Catholic Commentary on Jeremiah 20

“But if I say, 'I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,' his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones.” (Jeremiah 20:9)

Jeremiah's Deepest Lament

Pashhur the priest has Jeremiah beaten and put in stocks. The next day Jeremiah is released and tells Pashhur: the LORD's name for you is not Pashhur but Terror on Every Side. Then the most anguished of all Jeremiah's confessions: you deceived me, LORD, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. But if I say, 'I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,' his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.

The Catechism identifies the fire shut up in Jeremiah's bones as the image of divine compulsion in prophetic vocation: the authentic prophet cannot ultimately choose silence any more than they can choose to stop breathing (CCC 702).

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, the word of God in the heart like a fire shut up in the bones is the most honest description of what it means to be called. The prophet who tries to stop speaking finds the silence worse than the persecution. If you have been given something to say, the attempt to hold it in will burn you from the inside. Speak. The fire is not yours to extinguish.

Prayer

Lord God, let your word in our hearts be like a fire shut up in our bones that we cannot hold in. Give us the courage to speak what cannot be silenced. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

20
Pashhur Persecutes Jeremiah
1 When Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer and the chief official in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, 2 he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.
 
3 The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The LORD does not call you Pashhur, but Magor-missabib.* 20:3 Magor-missabib means terror on every side or the man who lives in terror. 4 For this is what the LORD says: ‘I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies before your very eyes. And I will hand Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will carry them away to Babylon and put them to the sword. 5 I will give away all the wealth of this city-all its products and valuables, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah-to their enemies. They will plunder them, seize them, and carry them off to Babylon. 6 And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, will go into captivity. You will go to Babylon, and there you will die and be buried-you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied these lies.’ ”
Jeremiah’s Complaint
 
7 You have deceived me, O LORD, and I was deceived.
You have overcome me and prevailed.
I am a laughingstock all day long;
everyone mocks me.
8 For whenever I speak, I cry out;
I proclaim violence and destruction.
For the word of the LORD has become to me
a reproach and derision all day long.
 
9 If I say, “I will not mention Him
or speak any more in His name,”
His message becomes a fire burning in my heart,
shut up in my bones,
and I become weary of holding it in,
and I cannot prevail.
10 For I have heard the whispering of many:
“Terror is on every side!
Report him; let us report him!”
All my trusted friends
watch for my fall:
“Perhaps he will be deceived
so that we may prevail against him
and take our vengeance upon him.”
 
11 But the LORD is with me like a fearsome warrior.
Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and will not prevail.
Since they have not succeeded, they will be utterly put to shame,
with an everlasting disgrace that will never be forgotten.
12 O LORD of Hosts, who examines the righteous,
who sees the heart † 20:12 Hebrew kidneys and mind,
let me see Your vengeance upon them,
for to You I have committed my cause.
 
13 Sing to the LORD!
Praise the LORD!
For He rescues the life of the needy
from the hands of evildoers.
 
14 Cursed be the day I was born!
May the day my mother bore me never be blessed.
15 Cursed be the man who brought my father the news,
saying, “A son is born to you,”
bringing him great joy.
16 May that man be like the cities
that the LORD overthrew without compassion.
May he hear an outcry in the morning
and a battle cry at noon,
17 because he did not kill me in the womb
so that my mother might have been my grave,
and her womb forever enlarged.
18 Why did I come out of the womb
to see only trouble and sorrow,
and to end my days in shame?

*20:3 20:3 Magor-missabib means terror on every side or the man who lives in terror.

†20:12 20:12 Hebrew kidneys

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