Bible Strands
Jeremiah 20:3
The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The LORD does not call you Pashhur, but Magor-missabib.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah addresses Pashhur immediately after the official releases him from the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin. The confrontation occurs the day after Pashhur had Jeremiah beaten and confined.
The words — הַמַּהְפֵּכָת (ha.ma.phê.kheth) refers to the wooden stocks of confinement, while Magor-missabib literally translates to "terror on every side."
The thread — The expression "terror on every side" recurs in Jeremiah 20:10, Psalm 31:13, and Jeremiah 46:5 to mark the inescapable dread surrounding the prophet and the nation.
Why it lands — The text records a direct prophetic renaming that overrides Pashhur’s official title, and it requires the reader to accept that religious persecution triggers immediate divine judgment.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
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.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 20:10 For I have heard the whispering of many: “Terror is on every side! Report him; let us report him!” All my trusted friends watch for my fall: “Perhaps he will be deceived so that we may prevail against him and take our vengeance upon him.”
- Psalms 31:13 For I hear the slander of many; there is terror on every side. They conspire against me and plot to take my life.
- Jeremiah 46:5 Why am I seeing this? They are terrified, they are retreating; their warriors are defeated, they flee in haste without looking back; terror is on every side!” declares the LORD.
- 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.
- Isaiah 8:3 And I had relations with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. The LORD said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
- Jeremiah 6:25 Do not go out to the fields; do not walk the road. For the enemy has a sword; terror is on every side.
- Genesis 17:5 No longer will you be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.
- Genesis 17:15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, do not call her Sarai, for her name is to be Sarah.
- Genesis 32:28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.”
- Jeremiah 7:32 So behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. For they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.