Introduction
We continue with the second part of Chapter 20 in Sefer Yirmiyahu. After Pashchur the son of Immer struck Yirmiyahu and placed him in the stocks, and after Yirmiyahu called him "Magor-missaviv" (terror all around) and prophesied his fate, the prophet begins a series of deeply personal and difficult verses: a lament over his loneliness, the false accusations, and the persecutions, alongside a fierce faith that Hashem stands at his right hand, and finally, the cursing of the day he was born. We will proceed verse by verse, with the commentaries of Rashi, Radak, Metzudat David, and primarily the Malbim, as well as the words of Chazal on the matter.
"For I have heard the slander of many" - The Organized Conspiracy
כִּי שָׁמַעְתִּי דִּבַּת רַבִּים מָגוֹר מִסָּבִיב, הַגִּידוּ וְנַגִּידֶנּוּ, כֹּל אֱנוֹשׁ שְׁלֹמִי שֹׁמְרֵי צַלְעִי, אוּלַי יְפֻתֶּה וְנוּכְלָה לוֹ וְנִקְחָה נִקְמָתֵנוּ מִמֶּנּוּ׃ (י) - "For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side: 'Report, and we will report him!' say all my close friends, watching for my fall: 'Perhaps he will be enticed, and we will prevail against him, and take our revenge upon him.'"
The word dibbah (slander) stems from speech, related to ledovev (to cause to speak). "Defamation" (hotza'at dibbah) also literally means putting forth speech. In other words: I have heard many people talking and whispering against me. Magor denotes an assembly or gathering, and so Rashi asks: What is this gathering? What are the many who whisper around me saying?
"Report, and we will report him" - Rashi cites two explanations. Menachem explains it as related to "do not make cuttings in your flesh" (lo titgodedu), an expression of destruction or cutting, similar to "cut down the tree" (godu ilana). According to this, it means: let us cut him down, let us destroy him. Dunash, however, explains it from the literal sense of speaking and reporting: speak falsehoods about him - and we will report it to the king. In other words, one person fabricates the story, and the others come, spread it, and pass it along.
The Malbim explains: beyond reviling and persecuting me for my words of prophecy, they also spread false slanders about me. And do not think these were just isolated individuals, whose slander people usually ignore - the verse specifies "the slander of many." When it is the slander of many, we all know its power: "What, haven't you heard? Everyone is saying it!" That "everyone is saying it" is more powerful than anything. "They said it on the news" - what more do you need? It is taken as absolute, obvious, without any doubt. Not only that, but "terror all around" (magor missaviv) - this refers to Pashchur, that prominent figure whom Yirmiyahu had called by this name. He, too, is spreading slander about Yirmiyahu. Thus, with both the masses and a powerful leader involved, the slander is undoubtedly accepted. And what do they do? They set up false witnesses against him, saying: you report the slander, and we will pass it along to the king and the judges.
"All my close friends, watching for my fall" - all those who were once my friends, people at peace with me, have now become "watchers of my fall." Tzela denotes failure and stumbling, as in "Yet at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered"; a limping person tilts to the side and is prone to falling. They are waiting for my slip, for my misstep, for my failure - waiting for me to stumble, to utter some out-of-place word, so they can seize upon it.
"Perhaps he will be enticed, and we will prevail against him" - perhaps he will be lured into stumbling over some word, and then we will be able to frame him and bring him down. "And take our revenge upon him" - and why would they seek revenge against him? According to their outlook, he was concocting all this prophecy on his own, inventing all these terrible predictions from his own heart. They therefore believed that he spoke out of malice, and consequently deserved appropriate punishment.
"But Hashem is with me like a mighty warrior" - Trust in Hashem
וַה' אוֹתִי כְּגִבּוֹר עָרִיץ, עַל־כֵּן רֹדְפַי יִכָּשְׁלוּ וְלֹא יֻכָלוּ, בֹּשׁוּ מְאֹד כִּי־לֹא הִשְׂכִּילוּ, כְּלִמַּת עוֹלָם לֹא תִשָּׁכֵחַ׃ (יא) - "But Hashem is with me like a mighty warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will be greatly shamed, for they did not succeed, an everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten."
