Jeremiah 20:15
New International Version
Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, who made him very glad, saying, “A child is born to you—a son!”

New Living Translation
I curse the messenger who told my father, “Good news—you have a son!”

English Standard Version
Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, “A son is born to you,” making him very glad.

Berean Standard Bible
Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, saying, “A son is born to you,” bringing him great joy.

King James Bible
Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad.

New King James Version
Let the man be cursed Who brought news to my father, saying, “A male child has been born to you!” Making him very glad.

New American Standard Bible
Cursed be the man who brought the news To my father, saying, “A boy has been born to you!” And made him very happy.

NASB 1995
Cursed be the man who brought the news To my father, saying, “A baby boy has been born to you!” And made him very happy.

NASB 1977
Cursed be the man who brought the news To my father, saying, “A baby boy has been born to you!” And made him very happy.

Legacy Standard Bible
Cursed be the man who brought the good news To my father, saying, “A baby boy has been born to you!” And made him very glad.

Amplified Bible
Cursed be the man who brought the news To my father, saying, “A son has been born to you!” Making him very glad.

Christian Standard Bible
May the man be cursed who brought the news to my father, saying, “A male child is born to you,” bringing him great joy.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
May the man be cursed who brought the news to my father, saying, “A male child is born to you,” bringing him great joy.

American Standard Version
Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man-child is born unto thee; making him very glad.

Contemporary English Version
Put a curse on the man who told my father, "Good news! You have a son."

English Revised Version
Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Cursed is the man who made my father very happy with the news that he had just become the father of a baby boy.

Good News Translation
Curse the one who made my father glad by bringing him the news, "It's a boy! You have a son!"

International Standard Version
Cursed is the person who brought the good news to my father, "A baby boy has been born to you," making him very happy.

Majority Standard Bible
Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, saying, “A son is born to you,” bringing him great joy.

NET Bible
Cursed be the man who made my father very glad when he brought him the news that a baby boy had been born to him!

New Heart English Bible
Cursed is the man who brought news to my father, saying, A boy is born to you; making him very glad.

Webster's Bible Translation
Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A male child is born to thee; making him very glad.

World English Bible
Cursed is the man who brought news to my father, saying, “A boy is born to you,” making him very glad.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
Cursed [is] the man who bore tidings [to] my father, "" Saying, “A male child has been born to you,” "" Making him very glad!

Young's Literal Translation
Cursed is the man who bore tidings to my father, saying, 'Born to thee hath been a child -- a male,' Making him very glad!

Smith's Literal Translation
Cursed the man who announced to my father, Good news; saying, A son, a male was born to thee; with rejoicing, making him rejoice.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Cursed be the man that brought the tidings to my father, saying: A man child is born to thee: and made him greatly rejoice.

Catholic Public Domain Version
Cursed is the man who announced it to my father, saying, ‘A male child has been born to you,’ causing him to rejoice with gladness.

New American Bible
Cursed be the one who brought the news to my father, “A child, a son, has been born to you!” filling him with great joy.

New Revised Standard Version
Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, saying, “A child is born to you, a son,” making him very glad.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A son is born to you, making him very glad.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Cursed is the man who brought news to my father and said to him “A son is born to you!”, and announced news of his joy with rejoicing!
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
Cursed be the man who brought tidings To my father, saying: 'A man-child is born unto thee'; Making him very glad.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Cursed be the man who brought the glad tidings to my father, saying, A male child is born to thee.
Audio Bible



Context
Jeremiah's Complaint
14Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me never be blessed. 15Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, saying, “A son is born to you,” bringing him great joy. 16May 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,…

Cross References
Job 3:3
“May the day of my birth perish, and the night it was said, ‘A boy is conceived.’

Job 3:11
Why did I not perish at birth; why did I not die as I came from the womb?

Job 3:16
Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight?

Job 10:18-19
Why then did You bring me from the womb? Oh, that I had died, and no eye had seen me! / If only I had never come to be, but had been carried from the womb to the grave.

Job 14:1
“Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.

Ecclesiastes 4:3
But better than both is he who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 6:3
A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

Isaiah 13:18
Their bows will dash young men to pieces; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; they will not look with pity on the children.

Isaiah 47:9
These two things will overtake you in a moment, in a single day: loss of children, and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the potency of your spells.

