Jeremiah 20:18

Jeremiah asks why he was born only to face labor, sorrow, and lifelong shame. The lament ends with an unanswered question rather than resolution.

Cross-references · 20

• Job 3:20“Why is light given to him who is in misery, life to the bitter in soul,
• Job 14:1“Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.
• Lam 3:1I am the man that has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
• 1 Pet 4:14–16If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed; because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified.
• Ps 69:19You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor. My adversaries are all before you.
• 1 Cor 4:9–13For, I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men.
• Ps 90:9–10For all our days have passed away in your wrath. We bring our years to an end as a sigh.
• Job 14:13“Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would keep me secret, until your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
• Lam 1:12“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look, and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which is brought on me, with which Yahweh has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
• 2 Tim 1:12For this cause I also suffer these things. Yet I am not ashamed, for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed to him against that day.
• Heb 11:36Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment.
• Heb 13:13Let us therefore go out to him outside of the camp, bearing his reproach.
• Acts 5:41They therefore departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for Jesus’ name.
• Heb 10:36For you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise.
• Isa 51:7“Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law: Don’t fear the reproach of men, and don’t be dismayed at their insults.
• John 16:20Most certainly I tell you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.
• Gen 3:16–19To the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bear children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
• Heb 12:2looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
• Isa 1:6From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it: wounds, welts, and open sores. They haven’t been closed, neither bandaged, neither soothed with oil.
• Jer 8:18Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! My heart is faint within me.

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.