Jeremias 20:18
Why came I out of the womb, to see labour and sorrow, and that my days should be spent in confusion?
Open Jeremias 20:18 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Quare de vulva egressus sum, ut viderem laborem et dolorem, et consumerentur in confusione dies mei ?
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἵνα τί τοῦτο ἐξῆλθον ἐκ μήτρας τοῦ βλέπειν κόπους καὶ πόνους, καὶ διετέλεσαν ἐν αἰσχύνῃ αἱ ἡμέραι μου;
- Hebrew (WLC)
- לָ֤מָּה זֶּה֙ מֵרֶ֣חֶם יָצָ֔אתִי לִרְא֥וֹת עָמָ֖ל וְיָג֑וֹן וַיִּכְל֥וּ בְּבֹ֖שֶׁת יָמָֽי
The Fathers on this verse
Clement of Alexandria The Stromata, or Miscellanies, Book III
“Exsecranda” autem “dies in qua natus sum, et ut non sit optanda,” inquit Jeremias: non absolute exsecrandam dicens generationem, sed populi peccata ægre ferens et inobedientiam. Subjungit itaque: “Cur enim natus sum ut viderem labores et dolores, et in perpetuo probro fuerunt dies mei?” Quin etiam omnes, qui prædicabant veritatem, propier eorum, qui audiebant, inobedientiam, quæ rebantur ad pœnam, et veniebant in periculum. “Cur enim non fuit uterus matris meæ sepulcrum, ne viderem affiictionem Jacob et laborera generis Isræl?” ait Esdras propheta. “Nullus est a sorde mundus,” ait Job, “nee si sit quidera una dies vita ejus.” Dicant ergo nobis, ubi fornicatus est infans natus? vel quomodo sub Adæcecidit exsecrationem, qui nihil est operatus? Restat ergo eis, ut videtur, consequenter, ut dicant malam esse generationem, non solum corporis, sed etiam animæ, per quam exsistit corpus. …
St Jerome Against the Pelagians, Book II
xx. 14, 17, 18 . Cursed be the day wherein I was born, etc.
St Ambrose On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus, Book II. On the Belief in the Resurrection
125. Wherefore holy men have not without reason often lamented their lengthy dwelling here: David lamented it, Jeremiah lamented it, and Elijah lamented it. If we believe wise men, and those in whom the Divine Spirit dwelt, they were hastening to better things; and if we enquire as to the judgment of others, that we may ascertain that all agree in one opinion, what great men have preferred death to sorrow, what great men have preferred it to fear! esteeming forsooth the fear of death to be worse than death itself. So death is not feared on account of evils which belong to it, but is preferred to the miseries of life, since the departure of the dying is desired and the dread of the living is avoided.