CHAPTER 20 Ju1. 30 
Pashhur Puts Jeremiah in Stocks
Now Pashhur the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in the house of Yahweh, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. 2Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of Yahweh. 3It happened on the next day, that Pashhur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, Yahweh has not called your name Pashhur, but Magormissabib. 4For thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself, and to all your friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it; and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall kill them with the sword. 5Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all its gains, and all the precious things of it, yes, all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies; and they shall make them a prey, and take them, and carry them to Babylon. 6You, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house shall go into captivity; and you shall come to Babylon, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.
Jeremiah Complains to God
7Yahweh, you have seduced me, and I was seduced; You are stronger than me, and I am overcome: I am become a laughing-stock all the day, every one mocks me. 8For whenever I speak, I cry out Your word; I cry, Violence and destruction! But the word of Yahweh is made a reproach to me and a derision all the day. 9If I say, I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name; then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I can’t. 10For I have heard the defaming of many, terror on every side. Denounce, and we will denounce him, say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall; Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him. 11But Yahweh is with me as an awesome mighty one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail; they shall be utterly disappointed, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonour which shall never be forgotten. 12But, Yahweh of Armies, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see Your vengeance on them; for to You have I revealed my cause. 13Sing to Yahweh, praise Yahweh; for He has delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evildoers. 14Cursed is the day in which I was born: don’t let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed. 15Cursed is the man who brought news to my father saying, A boy is born to you; making him very glad. 16Let that man be as the cities which Yahweh overthrew, and didn’t relent: and let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime; 17because God didn’t kill me from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great. 18Why came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

Commentary

20:6 Publically, Jeremiah appears bold and undeflected by opposition and persecution. But :7-10 show how internally, he was so sensitive to it all. When we feel the same, we can remember Jeremiah.
20:7 Despite the unity of spirit between God and Jeremiah, the prophets weren’t always forced to say the words. Jeremiah didn’t want to say them at times, the weariness of it all got on top of him; and yet he felt unable to walk away, just as God felt with Israel. But there were times when he outright rebelled. Here Jeremiah complains: “Yahweh, You have seduced me [s.w. Ex. 22:16 of a man seducing a woman], and I was seduced; You are stronger than me [s.w. Dt. 22:15] and I am overcome” (Abraham Heschel’s translation understands “stronger than” to imply rape; most translations are too embarrassed to render the words as they really are). The extreme language isn’t surprising given that Jeremiah was suicidal (:14-18) and likely bi-polar- consider how he oscillates between praise in :13 and a death wish in :14. So here in :7 Jeremiah is saying that he was attracted by God, he was seduced by Him, but then the whole thing became too much- he felt his soul had been inappropriately taken over. And yet in 15:16 he says that he had found God’s word and eaten it of his own freewill, and as a result, “I am called by Your name”- the language of a woman marrying and taking her husband’s name (Is. 4:1). But here, Jeremiah felt he had been forcibly used and not married. He resented the complete takeover of his heart. But he reasons himself through it, until in :13 he can come to again praise Yahweh in ecstasy, and recognize that he had simply revealed to God how he felt in that moment, which God knew anyway because He sees and knows all things (:12).
20:14 Here Jeremiah quotes Job’s words; even in his depression, he perceived the similarities between himself and other depressed Biblical heroes.