Jeremiah 20:17

because he did not kill me in the womb so that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb forever enlarged.

Majority Standard Bible

In The King James Version

Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.

In Context

16May that man be like the cities that the LORD overthrew without compassion. May he hear an outcry in the morning and a battle cry at noon,

18Why did I come out of the womb to see only trouble and sorrow, and to end my days in shame?

Read all of Jeremiah 20

Cross References

Job 3:10For that night did not shut the doors of the womb to hide the sorrow from my eyes.

Job 3:16Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight?

Ecclesiastes 6:3A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 20:15-18

The Prophet's Impatient Appeal. ( b. c. 600.) 14 Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed. 15 Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad. 16 And let that man be as the cities which the Lord overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide; 17 Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always… Read the whole commentary →

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Study Jeremiah 20:17