---
title: "Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations, Volume 3"
author: "John Calvin"
translator: "John Owen"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Commentaries"
section: 79 of 88
url: https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-jeremiah-and-lamentations-volume-3/79/
cite: "John Calvin, tr. John Owen, Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations, Volume 3, section 79. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-jeremiah-and-lamentations-volume-3/79/"
---

# Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations, Volume 3

*John Calvin, tr. John Owen*

Calvin on Jeremiah and Lamentations, volume 3 of 5.

## 79. Chapter 20

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-jeremiah-and-lamentations-volume-3/79/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-jeremiah-and-lamentations-volume-3/79/#p-N

[¶0] 1 And Pashur the son of Immer the priest, (and he was a governor in the Temple of Jehovah,) heard Jeremiah prophesying these words:

[¶1] 2 And Pashur smote Jeremiah the Prophet, and put him in the prison which was in the higher gate of Benjamin, opposite the house of Jehovah.

[¶2] 3 And it happened the day after, that Pashur brought out Jeremiah from prison; and Jeremiah said to him, — Not Pashur has Jehovah called thy name, But terror on every side:

[¶3] 4 For thus saith Jehovah, — Behold, I will make thee a terror To thyself and to all thy friends; And fall shall they by the sword of thine enemies, While thine eyes are looking on; And all Judah will I deliver Into the hand of the king of Babylon; And he shall carry them into Babylon, And shall smite them with the sword:

[¶4] 5 And I will give up all the strength of this city, And all its labor and its every precious thing; And all the treasures of the kings of Judah Will I give up into the hands of their enemies; And they shall spoil them and take them away, And they shall lead them into Babylon.

[¶5] 6 And thou, Pashur, and all the inhabitants of thy house, Go shall ye into captivity; Thou shalt come to Babylon, and there die, And there shalt thou be buried and thy friends, To whom thou hast falsely prophesied.

[¶6] 7 Thou hast deceived me, Jehovah, and I was deceived; Thou hast constrained me and didst prevail; I am become a scorn all the day, All make a mock of me;

[¶7] 8 For from the time I have spoken, I cried aloud against violence, And devastation have I proclaimed: Because the word of Jehovah became to me A reproach and derision all the day,

[¶8] 9 Therefore I said, I will not mention him, Nor speak any more in his name: But it became in my heart as a burning fire, Closed up in my bones; And I was wearied with forbearing, And I did not prevail.

[¶9] 10 For I heard the slander of many, Terror on every side, “Report ye, and we will report to him:” All my friends watch for my haltings — “He may go astray, then we shall prevail against him, And take our revenge on him.”

[¶10] 11 But Jehovah is with me as a terrible giant; Therefore my persecutors shall fall and not prevail; They shall be greatly ashamed, for they shall not succeed; It will be a perpetual reproach Which shall not be forgotten.

[¶11] 12 But thou, Jehovah of hosts, Art he who provest the righteous, Who seest the reins and the heart; I shall see thy vengeance on them, For to thee have I opened my cause.

[¶12] 13 Sing ye to Jehovah, praise ye Jehovah, For he has rescued the soul of the distressed From the hand of the wicked.

[¶13] 14 Cursed be the day on which I was born; The day on which my mother bare me, Let it not be blessed:

[¶14] 15 Cursed be the man who told my father, Saying, “Born to thee is a male child,” Who with joy made him joyful;

[¶15] 16 And let that man be as the cities, Which Jehovah destroyed and repented not; And let him hear a cry in the morning, And a tumult at noontide.

[¶16] 17 Why hast thou not slain me from the womb? That my mother might be my grave, Or her womb a perpetual conception?

[¶17] 18 Why from the womb did I come forth, That I might see trouble and sorrow; That my days might be consumed in reproach!