O s 1-3-. Pashur's violence.
t -3,4. Pashur and Judah: captives.
t 5. Pashur and Judah: spoils.
s 6. Pashur's end.497 B.C.
Jeremiah 20)
1: Now Pashur (= most noble. The first person named in this book, beside Jeremiah. Not the Pashur of ch.21. This incident is in the 3rd year of Jehoikim, just before Nebuchadnezar comes for the first time. Ch.21 is the latter part of Zedekiah's reign, 19 years later) the son of Immer the priest (the ancestor of the 16th order of priests, 1 Chron. 24:14), who was also chief governor in the house of the Lord (i.e. Pashur), heard that Jeremiah was prophesying these things.
2: Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet (perhaps according to Deut. 25:3), and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin (probably north of the Temple, which looked toward the gate of Benjamin), which was by the house of the Lord.
3: And it came to pass on the next day, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks.
Then said Jeremiah to him, “The Lord has not called your name Pashur (Pashhür is the foreign Aramaic name, given by his parents. Jeremiah takes this Aramaic name and interprets it in Hebrew [as Isaiah had done in 8:1,3]. Pash = to stay, or remain on, gür = to sojourn or wander about in a strange land. Aram. sehõr = Heb. sãbib. Hence, "Your name in not staying on, but wandering about". Cp. v.3 with v.6. The opposite of Isa. 8:1,2), but Magor-missabib. (= terror-round-about, or fear on every side. Cp. v.10; 6:25; 46:5, &c.)
4: For thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself, and to all your friends: and they shall fall by the sword of (some codices read "by the hand of") their enemies, and your eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon (this is the first occ. in Jeremiah), and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword.
5: Moreover I will deliver all the power (or, might, put for the wealth acquired by strength) of this city, and all the labors thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.
6: And you, Pashur, and all that dwell in your house shall go into captivity: and you shall come to Babylon, and there you shall die, and shall be buried there, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied lies.’ ”
P R 7-12. Complaint.
S 13-. Praise to Yahaveh.
S -13. Praise. Reason for it.
R 14-18. Complaint.
R u 7-. Yahaveh. Commission.
v -7,8. Jeremiah. Derision of.
w 9-. Yahaveh's word. Resolve made.
w -9. Yahaveh's word. Resolve useless.
v 10. Jeremiah. Conspiracy against.
u 11,12. Jeremiah. Support.7: O Lord, You have induced me (or, persuaded, in a good sense), and I was persuaded: You are stronger [to hold fast to] than I, and have prevailed:
I am in derision daily, every one is laughing at me.
8: For since I spoke, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the Lord was made a reproach to me, and a derision, daily.
9: Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name.”
But His word became in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
10: For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. “Report,” say they, “and we will report it.” All those whom I am want to salute watched for my halting, saying, “Perhaps he will be persuade, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.”
11: But the Lord is with me as a mighty terrible One: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten. 12: But, O the Lord of hosts, that tests a righteous one, and sees the kidneys and the heart (put for thought), let me see Your vengeance on them: for to You have I opened my cause.
13: Sing to the Lord, praise you all the Lord:
for He has delivered the soul of the helpless from the hand of evildoers.
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 son, a male child is born to you;” (cp. Rev.12:5) making him very glad.
16: And let that man be as the cities which the Lord overthrew (see Gen.19:24), and repented not: and let him hear the cry [of the besieged for help] in the morning, and the shouting [of the besiegers for victory] at noontide; (cp. Ex.32:17,18)
17: 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.
18: Why did I come forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?