Jeremiah 20 · Verse 7

Jeremiah 20:7

O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.

Jeremiah 20:7, King James Version

Jeremiah 20:7 in other translations

BSB	You have deceived me, O LORD, and I was deceived. You have overcome me and prevailed. I am a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.
WEB	LORD, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded. You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day. Everyone mocks me.
ASV	O Jehovah, thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded; thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am become a laughing-stock all the day, every one mocketh me.
YLT	Thou hast persuaded me, O Jehovah, and I am persuaded; Thou hast hardened me, and dost prevail, I have been for a laughter all the day, Every one is mocking at me,
DARBY	Jehovah, thou hast enticed me, and I was enticed; thou hast laid hold of me, and hast prevailed; I am become a derision the whole day: every one mocketh me.
BBE	O Lord, you have been false to me, and I was tricked; you are stronger than I, and have overcome me: I have become a thing to be laughed at all the day, everyone makes sport of me.
Webster	O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.

What does Jeremiah 20:7 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

7. Jeremiah's complaint, not unlike that of Job, breathing somewhat of human infirmity in consequence of his imprisonment. Thou didst promise never to give me up to the will of mine enemies, and yet Thou hast done so. But Jeremiah misunderstood God's promise, which was not that he should have nothing to suffer, but that God would deliver him out of sufferings (Jr 1:19). deceived--Others translate as Margin, "Thou hast enticed" or "persuaded me," namely, to undertake the prophetic office, "and I was persuaded," that is, suffered myself to be persuaded to undertake what I find too hard for me. So the Hebrew word is used in a good sense (Ge 9:27, Margin; Pr 25:15; Ho 2:14). stronger than I--Thou whose strength I could not resist hast laid this burden on me, and hast prevailed (hast made me prophesy, in spite of my reluctance) (Jr 1:5-7); yet, when I exercise my office, I am treated with derision (La 3:14).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 7 O Lord, thou hast deceived me - Thou hast promised me protection; and, lo! I am now delivered into the hands of my enemies. These words were probably spoken when Pashur smote him, and put him in prison. I think our translation of this passage is very exceptionable. My old Bible reads, Thou laddist me aside Lord; and I was lad aside. The original word is פתיתני pittithani, thou hast persuaded me, i.e., to go and prophesy to this people. I went, faithfully declared thy message, and now I am likely to perish by their cruelty. As the root פתה pathah signifies to persuade and allure as well as to deceive, the above must be its meaning in this place. Taken as in our Version it is highly irreverent. It is used in the same sense here as in Gen 9:27 : God shall enlarge (persuade, margin) Japheth; and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Jeremiah 20:7-13

The prophet complains of the insult and injury he experienced. But Jr 20:7 may be read, Thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded. Thou wast stronger than I; and didst overpower me by the influence of thy Spirit upon me. So long as we see ourselves in the way of God, and of duty, it is weakness and folly, when we meet with difficulties and discouragements, to wish we had never set out in it. The prophet found the grace of God mighty in him to keep him to his business, notwithstanding the temptation he was in to throw it up. Whatever injuries are done to us, we must leave them to that God to whom vengeance belongs, and who has said, I will repay. So full was he of the comfort of God's presence, the Divine protection he was under, and the Divine promise he had to depend upon, that he stirred up himself and others to give God the glory. Let the people of God open their cause before Him, and he will enable them to see deliverance.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Jeremiah 20:7 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

פִּתִּיתַ֤נִיpi.ti.Ta.niyou deceived meH6601

יְהוָה֙Yah.wehO YahwehH3068

וָֽאֶפָּ֔תva.'e.Patand I was deceivedH6601

חֲזַקְתַּ֖נִיcha.zak.Ta.niyou prevailed over meH2388

וַתּוּכָ֑לva.tu.Khaland you prevailedH3201

הָיִ֤יתִיha.Yi.tiI have becomeH1961

לִשְׂחוֹק֙lis.chOk<into> a laughing stockH7814

כָּל\־kol-allH3605

הַיּ֔וֹםhai.Yomthe dayH3117

כֻּלֹּ֖הku.Lohall of itH3605

לֹעֵ֥גlo.'Eg[is] mockingH3932

לִֽי\׃Li<to> <the> me

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Jeremiah 20:7

Lamentations 3:14
I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.
Jeremiah 20:9
Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
Psalms 22:6-7
But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
Hosea 9:7
The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.
Ezekiel 3:14
So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me.
Psalms 69:9-12
For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me. When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach. I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them. They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards.
Jeremiah 15:10
Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.
Luke 23:35-36
And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar,
2 Kings 2:23
And he went up from thence unto Beth–el: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.
Exodus 5:22-23
And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.
Jeremiah 17:16
As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before thee.
Jeremiah 15:18
Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

deceived. or, enticed.
1:6-8,18,19; 15:18; 17:16; Ex 5:22,23; Nu 11:11-15
thou art.
9; Eze 3:14; Mic 3:8; 1Co 9:6
I am.
15:10; 29:26; 2Ki 2:23; Ps 22:6,7; 35:15,16; 69:9-12; La 3:14
Ho 9:7; Lu 16:14; 22:63,64; 23:11,35,36; Ac 17:18,32; 1Co 4:9-13
Heb 11:36

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Jeremiah 20:6
And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.
Jeremiah 20:7
O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.
Jeremiah 20:8
For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.

Read all of Jeremiah 20

Jeremiah 20:7 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Alucinásteme, oh Jehová, y hállome frustrado: más fuerte fuiste que yo, y vencísteme: cada día he sido escarnecido; cada cual se burla de mí.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Tu m’as entraîné, ô Éternel! et j’ai été entraîné; tu m’as saisi, et tu as été le plus fort; je suis un objet de dérision tout le jour, chacun se moque de moi.
German Elberfelder 1871	Jehova, du hast mich beredet, und ich habe mich bereden lassen; du hast mich ergriffen und überwältigt. Ich bin zum Gelächter geworden den ganzen Tag, jeder spottet meiner.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Seduxisti me, Domine, et seductus sum: fortior me fuisti, et invaluisti: factus sum in derisum tota die; omnes subsannant me.