Jeremiah 20:15
in Jeremiah 20Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, saying, “A son is born to you,” bringing him great joy.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man-child is born unto thee; making him very glad.
KJV
Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad.
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This verse in Jeremiah 20
Commentary
9 notes on this verseCursed be the man who brought tidings to my father,.... The word signifies commonly good tidings, as the news of a child born, and especially a man child, is to its parent. The Septuagint use the same word the angel did, when he brought the tidings of the birth of Christ, Luk 2:10. This was still more foolish and sinful, to curse the man that carried the tidings of his birth to his father; who did a right thing, and what was acceptable, and perhaps might be a good man.
This site's exposition
Cursed be the day I was
on Jeremiah 20:14-18
The praise gives way to the bleakest lament: “Cursed be the day I was born!” He wishes he had died “in the womb so that my mother might have been my grave,” on the pattern of Job 3. The lament ends unanswered, showing the cost of the call at 1:5.
This site's exposition
Cursed be the man who brought
John Gill notes that the word for news usually means good news, the kind a father hears when a son is born to him. Matthew Henry, quoting Gataker, notes that parents often greet a birth with great joy when they would mourn if they foresaw the misery ahead.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Verse 14 and following) Cursed be the day in which I was born, the day in which my mother bore me, let it not be blessed. Cursed be the man (or person) who brought the news to my father, saying, 'A male child is born to you,' and made him rejoice as if with joy. Let that man be like the cities that the Lord overthrew without regret; let him hear the cry in the morning and the wailing at noonday, because he did not kill me from the womb to be my mother's grave, and her womb forever pregnant. Why did I come forth from the womb to see labor and sorrow, and that my days should be consumed in confusion? Those who consider that the souls were in heavenly things, and were precipitated from a better to a worse state, make use of this and similar testimonies, which indeed imply that it is better to dwell in heavenly things than in earthly things and to assume a body of humility: certain new things, or rather old, seeking arguments for their heresy. But we, on the other hand, reading that of the blessed Job: Cursed be the day wherein I was born; and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived (Job 3:3). And cursed is the man who announced to my father, saying, a boy is born to you, we fit this testimony, namely that it is better not to exist than to live in torments, according to what is written: Death is rest for a man, to whom God has closed his way (Sirach. XXII, 11). And again: Why is light given to the miserable, and life to those who are bitter of soul (Job. III, 20)? And in the Gospel we read a simple statement: It would have been better for him if he had not been born (Matthew XXVI, 24): not that there is anyone who has not been born; but that it is better not to exist than to be in a bad state. For it is one thing to not exist at all, another to exist but suffer without any respite, just as we prefer a peaceful death to a miserable life. […]
How much dissatisfaction do we see that even the brief stages of our lives bring on us! The boy longs to be a young man. The young man counts the years when he will be older. The mature man, ungrateful for the blessing of being in the prime of life, eagerly desires the honor associated with old age. Thus, to all there comes naturally a desire for change, simply because we become dissatisfied with what we are now.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), by which it appears that he had sad remainders of corruption in him too, and was a man subject to like passions as we are. The Sin and Doom of Pashur. 1 Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the L ORD , heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Here Mr. Gataker well observes, "That parents are often much rejoiced at the birth of their children when, if they did but foresee what misery they are born to, they would rather lament over them than rejoice in them." He is very free and very fierce in the curses he pronounces upon the messenger of his birth (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A man child is born - Borun is to thee a knave child. - Old MS. Bible. This is the old English word for man or servant; and is so used by Wiclif, Rev 12:6.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The contrast between the spirit of this passage and the preceding thanksgiving is to be explained thus: to show how great was the deliverance (Jer 20:13), he subjoins a picture of what his wounded spirit had been previous to his deliverance;
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Cursed be the day in which I was begotten (engendrer or engenrer in O.F.).
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אָר֣וּר | ʾarur | [be] cursed | H779 → | 63 times |
| הָאִ֗ישׁ | haish | the person | H376 → | 1663 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֨ר | ʾasher | who | H834 → | 5497 times |
| בִּשַּׂ֤ר | bisar | he bore [the] news | H1319 → | |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אָבִי֙ | ʾavi | father my | H1 → | 1212 times |
| לֵאמֹ֔ר | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יֻֽלַּד־ | yulad- | he has been born | H3205 → | 496 times |
| לְךָ֖ | lekha | to <the> you | ||
| בֵּ֣ן | ben | a son | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| זָכָ֑ר | zakhar | a male | H2145 → | |
| שַׂמֵּ֖חַ | sameach | surely <make rejoice> | H8055 → | 155 times |
| שִׂמֳּחָֽהוּ׃ | simochahu | he made rejoice him | H8055 → | 155 times |
אָר֣וּר[be] cursed
ʾarurH779 →63 times
הָאִ֗ישׁthe person
haishH376 →1663 times
אֲשֶׁ֨רwho
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
בִּשַּׂ֤רhe bore [the] news
bisarH1319 →
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
אָבִי֙father my
ʾaviH1 →1212 times
לֵאמֹ֔ר<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
יֻֽלַּד־he has been born
yulad-H3205 →496 times
לְךָ֖to <the> you
lekha
בֵּ֣ןa son
benH1121 →4930 times
זָכָ֑רa male
zakharH2145 →
שַׂמֵּ֖חַsurely <make rejoice>
sameachH8055 →155 times
שִׂמֳּחָֽהוּ׃he made rejoice him
simochahuH8055 →155 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 1:5“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
it leads to
- Psalms 139:16
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.
- Isaiah 49:1
Listen to Me, O islands; pay attention, O distant peoples: The LORD called Me from the womb; from the body of My mother He named Me.
- Galatians 1:15–16
But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased
- Psalms 71:5–6
For You are my hope, O Lord GOD, my confidence from my youth.
- Romans 8:29
For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.
- Psalms 139:16
Through
Luke 1:14He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice at his birth,
it leads to
- Luke 1:58
Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they rejoiced with her.
- Proverbs 23:24
The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice, and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him.
- Genesis 21:6
Then Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.”
- Luke 1:58
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
On this chapter
About Jeremiah

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, On the Death of Satyrus 2.124-25; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