The Radak explains: they want to kill me, yet I have no fear of them, for the Holy One, blessed be He, already promised me earlier, "They will fight against you, but they will not prevail over you." The Radak brings two explanations for the phrase "Hashem is with me" (VaHashem oti): First, Hashem is with me (iti) like a mighty warrior - meaning I have protection, a bodyguard; a formidable warrior accompanies me constantly, and that is Hashem, may He be blessed. Second, Hashem made me like a mighty warrior - meaning Hashem fortified my strength like that of a mighty warrior. The question is whether "mighty warrior" refers to Hashem or to Yirmiyahu himself. Under both interpretations, the outcome is the same: I have the strength to withstand them, and therefore I am not afraid.
"Therefore my pursuers will stumble and will not prevail" - in the end, the pursuers will not succeed in harming me. "They will be greatly ashamed, for they have not succeeded" - the root haskil denotes success, as the Radak cites: "And David succeeded (maskil) in all his ways", meaning he was successful. All their attempts are doomed to fail, and that in itself is a humiliation for them: they will feel profound shame that despite all their efforts to harm me, they could not succeed. "An everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten" - a humiliation that everyone will remember forever. There are events in history that are never forgotten; just as people mention a "Trojan horse" to describe a brilliant victory achieved through clever stratagem, so too their failure will yet be studied in history books, remaining an eternally remembered disgrace.
The Malbim offers an original interpretation of the word oti: "my sign" (oti - the sign of mine), as in "and it shall be for a sign upon your hand." Hashem, as it were, is my sign, my banner (nes), in the sense of "Raise a banner toward Zion" - where a nes is the mast upon which a flag is hoisted. Hashem is, as it were, emblazoned upon my banner; He is my standard and He fights on my behalf. And because of this, "my pursuers will stumble and will not prevail" to do me any harm. Furthermore, they are destined to be ashamed and disgraced with an everlasting humiliation for having slandered me and fabricated deeds against me that never took place.
And what is the difference between boshu (shame) and kelimah (disgrace)? As we have seen several times above in the Malbim: shame is internal, where a person feels ashamed within himself ("I felt very ashamed" of myself), whereas kelimah is always inflicted by others - one stands humiliated before someone else.
"Examines the Righteous" - The Plea for the Vengeance of the Honor of Heaven
וַה' צְבָאוֹת בֹּחֵן צַדִּיק, רֹאֶה כְלָיוֹת וָלֵב, אֶרְאֶה נִקְמָתְךָ מֵהֶם כִּי אֵלֶיךָ גִּלִּיתִי אֶת־רִיבִי׃ (יב) - But the Lord of Hosts examines the righteous, sees the kidneys and heart; let me see Your vengeance upon them, for unto You have I revealed my grievance.
You, Master of the Universe, know whether a person who appears righteous in the eyes of men is truly so; You know whether his inside matches his outside, whether his heart, thoughts, and deeds are as they seem externally. And if not, the Holy One, blessed be He, exposes his evil deeds. A person acts in secret, and the Holy One proclaims it openly, for better or for worse: the Gemara says that one who learns Torah in secret has his Torah proclaimed and publicized throughout the world; conversely, one who does negative deeds in secret, the Holy One makes him known and exposes it before everyone.
The Malbim explains: since You, Hashem, examine who is truly righteous in judgment, and see the kidneys and heart and discern the thoughts of man, You know that all the slander they fabricated against me is false, and that such things never even entered my thoughts.
This is an important point. The general rule is that "there is no smoke without fire", and the Gemara states that if people are speaking ill of someone, even if he did not actually commit the act, it nevertheless entered his thoughts; he harbored such a plan. On the surface, this sounds shocking: if a falsehood was fabricated against Moshe Rabbeinu, and each man went to warn his wife regarding Moshe as a sotah, did such a thought cross Moshe's mind, Heaven forbid? But in truth, the Gemara clarifies that this rule applies only when a person has no enemies; when he has enemies, however, enemies fabricate things that never entered his thoughts, not even as a passing contemplation.
