What is the meaning of Jeremiah 20:17? “because he did not kill me in the womb, so that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb forever enlarged.” Because he did not kill me in the womb • Jeremiah has just been beaten and put in stocks (Jeremiah 20:2). Overwhelmed, he echoes Job’s cry (Job 3:11) and wishes life had ended before birth. • This raw lament is not approval of taking innocent life; Scripture elsewhere affirms that God knits the child together in the womb (Psalm 139:13; Jeremiah 1:5). The prophet is wrestling with pain, not revising God’s moral order. • Hard seasons can draw similar thoughts from faithful people—Elijah asked to die (1 Kings 19:4), Paul “despaired of life” (2 Corinthians 1:8). The verse reminds us that believers may feel crushed yet are not abandoned. so that my mother might have been my grave • The image of the womb as a tomb intensifies the sorrow. Jeremiah imagines a burial place that spares him the hostility he now faces (compare Job 10:18-19; Ecclesiastes 4:2-3). • He is not cursing his mother; he is lamenting the world’s sin that makes death seem preferable to life (Romans 8:22). • Even here, God’s hand is evident: the prophet can only picture such an alternative because God first granted life. Scripture consistently teaches that life and death are in the Lord’s hands (Deuteronomy 32:39). and her womb forever enlarged • An “enlarged” womb that never delivers pictures unending gestation—permanent pregnancy without the joy of birth. Jeremiah longs for an existence that never stepped into the brokenness of the world. • The phrasing echoes images of insatiable places like Sheol that are never satisfied (Proverbs 30:15-16). His despair feels endless, yet the very exaggeration shows how deeply suffering can cloud perspective. • God alone can close or open the womb (1 Samuel 1:5-6); by referencing an eternally open womb, Jeremiah implicitly acknowledges the Lord’s ultimate control even while venting anguish. summary Jeremiah 20:17 captures a faithful servant’s darkest valley. Under persecution he wishes he had died before birth, picturing his mother’s womb as an eternal grave. The verse validates honest lament while upholding the sanctity of life taught elsewhere in Scripture. Though despairing, Jeremiah’s cry is still directed to the God who formed him, reminding us that even when anguish peaks, the Creator remains sovereign, attentive, and ready to restore hope (Lamentations 3:21-23). |
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