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Read the Bible

Brenton's Septuagint

Jeremiah 20:7

Thou hast deceived me, O Lord, and I have been deceived: thou hast been strong, and has prevailed: I am become a laughing-stock, I am continually mocked every day.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Babylon;   Blasphemy;   Jeremiah;   Persecution;   Thompson Chain Reference - Derision;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Scorning and Mocking;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Prayer;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Insult;   Jeremiah;   Prayer;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Jeremiah;   Prayer;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Deceivableness;   Jeremiah (2);   Laughing-Stock;   Laughter;   Mock;   Prophecy;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived.You seized me and prevailed.I am a laughingstock all the time;everyone ridicules me.
Hebrew Names Version
LORD, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded; you are stronger than I, and have prevailed: I am become a laughing-stock all the day, every one mocks me.
King James Version
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.
English Standard Version
O Lord , you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me.
New American Standard Bible
LORD, You persuaded me and I let myself be persuaded; You have overcome me and prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; Everyone mocks me.
New Century Version
Lord , you tricked me, and I was fooled. You are stronger than I am, so you won. I have become a joke; everyone makes fun of me all day long.
Amplified Bible
[Jeremiah said,] O LORD, You have persuaded me and I was deceived; You are stronger than I and You have prevailed. I am a laughingstock all day long; Everyone mocks me.
World English Bible
Yahweh, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded; you are stronger than I, and have prevailed: I am become a laughing-stock all the day, every one mocks me.
Geneva Bible (1587)
O Lorde, thou hast deceiued me, and I am deceiued: thou art stronger then I, and hast preuailed: I am in derision daily: euery one mocketh me.
Legacy Standard Bible
O Yahweh, You have enticed me, and I was enticed;You were stronger than I, and You prevailed.I have become a laughingstock all day long;Everyone mocks me.
Berean Standard Bible
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.
Contemporary English Version
You tricked me, Lord , and I was really fooled. You are stronger than I am, and you have defeated me. People never stop sneering and insulting me.
Complete Jewish Bible
You fooled me, Adonai ; I have been your dupe. You overpowered me, and you have prevailed. All day long I'm a laughingstock; everyone makes fun of me.
Darby Translation
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.
Easy-to-Read Version
Lord , you tricked me, and I certainly was fooled. You are stronger than I am, so you won. I have become a joke. People laugh at me and make fun of me all day long.
George Lamsa Translation
O LORD, thou hast comforted me, and I am comforted; thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed; I have become a laughing-stock daily, every one mocks me.
Good News Translation
Lord , you have deceived me, and I was deceived. You are stronger than I am, and you have overpowered me. Everyone makes fun of me; they laugh at me all day long.
Lexham English Bible
You have persuaded me, O Yahweh, and I was persuaded. You have overpowered me, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long. Everyone is mocking me.
Literal Translation
O Jehovah, You have deceived me; yea, I was deceived. You are stronger than I, and You have prevailed. I am in derision all the day; everyone laughs at me.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
O LORDE, thou makest me weake, but thou refreshest me, & makest me stronge agayne. All the daye longe am I despysed, and laughed to scorne of euery man:
American Standard Version
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.
Bible in Basic English
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.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
O LORD, Thou hast enticed me, and I was enticed, Thou hast overcome me, and hast prevailed; I am become a laughing-stock all the day, every one mocketh me.
King James Version (1611)
O Lord, thou hast deceiued me, and I was deceiued, thou art stronger then I, and hast preuailed: I am in derision daily, euery one mocketh me.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
O Lord, if I am deceaued, then hast thou deceaued me, thou enforcedst me, and hast preuayled: dayly am I despised and laughed to scorne of euery man.
English Revised Version
O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am become a laughingstock all the day, every one mocketh me.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Lord, thou disseyuedist me, and Y am disseyued; thou were strongere than Y, and thou haddist the maistrie; Y am maad in to scorn al dai.
Update Bible Version
O Yahweh, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded; you are stronger than I, and have prevailed: I have become a laughing-stock all the day, every one mocks me.
Webster's Bible Translation
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.
New English Translation
Lord , you coerced me into being a prophet, and I allowed you to do it. You overcame my resistance and prevailed over me. Now I have become a constant laughingstock. Everyone ridicules me.
New King James Version
O LORD, You induced me, and I was persuaded; You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I am in derision daily; Everyone mocks me.
New Living Translation
O Lord , you misled me, and I allowed myself to be misled. You are stronger than I am, and you overpowered me. Now I am mocked every day; everyone laughs at me.
New Life Bible
O Lord, You have lied to me and I was fooled. You are stronger than I, and have had power over me. I have been laughed at all day. Everyone makes fun of me.
New Revised Standard
O Lord , you have enticed me, and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Thou didst persuade me, O Yahweh and I was persuaded, Thou didst lay firm hold on me and didst prevail, - I am become a mockery, all the day, Every one, is laughing at me.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Thou hast deceived me, O Lord, and I am deceived: thou hast been stronger than I, and thou hast prevailed. I am become a laughingstock all the day, all scoff at me.
Revised Standard Version
O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived; thou art stronger than I, and thou hast prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; every one mocks me.
Young's Literal Translation
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,
THE MESSAGE
You pushed me into this, God , and I let you do it. You were too much for me. And now I'm a public joke. They all poke fun at me. Every time I open my mouth I'm shouting, "Murder!" or "Rape!" And all I get for my God -warnings are insults and contempt. But if I say, "Forget it! No more God -Messages from me!" The words are fire in my belly, a burning in my bones. I'm worn out trying to hold it in. I can't do it any longer! Then I hear whispering behind my back: "There goes old ‘Danger-Everywhere.' Shut him up! Report him!" Old friends watch, hoping I'll fall flat on my face: "One misstep and we'll have him. We'll get rid of him for good!"
New American Standard Bible (1995)
O LORD, You have deceived me and I was deceived; You have overcome me and prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; Everyone mocks me.