According to this, we can understand the explanation given for "and they could not speak peaceably to him" regarding Yosef's brothers. Chazal state that whoever does not speak to his fellow for three days is defined as an enemy. The brothers' intention was as follows: Yosef was bringing an evil report about us - "and Yosef brought evil report of them unto their father" - and people would immediately say, "There is no smoke without fire; even if they did not actually do it, it must have crossed their minds." What did the brothers do? They refused to speak with him, and once they did not speak with him for three days, they were halachically categorized as his enemies. Consequently, what he said lost its weight, because when a person has enemies, they fabricate allegations that never even entered his thoughts. Only where one has no enemies does a rumor indicate that there is perhaps a grain of truth, that maybe one harbored such a thought even if he did not act upon it.
Therefore, Yirmiyahu says here: Master of the Universe, You know my righteousness, and the slander they have leveled against me is false; it never even crossed my mind, nor did I ever contemplate what they claim.
"Let me see Your vengeance upon them" - and note the phrasing: not "my vengeance", but "Your vengeance". The Malbim explains: in whose Name do I prophesy? In my own? On whose mission do I go? On my own? It is on Your mission, Master of the Universe! It turns out that when they rise up against me, it is not against me, but against You. If so, take vengeance upon them for the sake of Your own honor. "For unto You have I revealed my grievance" - the entire dispute I have with them is directed toward You, meaning for Your sake. For whose sake am I quarreling with them? For whose sake do I speak harsh words to them? For my own? On the contrary, I would prefer to speak pleasant words to them; do I wish to make myself hated by them? My entire grievance is for Your honor and because of Your mission, and therefore the One Who must settle the score with them is You.
"Sing to Hashem" - The Thanksgiving
שִׁירוּ לַה' הַלְלוּ אֶת ה', כִּי הִצִּיל אֶת נֶפֶשׁ אֶבְיוֹן מִיַּד מְרֵעִים׃ (יג) - Sing to Hashem, praise Hashem, for He has delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evildoers.
In any case, I thank Hashem for saving me from their evil slander, so that they were unable to carry out their scheme.
"Cursed be the day on which I was born"
אָרוּר הַיּוֹם אֲשֶׁר יֻלַּדְתִּי בּוֹ, יוֹם אֲשֶׁר יְלָדַתְנִי אִמִּי אַל יְהִי בָרוּךְ׃ (יד) - Cursed be the day on which I was conceived; let not the day on which my mother bore me be blessed.
"The day on which I was brought forth" (yulladti) - this refers to the day his mother conceived him. For "yulladti" cannot mean "I was born," because immediately afterward he says, "let not the day on which my mother bore me be blessed," which already speaks of the day of birth. Thus: let the day my mother conceived me be cursed, and let the day on which she bore me be cursed as well.
At first glance this is difficult: why does he curse a "day"? With Iyov, we find that he cursed the night: "wherein it was said: A man-child is conceived," which is understandable, since marital relations took place at night and conception occurred at night. However, Chazal explain: when Menasheh was executing the prophets, Yirmiyahu's father, Chilkiyahu, fled and escaped, and his flight took place during the day. Before fleeing, he engaged in marital relations and departed, and from that union Yirmiyahu was conceived. According to this, it is well understood why Yirmiyahu says, "Cursed be the day on which I was brought forth" - the day on which his mother conceived him.
The Radak explains: out of bitterness of soul, the righteous curse the day of their birth, even though a curse cannot actually take effect upon it. Can one really curse yesterday? Yesterday has already passed and is gone; what is there to curse? Nevertheless, he means: that day was inherently cursed, for you see that on that day I came into the world. Iyov said similarly: "Let the day perish wherein I was born." Incidentally, regarding birth there is no difficulty in mentioning a "day," for a woman may give birth during the day as well; the difficulty lies only in referring to conception as a "day," as we explained.
The Malbim explains that the first clause, "Cursed be the day on which I was brought forth," refers to the moment his mother conceived him, and that day was already cursed long before. In what way was it cursed? In accordance with the words of Chazal, on that day Menasheh put the prophets to death - it was a cursed, bitter, and catastrophic day, when the prophets were killed and his father was forced to flee. In other words, Yirmiyahu says: look, I was conceived on a day that was already cursed from of old. According to this, the Malbim does not need Radak's question at all - how one can curse a day that has already passed - because Yirmiyahu is not actively cursing the day, but rather observing that this day was already cursed in its own right, having been a day of slaughter for the prophets.
