Jeremiah 20:18
◄  Jeremiah 20:18  ►
New International Version (©2011)
Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?

New Living Translation (©2007)
Why was I ever born? My entire life has been filled with trouble, sorrow, and shame.

English Standard Version (©2001)
Why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and spend my days in shame?

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Why did I ever come forth from the womb To look on trouble and sorrow, So that my days have been spent in shame?

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
Why did I come out of the womb to see only struggle and sorrow, to end my life in shame?

International Standard Version (©2012)
Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow, and to finish my life living in shame?

NET Bible (©2006)
Why did I ever come forth from my mother's womb? All I experience is trouble and grief, and I spend my days in shame.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Why did I come out of the womb? All I've seen is trouble and grief. I will finish my days in shame.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
Why came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

American King James Version
Why came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

American Standard Version
Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

Douay-Rheims Bible
Why came I out of the womb, to see labour and sorrow, and that my days should be spent in confusion?

Darby Bible Translation
Wherefore came I forth from the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed in shame?

English Revised Version
Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

Webster's Bible Translation
Why was I brought into the world to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

World English Bible
Why came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

Young's Literal Translation
Why is this? from the womb I have come out, To see labour and sorrow, Yea, consumed in shame are my days!

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

20:14-18 When grace has the victory, it is good to be ashamed of our folly, to admire the goodness of God, and be warned to guard our spirits another time. See how strong the temptation was, over which the prophet got the victory by Divine assistance! He is angry that his first breath was not his last. While we remember that these wishes are not recorded for us to utter the like, we may learn good lessons from them. See how much those who think they stand, ought to take heed lest they fall, and to pray daily, Lead us not into temptation. How frail, changeable, and sinful is man! How foolish and unnatural are the thoughts and wishes of our hearts, when we yield to discontent! Let us consider Him who endured the contradiction of sinners against himself, lest we should be at any time weary and faint in our minds under our lesser trials.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow,.... "Labour" in performing his work and office as a prophet; and "sorrow" in suffering reproach, contempt, and persecution for it; which to avoid, he wishes he had never been born: a sign of a very fretful and impatient spirit, and of a carnal frame. Jarchi thinks this refers to the destruction of the temple;

that my days should be consumed with shame? through the bad usage of him, the reproach that was cast upon him, and the contempt he was had in for prophesying in the name of the Lord. All this shows that there is sin in the best of men, and what they are when left to themselves; how weak, foolish, and sinful they appear. And Jeremiah recording these his sins and failings, is an argument of the uprightness and sincerity of the man, and of the truth of Scripture.

Jeremiah 20:18 Parallel Commentaries
Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible


Jeremiah's Complaint
…16And 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; 17Because 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. 18Why came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

1 Corinthians 4:9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings.
Job 3:20 "Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul,
Job 5:7 Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
Job 14:1 "Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble.
Psalm 69:19 You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed; all my enemies are before you.
Psalm 90:9 All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan.
Psalm 90:10 Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
Psalm 102:3 For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers.
Jeremiah 3:25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our ancestors; from our youth till this day we have not obeyed the LORD our God."
Jeremiah 15:10 Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends! I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me.
Lamentations 3:1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the LORD's wrath.
Habakkuk 1:3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.