Contextual Overview

7 Thou hast deceived me, O Lord, and I have been deceived: thou hast been strong, and has prevailed: I am become a laughing-stock, I am continually mocked every day. 8 For I will laugh with my bitter speech, I will call upon rebellion and misery: for the word of the Lord is become a reproach to me and a mockery all my days. 9 Then I said, I will by no means name the name of the Lord, and I will no more at all speak in his name. But it was a burning fire flaming in my bones, and I am utterly weakened on all sides, and cannot bear up. 10 For I have heard the reproach of many gathering round, saying, Conspire ye, and let us conspire together against him, even all his friends: watch his intentions, if perhaps he shall be deceived, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall be avenged on him. 11 But the Lord was with me as a mighty man of war: therefore they persecuted me, but could not perceive anything against me; they were greatly confounded, for they perceived not their disgrace, which shall never be forgotten. 12 O Lord, that provest just deeds, understanding the reins and hearts, let me see thy vengeance upon them: for to thee I have revealed my cause. 13 Sing ye to the Lord, sing praise to him: for he has rescued the soul of the poor from the hand of evil-doers.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

deceived: or, enticed, Jeremiah 1:6-8, Jeremiah 1:18, Jeremiah 1:19, Jeremiah 15:18, Jeremiah 17:16, Exodus 5:22, Exodus 5:23, Numbers 11:11-15

thou art: Jeremiah 20:9, Ezekiel 3:14, Micah 3:8, 1 Corinthians 9:6

I am: Jeremiah 15:10, Jeremiah 29:26, 2 Kings 2:23, Psalms 22:6, Psalms 22:7, Psalms 35:15, Psalms 35:16, Psalms 69:9-12, Lamentations 3:14, Hosea 9:7, Luke 16:14, Luke 22:63, Luke 22:64, Luke 23:11, Luke 23:35, Luke 23:36, Acts 17:18, Acts 17:32, 1 Corinthians 4:9-13, Hebrews 11:36

Reciprocal: Genesis 19:14 - as one 2 Chronicles 36:16 - mocked Psalms 94:19 - General Psalms 119:51 - proud Isaiah 8:11 - with a strong hand Isaiah 28:22 - be ye Isaiah 29:21 - and lay Jeremiah 17:15 - General Jeremiah 20:8 - the word Jeremiah 23:33 - What Jeremiah 45:3 - Woe Lamentations 3:59 - thou hast Ezekiel 7:7 - the day Amos 5:10 - hate Jonah 1:3 - to flee Jonah 4:2 - he prayed Matthew 27:29 - platted 1 Corinthians 9:16 - for 2 Corinthians 7:8 - though I did