The same applies to the day of his birth: Chazal explain that Yirmiyahu was born on Tisha B'Av, the day on which the Beit HaMikdash was destined to be destroyed. Therefore, Scripture says, "let it not be blessed" in the future tense - the day of birth, too, was destined to prove itself a day devoid of blessing, for I was born on the very day of the destruction. It turns out, then, that he describes these days as cursed in their own right: on the one day the prophets were slain, and on the other the Temple was destined to be destroyed - days that inherently possess no blessing.
Regarding the precise wording, the Malbim explains: "yulladti" and "my mother bore me" - when birth is spoken of from the father's perspective, it refers to conception, since the father, as it were, brings about the child's generation; whereas the actual emergence into the world is described as "my mother bore me."
"Cursed be the man who brought news to my father"
אָרוּר הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר בִּשַּׂר אֶת אָבִי לֵאמֹר יֻלַּד לְךָ בֵּן זָכָר, שַׂמֵּחַ שִׂמְּחָהוּ׃ (טו) - Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying: "A male child is born to you," making him exceedingly glad.
Cursed is that man who brought the news to my father, saying, "Rejoice, a male child is born to you." "He made him very glad" - as if he was certain that he brought him true joy.
Radak asks: How could Yirmiyahu curse the messenger? A person came to tell your father that a son was born to him; would you say he should be cursed and bring a curse upon him, Heaven forbid? Perhaps he was a good person, meaning, Heaven forbid, that Yirmiyahu would be guilty of cursing a decent man! Rather, Radak explains: there is no difficulty here at all, because the messenger was Pashchur ben Immer - the very same person we saw above who placed Yirmiyahu in the stocks. When Yirmiyahu says, "Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father," he is speaking about him.
And "he made him very glad" - he truly brought him joy. In the words of Radak: "For he told him that a male child was born to him, for people rejoice over a male child and worry over a female." Anyone who feels this way has someone to rely on. And Radak adds: had my father known that my days would be toil and sorrow, he would not have rejoiced over me; Father thought it was a day of joy, and did not realize that this joy would turn to grief.
Metzudat David explains in a different way: In retrospect, it turns out that the news "a son is born to you" was not good news at all - for see what was born to you: a son who would suffer, a son who would prophesy about the Destruction and deliver harsh prophecies. It is well known that the way of a good man is to deliver good news, as we find when they wished to inform David of the death of his son and there was a debate over who should tell him, where it was said, "He is a good man, and comes with good tidings" - a good person comes to bring good news. If it now turns out that a man was born whose prophecies are so harsh, whose plight is so terrible, and who is so persecuted, it emerges that the messenger delivered bad news - and therefore, he must be an evil person. This is the meaning of "Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father": in retrospect, it became clear that the messenger was an evil man, as seen by the outcome. According to this, Radak notes, "he made him very glad" is said as a question of astonishment: Did he really gladden him? Looking back in hindsight, was there truly cause for joy in announcing the birth of such a son, bound for so much suffering?
"Like the Cities Overthrown by Hashem"
וְהָיָה הָאִישׁ הַהוּא כֶּעָרִים אֲשֶׁר הָפַךְ ה' וְלֹא נִחָם, וְשָׁמַע זְעָקָה בַּבֹּקֶר וּתְרוּעָה בְּעֵת צָהֳרָיִם׃ (טז) - And let that man be like the cities which Hashem overthrew and did not relent; and let him hear an outcry in the morning, and an alarm at noontime. (16)
"Like the cities overthrown by Hashem" - Sodom and Gomorrah. "And did not relent" - an expression of regret; after the Holy One, Blessed is He, decided to do so, He did not relent over them and did not reconsider, but executed the decree He had enacted. "And let him hear an outcry in the morning, and an alarm at noontime" - this man will hear an outcry from his relatives and loved ones in the morning, at the start of the day, and the distress and crying will accompany him until noontime. Radak notes precisely: a teruah (alarm) is more severe than a ze'akah (outcry), which is why the morning begins with an outcry and noontime brings an alarm. A teruah is sometimes used for joy and sometimes for grief, as in "Why do you cry aloud [re'a]," and here, "an alarm at noontime."
