Jeremiah 20:11 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 20:11
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.
properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
prosper
הִשְׂכִּ֔ילוּhis.Ki.lu
H7919
to be (causatively · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person common plural
everlasting
עוֹלָ֖םo.Lam
H5769
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
confusion
כְּלִמַּ֥תke.li.Mat
H3639
disgrace · noun, common feminine singular construct
forgotten
תִשָּׁכֵֽחַti.sha.Khe.ach
H7911
to mislay · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Jeremiah 1:19 And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.
Jeremiah 1:8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 15:20 And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for…
Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee…
Jeremiah 17:18 Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them th…
Psalms 40:14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me…
Psalms 6:10 Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed: let them return and be ashamed suddenly.
Psalms 35:26 Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify t…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 20:7-13
Pashur's doom was to be a terror to himself; Jeremiah, even now, in this hour of temptation, is far from being so; and yet it cannot be denied but that he is here, through the infirmity of the flesh, strangely agitated within himself. Good men are but men at the best. God is not extreme to mark what they say and do amiss, and therefore we must not be so, but make the best of it. In these verses it appears that, upon occasion of the great indignation and injury that Pashur did to Jeremiah, there was a struggle in his breast between his graces and his corruptions. His discourse with himself and with his God, upon this occasion, was somewhat perplexed; let us try to methodize it.
I. Here is a s…
not prevail--as they hoped to do (Jer 20:10; Jer 15:20).
prosper--in their plot.
John Gill on Jeremiah 20:11
But the Lord is with me as a mighty terrible one,.... The Targum is,
"the Word of the Lord is for my help.''
"Mighty" to support, uphold, defend, and deliver him; and "terrible" to his enemies. The prophet looks back to the promise the Lord had made him, of his gracious and powerful presence, Jeremiah 1:18; which he now takes comfort from; and it would have been well if he had kept this always in view, and had continued in the same actings of faith and temper of mind: but this lasted not long, as some following verses show;
therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and shall not prevail; though they should very hotly and furiously pursue him, yet they should stumble and fall by the way, and…
Jeremiah 20:11
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.
11. Atqui Jehova mecum tanquam gigas fortis (aut, terribilis;) propterea persecutores mei ruent, et non praevalebunt; pudefient valde, quia non prudenter agunt, (vel, non prospere succedet illis;) opprobrium seculi (id est, perpetuum, subaudiendum est, quod) non oblivioni tradetur.
Here the Prophet sets up God's aid against all the plottings formed against him. However, then, might perfidious friends on one hand try privately to entrap him, an…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 11.) All the men, who were peaceful towards me, and guarding my side: if we are deceived in any way, let us prevail against him, and achieve vengeance from him. But the Lord is with me as a strong warrior. When the adversaries rise up, and former friends and peaceful men turn to war, and they want to set traps for us, let us not be greatly concerned; but let us desire to say this which the Prophet speaks: But the Lord is with me as a strong warrior. Therefore those who persecute me will fall and be weak (or because they have persecuted me and could not understand). Let them be greatly ashamed because they did not understand the everlasting disgrace, which will never be destroyed. Because they have persecuted, they could not understand the prophetic word, and intense confusion followed their ignorance, and they did not understand the everlasting disgrace, which will possess them and will not be erased by any forgetfulness. So let them say what they want, those once peaceful men who guarded my side and desired to deceive, as long as a just man and teacher of the Church after such persecution may obtain such vengeance and rewards.
But Jeremiah says concerning these who conspire, "And the Lord is with me as a mighty warrior." If we become such as we ought to be, and receive that fire coming upon us for our sins, as upon Jeremiah and those like him, the Lord thereafter becomes with us "as a mighty warrior." And "therefore they persecuted and could not understand" [the Jews who persecuted him: "they were greatly ashamed and did not perceive their disgrace," being for so long a time disgraced they do not confess their own sins], because the Lord was with the persecuted one, and the persecuted one cannot come under their power. May it not then be, since many things of Jeremiah are referred to the Savior, that this too can be such? For "Conspire, and let us conspire against him" is said also concerning the Savior. And "the Lord" was with him "as a mighty warrior; therefore they persecuted and could not understand," the Jews who persecuted him; "they were greatly ashamed and did not perceive their disgrace," being for so long a time disgraced they do not confess their own sins, "which through the age shall not be forgotten," but they suppose that in this age their iniquities shall be forgotten. But we see that through the age their iniquities shall not be forgotten, and seeing this we remember the saying, "Be not high-minded, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, how much more" the unnatural ones "will he not spare?"
Dictionary and topics
Jeremiah · persecution — persecution
Power Of God, The · Saints: Have confidence in — Saints: Have confidence in
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Jer 20:1-3
When the chief overseer of the temple, Pashur, heard this prophecy, he had the prophet beaten, and put him over-night in the stocks at the upper gate of Benjamin in the temple. Pashur is by the appellation: son of Immer, distinguished from other priests of this name, e.g., Pashur, son of Malchijah, Ch1 9:12. It cannot be determined whether Immer is here the name of the 16th class of priests (Ch1 24:14) or of one of the greater priestly clans (Ezr 2:37; Neh 7:40). Pashur held the office of פּקיד נגיד, chief overseer in the house of God. נגיד is an official name attached to פּקיד to explain it. In the latter word lies the idea of overseeing, while the former denotes the official sta…
Jeremiah realized that God was like a great warrior standing at his side. Jeremiah’s persecutors were at a real disadvantage and would completely fail.
Rashi on Jeremiah 20:11
for they did not succeed They did not succeed with their plan.
