“For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.”
My Notes
What Does Jeremiah 20:8 Mean?
Jeremiah describes the unbearable cost of his prophetic ministry: every time he speaks, he cries out about violence and destruction—and the word of the LORD has become a source of mockery directed at him. Daily. Not occasionally. Every day, the word God gives him produces ridicule from the people he's trying to save.
The prophet is trapped between two fires: if he speaks God's word, he's mocked. If he holds it in, it burns inside him like a fire shut up in his bones (the next verse). He can't speak without being ridiculed, and he can't be silent without being consumed. Prophecy has become a prison with no comfortable position.
The word "daily" (kol ha-yom, all the day) describes the relentlessness of the opposition. This isn't an occasional insult. It's a constant, day-after-day experience of being mocked for faithfully delivering God's message. The emotional toll of sustained ridicule for doing the right thing is one of the deepest pains in ministry.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Have you been ridiculed for faithfully doing what you knew was right? How did the daily-ness of it affect you?
- 2.Are you caught between two fires—the pain of speaking truth and the pain of staying silent? Which one are you choosing, and why?
- 3.How do you sustain obedience when the response to your faithfulness is mockery rather than appreciation?
- 4.Jeremiah's truth was mocked daily—and eventually proved devastatingly accurate. How does that long-term vindication help you endure short-term ridicule?
Devotional
Every time Jeremiah opens his mouth, he's mocked. The word of the LORD that he faithfully delivers has become a daily joke at his expense. Violence and destruction is all he prophesies, and nobody wants to hear it. So they laugh at him. Every. Single. Day.
This is one of the loneliest verses in the Bible. Jeremiah isn't being mocked for failing. He's being mocked for faithfully doing what God asked. The message is true. The delivery is obedient. And the response is daily derision. The prophet's reward for faithfulness is ridicule.
If you've ever experienced this—being mocked, dismissed, or ridiculed for saying or doing what you knew was right—Jeremiah is your companion in the suffering. The pain isn't just the mockery itself. It's the daily-ness. The relentlessness. The way it meets you every morning and follows you every evening. You can endure a single insult. A daily campaign of derision is another thing entirely.
And yet Jeremiah can't stop. The next verse reveals why: if he tries to keep silent, the word burns inside him like fire shut up in his bones. He can't speak without pain and can't be silent without pain. If you're caught between those two fires—the pain of speaking truth and the pain of suppressing it—you're in Jeremiah's exact position. The only path through is forward. Keep speaking. The mockery is temporal. The truth is eternal.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
For since I spake, I cried out,.... Or, "when I speak, I cry" (a); whensoever I speak in the name of the Lord, and…
In the rest of the chapter we have an outbreak of deep emotion, of which the first part ends in a cry of hope Jer 20:13,…
Pashur's doom was to be a terror to himself; Jeremiah, even now, in this hour of temptation, is far from being so; and…
Violence and spoil directed generally against himself. Cp. Jer 5:26-28; Jer 9:4.
a reproach unto me, and a derision…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture