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Jeremiah 20:3

On the next day, Pashhur released Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, “Yahweh has not called your name Pashhur, but Magormissabib.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    On the next day, Pashhur released Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, “Yahweh has not called your name Pashhur, but Magormissabib.

  • KJV King James Version

    And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magor-missabib.

  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashhur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him: 'The LORD hath not called thy name Pashhur, but Magormissabib.

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Cross-references (17)

Passages linked to Jeremiah 20:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • Jeremiah 20:10 For I have heard the defaming of many, “Terror on every side! Denounce, and we will denounce him!” say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall. “Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him.”
  • Psalms 31:13 For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side, while they conspire together against me, they plot to take away my life.
  • Jeremiah 46:5 Why have I seen it? They are dismayed and are turned backward. Their mighty ones are beaten down, have fled in haste, and don’t look back. Terror is on every side,” says Yahweh.
  • Lamentations 2:22 “You have called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my terrors on every side. There was no one that escaped or remained in the day of Yahweh’s anger. My enemy has consumed those whom I have cared for and brought up.
  • Isaiah 8:3 I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. Then Yahweh said to me, “Call his name ‘Maher Shalal Hash Baz.’
  • Jeremiah 6:25 Don’t go out into the field or walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and terror are on every side.
  • Genesis 17:5 Your name will no more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
  • Genesis 17:15 God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah.
  • Genesis 32:28 He said, “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
  • Jeremiah 7:32 Therefore behold, the days come”, says Yahweh, “that it will no more be called ‘Topheth’ or ‘The valley of the son of Hinnom’, but ‘The valley of Slaughter’; for they will bury in Topheth until there is no place to bury.
  • Jeremiah 19:2 and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I will tell you.
  • Jeremiah 19:6 Therefore, behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that this place will no more be called ‘Topheth’, nor ‘The Valley of the son of Hinnom’, but ‘The valley of Slaughter’.
  • Jeremiah 29:29 Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.
  • Hosea 1:4-9 Yahweh said to him, “Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease. It will happen in that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.” She conceived again, and bore a daughter. Then he said to him, “Call her name Lo-Ruhamah; for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, that I should in any way pardon them. But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by Yahweh their God, and will not save them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen.” Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived, and bore a son. He said, “Call his name Lo-Ammi; for you are not my people, and I will not be yours.
  • Acts 4:5-7 In the morning, their rulers, elders, and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and as many as were relatives of the high priest. When they had stood Peter and John in the middle of them, they inquired, “By what power, or in what name, have you done this?”
  • Acts 16:30 brought them out, and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
  • Acts 16:35-39 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, “Let those men go.” The jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go; now therefore come out and go in peace.” But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly without a trial, men who are Romans, and have cast us into prison! Do they now release us secretly? No, most certainly, but let them come themselves and bring us out!” The sergeants reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, and they came and begged them. When they had brought them out, they asked them to depart from the city.

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

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Explain this verse (18 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain No doubt Pashur called other priests to examine the…

No doubt Pashur called other priests to examine the case. It was, indeed, a specious pretense, for he seemed as though he did not wish to condemn the holy Prophet hastily, or without hearing his defense. But Jeremiah only says briefly that he was brought out of prison: we at the same time gather that he was not dismissed, for he was summoned before Pashur to give a reason for his prophecy.

But here the Prophet shews that he was not cast down or disheartened, though he had been most contemptuously treated; he bore patiently the buffetings and stripes he had received, and also his incarceration. We know that such outrages are so bitter to ingenuous minds, that they can hardly sustain them. But Jeremiah teaches us, by his own example, that our constancy and firmness ought not to be weakened though the whole world loaded or almost overwhelmed us with reproaches. We ought, then, to understand that courage of mind ought not to fail or be weakened in God’s servants, however wickedly and contumeliously they may be treated by the world. For Jeremiah, when he came out of prison, spoke more boldly than before; nor was he beyond the reach of danger. Courage increases when one obtains the victory, and he can then safely and securely insult his enemies; but Jeremiah was yet a captive, though he had been brought out of prison, and he might have been afterwards cast there again and treated more cruelly than before. But neither the wrong he had received, nor the fear of new contumely, deterred him from denouncing God’s judgment on the ungodly priest. Such magnanimity becomes all God’s servants, so that they ought not to feel shame, nor grow soft, nor be disheartened, when the world treats them with indignity and reproach; nor ought they to fear any dangers, but advance courageously in the discharge of their office.

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It must in the second place be noticed, — that God’s Prophet here closes his eyes to the splendor of the priestly office, which otherwise might have hindered him to denounce God’s judgment,. And this ought to be carefully observed; for we know the ungodly he hid under masks, as the case is in the present day with the Pope and all his filthy clergy: for what do they allege but the name of Catholic Church and perpetual priesthood and apostolical dignity? Doubtless, Pashur was of the priestly order; but what the Papacy is, the Scripture neither mentions nor teaches, except that it condemns it as altogether filthy and abominable. And the Levitical priesthood, as I have said, was founded on God’s Law; and yet Jeremiah, guided by the command of God, hesitated not severely to reprove the priest and to treat him as he deserved. It is, therefore, then only that we tightly and faithfully discharge the prophetic office, when we shew no respect of persons, and disregard those external masks by which the ungodly deceive the simple, and are haughty towards God while they falsely pretend his name.

Now he says, Jehovah has called thy name not Pashur, but terror on every side Some render the words, “Because there will be terror to thee on every side;” but incorrectly, for in the next verse a reason is given which explains what the Prophet means. Jeremiah no doubt had a regard to the meaning of the word Pashur, otherwise it would have been unmeaning and even foolish to say, “Thy name shall be called not Pashur, but terror on every side.” Interpreters have expounded the word Pashur as meaning an increasing prince, or one who extends power, deriving it from פשה, peshe, to increase, and transitively, to extend; and they add to it the word שר, sher, which means a prince; and so they render it, a prince extending power, or a prince who increases. But as there is some doubt as to the points, I know not whether this etymology can be maintained. I am more inclined to derive the word from פשח, peshech, to cut or break. It is indeed but once found in this sense in Scripture, but often in the Chaldee language. However this may be, it is taken in this sense once by Jeremiah in the third Chapter of Lamentations. And hence by a metaphor it means to open; and א, aleph, may be deemed quiescent in the second word, so that it means one who breaks or opens the light. The words which follow — “terror on every side” — induce and compel me to give this interpretation. He does not say that he would be a terror on every side; but that terrors surrounded him, מסביב, mesabib, so that there was no escape. As then the name of Pashur was honorable, signifying to open light, he mentions this, (it is indeed a metaphor, by which breaking means opening:) as then he had this name, which means to bring forth light, Jeremiah says, “Thou shalt be called a terror on every side;” that is, a terror that so surrounds all that no escape is possible. We see that the contrast is most suitable between the opening of light and that terror which spread on every side, so that there is no opening and no escape; and the explanation follows:

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Or, fear round about.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 20:3 And it came to pass on the…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Possibly by this time the mad-brained priest thought he…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And it came to pass on the morrow,.... After…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Not called - God's meaning was, not that he…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. The Lord hath not called thy name…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jer 20:3-5. Jeremiah said, The Lord hath not called…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Magor-missabib - See Jer 6:25 note. Jeremiah uses it…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Phassur. This name signifies, increase and principality; and therefore…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Pashur--compounded of two roots, meaning "largeness (and so 'security')…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. Pashur — All is uncertain as to the…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. Magor-missabib] meaning, terror on every side. The LXX…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (3) Magor-missabib.—The words are a quotation from Psa_31:13, and…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Symbolic change of name. Not... Pashur, but Magormissabib; i.e.…
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain i.e. Terror on every side.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 It happened
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 20:3 The Man Who Lives in Terror: Cp. 46:5;…

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