Cross-References

Genesis 2:17
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—of it ye shall not eat, but in whatsoever day ye eat of it, ye shall surely die.
Genesis 12:15
that the princes of Pharao saw her, and praised her to Pharao and brought her into the house of Pharao.
Genesis 12:17
And God afflicted Pharao with great and severe afflictions, and his house, because of Sara, Abram’s wife.
Genesis 20:1
And Abraam removed thence to the southern country, and dwelt between Cades and Sur, and sojourned in Gerara.
Genesis 20:2
And Abraam said concerning Sarrha his wife, She is my sister, for he feared to say, She is my wife, lest at any time the men of the city should kill him for her sake. So Abimelech king of Gerara sent and took Sarrha.
Genesis 20:3
And God came to Abimelech by night in sleep, and said, Behold, thou diest for the woman, whom thou hast taken, whereas she has lived with a husband.
Genesis 20:4
But Abimelech had not touched her, and he said, Lord, wilt thou destroy an ignorantly sinning and just nation?
Genesis 20:5
Said he not to me, She is my sister, and said she not to me, He is my brother? with a pure heart and in the righteousness of my hands have I done this.
Genesis 20:6
And God said to him in sleep, Yea, I knew that thou didst this with a pure heart, and I spared thee, so that thou shouldest not sin against me, therefore I suffered thee not to touch her.
Genesis 20:9
And Abimelech called Abraam and said to him, What is this that thou hast done to us? Have we sinned against thee, that thou hast brought upon me and upon my kingdom a great sin? Thou hast done to me a deed, which no one ought to do.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived,.... What follows from hence to the end of the chapter is thought to have been said by the prophet, when in the stocks, or in prison, and shows mixture of grace and corruption in him; a struggle between flesh and spirit, and the force of a temptation under which he laboured, arising from difficulties and discouragements in his work; and he not only complains to God, but of him; that he had deceived him, when he first called him to be a prophet, by telling him that he should be set over nations and kingdoms, to pull them down, Jeremiah 1:10; which he understood of foreign nations, but now found his own people were meant, so Jerom; or in not immediately executing the threatenings he sent him with; as was the case of Jonah; or by giving him reason to expect honour and ease, whereas he met with nothing but disrespect and trouble; and that he should have divine protection and success against his opposers, Jeremiah 1:18; whereas he was now delivered into their hands, and used in the most reproachful manner; but be it so, this was all a mistake of the prophet, and no deception of God. Calvin takes it to be ironically spoken, expressing the sense of his enemies, who charging him with a deception, tacitly charged God with being the author of it. Others, to soften the expression, render the words, "if thou hast deceived me, I am deceived"; or, "thou hast deceived me if I am deceived" y. But it seems best of all to translate them, as they will hear it, "O Lord, thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded" z; so the word is used of God in Genesis 9:27; "God shall enlarge" or "persuade Japheth"; see also Hosea 2:14, where it is rendered allure; and then the sense is, thou hast persuaded me to take upon me the prophetical office against my will, and against remonstrances made by me; and I was persuaded by thy words and promises, and by thy spirit and grace, to enter upon it; to which sense the following words incline:

thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed; so strong were the arguments, motives, and inducements the Lord made use of; so pressing his injunctions and commands; so forcible the constraints of his spirit; that the prophet was obliged to yield unto them, and was made willing in the day of his power to comply, though first it was sore against his will; but he could not withstand the divine call, and therefore might have hoped, since it was so manifest that he was sent of God, and did not run of himself, that he should have met with a better reception, and more success; but so it was not:

I am in derision daily, everyone mocketh me; he was the laughing stock of everyone of the people of Israel, from the highest to the lowest; princes, priests, and people, all derided him and his prophecies, and that continually, every day, and all the day long, and especially when he was in the stocks; though it was not only his person they mocked, but the word of the Lord by him, as appears from Jeremiah 20:8.

