Devine Scripture

Jeremiah 20:17

What does Jeremiah 20:17 mean?

A plain-English look at Jeremiah 20:17 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

because he slew me not from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

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.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

because he slew me not from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

Because he did not put me to death before my birth took place: so my mother's body would have been my last resting-place, and she would have been with child for ever.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

Because he hath not put me to death from the womb, And my mother is to me--my grave, And her womb a pregnancy age-during.

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

Who slew me not from the womb, that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb an everlasting conception.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

because he slew me not from the womb. Or would that my mother had been my grave, and her womb always great [with me]!

Context

v.16And let that man be as the cities which Jehovah overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime;

v.17This passage

v.18Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Job 3:16

    Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, As infants that never saw light.

  • Ecclesiastes 6:3

    If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul be not filled with good, and moreover he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he:

  • Job 3:10

    Because it shut not up the doors of mymother’swomb, Nor hid trouble from mine eyes.

  • Job 10:18

    Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me.

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