to the same period, and placed in its present position by Jeremiah himself, or by t…
What's easy to miss here is the profound connection to Job's lament, revealing this isn't just Jeremiah's raw pain, but an echoing cry of deep suffering across time. This isn't about Jeremiah being inconsistent; it highlights that even those who know God's strength can plunge into despair, finding voice in ancient expressions of utter brokenness.
Jeremiah has just experienced a profound moment of deliverance and expressed deep gratitude to God for His faithfulness in the midst of suffering and opposition. However, this verse reveals a raw, almost jarring shift, as Jeremiah plunges into extreme despair, lamenting his very birth and wishing it had never happened, echoing the anguish found in the book of Job. This outburst isn't a contradiction of his previous praise but shows the intense emotional toll his prophetic calling took, a testament to the immense pressure and suffering he endured from his enemies.
Jeremiah has just experienced a profound moment of deliverance and expressed deep gratitude to God for His faithfulness in the midst of suffering and opposition. However, this verse reveals a raw, almost jarring shift, as Jeremiah plunges into extreme despair, lamenting his very birth and wishing it had never happened, echoing the anguish found in the book of Job. This outburst isn't a contradiction of his previous praise but shows the intense emotional toll his prophetic calling took, a testament to the immense pressure and suffering he endured from his enemies.
"Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed!" — What's easy to miss here is the profound connection to Job's lament, revealing this isn't just Jeremiah's raw pain, but an echoing cry of deep suffering across time. This isn't about Jeremiah being i…
Get the original Greek and Hebrew, verse-by-verse context, and related passages inside the app.