y פתיתני יהוה ואפת "Domine si ego sim seductus, tu es qui me seduxit", Genevenses; "pellexisti me, quando pellectus sum", Junius Tremellius sic Syr. "tu decepisti me, si deceptus sim; quidam" in Gataker. z "Persuasisti mihi, O Jehovah, et persuasus sum", Luther, Piscator, Schmidt.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In the rest of the chapter we have an outbreak of deep emotion, of which the first part ends in a cry of hope Jeremiah 20:13, followed nevertheless by curses upon the day of his birth. Was this the result of feelings wounded by the indignities of a public scourging and a night spent in the stocks? Or was it not the mental agony of knowing that his ministry had (as it seemed) failed? He stands indeed before the multitudes with unbending strength, warning prince and people with unwavering constancy of the national ruin that would follow necessarily upon their sins. Before God he stood crushed by the thought that he had labored in vain, and spent his strength for nothing.

It is important to notice that with this outpouring of sorrow Jeremiah’s ministry virtually closed. Though he appeared again at Jerusalem toward the end of Jehoiakim’s reign, yet it was no longer to say that by repentance the national ruin might be averted. During the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the die was cast, and all the prophet henceforward could do, was to alleviate a punishment that was inevitable.

Jeremiah 20:7

Thou hast deceived me ... - What Jeremiah refers to is the joy with which he had accepted the prophetic office Jeremiah 15:16, occasioned perhaps by taking the promises in Jeremiah 1:18 too literally as a pledge that he would succeed.

Thou art stronger than I - Rather, “Thou hast taken hold of me.” God had taken Jeremiah in so firm a grasp that he could not escape from the necessity of prophesying. He would have resisted, but the hand of God prevailed.

I am in derision daily - literally, “I am become a laughing-stock all the day, i. e., peripetually.

Jeremiah 20:8

Translate,” For as often as I speak, I must complain; I call out, Violence and spoil.”

From the time Jeremiah began to prophesy, he had had reason for nothing but lamentation. Daily with louder voice and more desperate energy he must call out “violence and spoil;” as a perpetual protest against the manner in which the laws of justice were violated by powerful men among the people.

Jeremiah 20:9

Seeing that his mission was useless, Jeremiah determined to withdraw from it.

I could not stay - Rather, “I prevailed not,” did not succeed. See Jeremiah 20:7.

Jeremiah 20:10

The defaming - Rather, “the talking.” The word refers to people whispering in twos and threes apart; in this case plotting against Jeremiah. Compare Mark 14:58.

Report ... - Rather, “Do you report, and we will report him: i. e., they encourage one another to give information against Jeremiah.

My familiars - literally, “the men of my peace” Psalms 41:9. In the East the usual salutation is “Peace be to thee:” and the answer, “And to thee peace.” Thus, the phrase rather means acquaintances, than familiar friends.

Enticed - literally, “persuaded, misled,” the same word as “deceived Jeremiah 20:7.” Compare Mark 12:13-17.

Jeremiah 20:11

A mighty terrible one - Rather, “a terrible warrior.” The mighty One Isaiah 9:6 who is on his side is a terror to them. This change of feeling was the effect of faith, enabling him to be content with calmly doing his duty, and leaving the result to God.

For ... - Rather, “because they have not acted wisely (Jeremiah 10:21 note), with an everlasting disgrace that shall never be forgotten.”

Jeremiah 20:12

This verse is repeated almost verbatim from Jeremiah 11:20.

Jeremiah 20:13

Sing - Jeremiah’s outward circumstances remained the same, but he found peace in leaving his cause in faith to God.

Jeremiah 20:14

This sudden outbreak of impatience after the happy faith of Jeremiah 20:13 has led to much discussion. Possibly there was more of sorrow in the words than of impatience; sorrow that the earnest labor of a life had been in vain. Yet the form of the expression is fierce and indignant; and the impatience of Jeremiah is that part of his character which is most open to blame. He does not reach that elevation which is set before us by Him who is the perfect pattern of all righteousness. Our Lord was a prophet whose mission to the men of His generation equally failed, and His sorrow was even more deep; but it never broke forth in imprecations. See Luke 19:41-42.

Jeremiah 20:16

The cry - is the sound of the lamentation Jeremiah 20:8; “the shouting” is the alarm of war.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 20:7. 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 Genesis 9:27: God shall enlarge (persuade, margin) Japheth; and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem.


 
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