because he did not kill me in the womb so that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb forever enlarged.
Parallel translations
- WEB because he didn’t kill me from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great.
- KJV Because 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.
- NKJV Because he did not kill me from the womb, That my mother might have been my grave, And her womb always enlarged with me.
- NASB Because he did not kill me before birth, So that my mother would have been my grave, And her womb forever pregnant.
- NLT because he did not kill me at birth. Oh, that I had died in my mother’s womb, that her body had been my grave!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jeremiah wishes he had died in the womb so his mother would have been his grave. He feels that non-existence would have been preferable to a life of such sorrow.
Overview
The prophet's despair reaches its lowest point as he wishes he had never been born alive, echoing Job's similar lament. This is the voice of acute suffering, recorded faithfully rather than commended as right thinking. Even here God's purpose for Jeremiah's life stood firm, reminding us that our worth is anchored in God's calling, not our feelings; the same God who knew Jeremiah in the womb ultimately sent his own Son into the womb to redeem a sorrowing world.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Job 3:10–11For that night did not shut the doors of the womb to hide the sorrow from my eyes.
- Job 10:18–19Why then did You bring me from the womb? Oh, that I had died, and no eye had seen me!
- Job 3:16Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight?
- Eccl 6:3A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 20:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.