The Malbim, in accordance with his approach, explains that this is not a curse, but a description of what actually occurred: following this announcement, the messenger became cursed, and Menashe executed him - receiving a curse instead of a blessing. And that man who was killed by Menashe was "like the cities overthrown by Hashem," in that he and all he possessed were destroyed by Menashe. "And let him hear an outcry in the morning" - they took him to prison in the morning and judged him; "and an alarm at noontime" - when they took him out to be executed, they sounded the shofar and a herald went out announcing that so-and-so was being led to his death.
"Because He Did Not Slay Me from the Womb"
אֲשֶׁר לֹא מוֹתְתַנִי מֵרָחֶם, וַתְּהִי לִי אִמִּי קִבְרִי וְרַחְמָהּ הֲרַת עוֹלָם׃ (יז) - Because he did not slay me from the womb, so that my mother would have been my grave, and her womb pregnant forever. (17)
And why did Menashe kill him? According to the Malbim, Menashe argued against him: I have killed all the prophets, and here a person was born who is the son of a prophet - for his father was Chilkiyahu, and wherever a prophet's name and his father's name are mentioned together, both he and his father are prophets. Such a person possesses great prophetic potential, and so you should have killed him immediately! This is "Because he did not slay me from the womb" - for this reason the messenger was killed.
"So that my mother would have been my grave" - for had it been so, my mother would have been my grave, dying inside the womb. "And her womb pregnant forever [harat olam]" - an everlasting pregnancy. For every ordinary pregnancy eventually leads to birth and life, but if the fetus is killed in its mother's womb, it is a pregnancy that never reaches birth - an allegorical perpetual pregnancy that never comes to life. That is: had they killed me from the womb, by giving my mother a poisonous potion that kills the fetus, my mother would have been my grave and her pregnancy an everlasting pregnancy.
Radak explains "That he did not kill me from the womb" - why did He not put me to death before I emerged from the womb? And who is this "one who kills"? Either this refers to that messenger; or, according to Rashi, to the Angel of Death - that he has a complaint against the Angel of Death for not taking him before he emerged into the world; or it refers to the Holy One, Blessed be He - why did Hashem bring me to birth at all, like Iyov's complaint: "Because it did not shut the doors of my womb" (Iyov 3:10), why did Hashem not prevent my birth so that I would not have to suffer what I suffer now? Then "my mother would have been my grave," and the womb would have remained pregnant forever, never coming to fruition in childbirth.
"Why Did I Come Forth from the Womb" - Conclusion of the Chapter
לָמָּה זֶּה מֵרֶחֶם יָצָאתִי לִרְאוֹת עָמָל וְיָגוֹן, וַיִּכְלוּ בְּבֹשֶׁת יָמָי׃ (יח) - Why did I come forth from the womb to see toil and sorrow, that my days should be consumed in shame? (18)
Here Yirmiyahu concludes, says the Malbim: it turns out that troubles and disasters befell me from the very moment I was formed in the womb, for from the moment I emerged from the womb, I emerged into a reality where many hardships awaited me. And why did I come forth from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and have my days consumed in shame?
And Rashi explains that "toil and sorrow" refers to the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash. That is to say: why did I emerge from the womb - to see the House of Hashem destroyed? Was it worth being born into the world at all?
In summary:
In this section of the chapter, Yirmiyahu's inner world is revealed: an organized defamation by many that arrayed false witnesses against him and turned his allies into those "watching for my fall," waiting for a stumble in order to slander and take revenge. Facing this, the prophet presents his trust: Hashem is the mighty warrior with him, or his standard and banner, and therefore his persecutors will stumble and meet everlasting shame. He turns to Hashem, "Examiner of the righteous, Who sees the reins and the heart," Who knows that the accusation is false and never even crossed his mind, and asks for "Your vengeance" and not his own, for his entire struggle is on Hashem's mission and for His honor - and gives thanks for the salvation. Finally, in deep bitterness of soul, he curses the day of his conception, the day of his birth, and the messenger, who according to Chazal was Pashchur ben Imer; and according to the Malbim, these are not curses directed toward the future, but rather the uncovering of days that were inherently accursed: the day of the slaying of the prophets and Tisha B'Av, the day of the destruction. The chapter closes with the cry, "Why did I come forth from the womb" - the cry of a prophet born to witness toil, sorrow, and the destruction of the House of Hashem.