Lamentations 2:22
You summoned my terrors on every side, as for the day of an appointed feast. In the day of the LORD’s anger no one escaped or survived; my enemy has destroyed those I nurtured and reared.

Matthew 26:24
The Son of Man will go just as it is written about Him, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed. It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

Mark 14:21
The Son of Man will go just as it is written about Him, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

Luke 1:14
He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice at his birth,

Luke 23:29
Look, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore, and breasts that never nursed!’

John 16:21
A woman has pain in childbirth because her time has come; but when she brings forth her child, she forgets her anguish because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.


Treasury of Scripture

Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born to you; making him very glad.

A man.

Jeremiah 1:5
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Genesis 21:5,6
And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him…

Luke 1:14
And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.

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Jeremiah 20
1. Pashur, smiting Jeremiah, receives a new name, and a fearful doom.
7. Jeremiah complains of contempt;
10. of treachery;
14. and of his birth.














Cursed be the man
The word "cursed" in Hebrew is "אָרוּר" (arur), which signifies a solemn invocation of divine judgment upon someone. In the context of Jeremiah, this curse reflects the prophet's deep anguish and despair. Jeremiah, often called the "weeping prophet," faced immense persecution and personal suffering. This phrase underscores the intensity of his emotional turmoil, as he laments the very announcement of his birth. It is a hyperbolic expression of his distress, not a literal wish for harm upon the messenger.

who brought my father the news
The act of bringing news, especially of a birth, was traditionally a moment of joy and celebration in ancient cultures. The Hebrew word for "news" is "בְּשֹׂרָה" (besorah), which can also mean "good news" or "glad tidings." In this context, however, the announcement becomes a source of regret for Jeremiah. This reflects the prophet's profound sense of isolation and the burden of his prophetic mission, which has turned what should have been a joyful occasion into a source of lament.

saying, 'A son is born to you,'
The birth of a son in ancient Israel was often seen as a blessing and a continuation of the family line. Sons were particularly valued for their role in providing for the family and carrying on the family name. The Hebrew word for "son" is "בֵּן" (ben), which is a term of endearment and significance. Jeremiah's lamentation here is deeply personal, as he questions the very purpose of his existence given the suffering he endures. It highlights the tension between cultural expectations of joy at a son's birth and the personal reality of Jeremiah's life.

bringing him great joy
The phrase "great joy" in Hebrew is "שִׂמְחָה גְדוֹלָה" (simchah gedolah). Joy, or "שִׂמְחָה" (simchah), is a central theme in the Hebrew Scriptures, often associated with God's blessings and favor. However, Jeremiah's use of this phrase is deeply ironic. The joy that should accompany the birth of a son is overshadowed by the prophet's profound sense of despair and the heavy burden of his calling. This contrast serves to emphasize the depth of Jeremiah's suffering and the cost of his prophetic ministry.

(15) Making him very glad.--The memory, or rather the thought of that day, the joy of father and another when their child was born (John 16:21) was wanted, as in the irony of destiny, to add the keenest pang to the misery of the present. The "sorrow's crown of sorrow" was found in remembering happier days. We note the same tenderness turned to bitterness as in Jeremiah 15:10. The day of his birth was to him a day of darkness and not of light.



Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Cursed be
אָר֣וּר (’ā·rūr)
Verb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - masculine singular
Strong's 779: To execrate

the man
הָאִ֗ישׁ (hā·’îš)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 376: A man as an individual, a male person

who
אֲשֶׁ֨ר (’ă·šer)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

brought
בִּשַּׂ֤ר (biś·śar)
Verb - Piel - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1319: To be fresh, full, cheerful), to announce

my father {the news},
אָבִי֙ (’ā·ḇî)
Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 1: Father

saying,
לֵאמֹ֔ר (lê·mōr)
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“A son
זָכָ֑ר (zā·ḵār)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2145: Remembered, a male

is born
יֻֽלַּד־ (yul·laḏ-)
Verb - QalPass - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3205: To bear young, to beget, medically, to act as midwife, to show lineage

to you,”
לְךָ֖ (lə·ḵā)
Preposition | second person masculine singular
Strong's Hebrew

bringing him great joy.
שַׂמֵּ֖חַ (śam·mê·aḥ)
Verb - Piel - Infinitive absolute
Strong's 8056: Glad, joyful, merry


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OT Prophets: Jeremiah 20:15 Cursed be the man who brought news (Jer.)
Jeremiah 20:14
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