What Does Jeremiah 20:7 Mean?
O LORD, you have coaxed me, and I was coaxed. You are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become laughter all the day; everyone mocks me.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.THE KEY
The same Hebrew root names the LORD’s enticing and the speaker’s being enticed, while the next phrase says the one who draws him is stronger than he is.
THE MEANING
You can feel both the pull of being persuaded and the force of being overpowered; this verse gives that contradiction direct speech before God. Daily ridicule remains part of the wound, not a detail the speaker edits out.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a divine encounter must feel gentle or leave you free from public humiliation.
THE ROOT
פִּתִּיתַנִי
pittitani
GROWS FROM
פתה
patah
Entice, persuade, or draw someone in.
“coaxed” in this verse is pittitani. The same root appears first as the speaker’s accusation, “you enticed me,” and then as his own condition, “I was enticed.” Its range holds persuasion and enticement alongside deception, so the verse carries both the pull and the speaker’s sense of being drawn in.
ALSO GROWS
peti: A simple or inexperienced person, open to persuasion.
פֶּתִי
This branch shows how the root can describe someone susceptible to being drawn in.
pittah: Enticed or persuaded.
פִּתָּה
This active form echoes the LORD’s action in the verse and makes the repeated root audible.
חֲזַקְתָּנִי
chazaqtani
GROWS FROM
חזק
chazaq
Be strong, firm, or forceful; make firm.
“stronger” in this verse is chazaqtani. This root can describe strength as well as the act of making something firm. Here the speaker names the relationship as unequal: the one who entices him has greater force, and the following word says that force prevails.
ALSO GROWS
chazaq: Strong or firm.
חָזָק
This adjective gives the basic quality the speaker ascribes to the LORD.
chizzeq: Strengthened or made firm.
חִזֵּק
This related form shows the root’s movement from possessing strength to exerting it.
וַתּוּכַל
vattukhal
GROWS FROM
יכל
yakhal
Be able or have the capacity to accomplish something.
The word rendered “prevailed” comes from a root meaning “be able.” After “stronger than I,” it turns capacity into outcome: the speaker says the LORD has succeeded in overpowering him.
ALSO GROWS
yakhol: To be able.
יָכֹל
This form exposes the basic sense beneath “prevailed”: capacity to act.
yakhlu: They were able or could.
יָכְלוּ
This plural form likewise describes ability, showing how the root’s sense of capacity can be stated across persons.
THE PATTERN
The force of persuasion becomes clearer from its direction and consequence: it can draw toward harm or toward restoration.
My son, if those who miss the mark coax you, do not go along.Therefore, behold, I will coax her and lead her into the wilderness, and speak to her heart.THE THREAD
Therefore, behold, I will coax her and lead her into the wilderness, and speak to her heart.The verb rendered “allure” comes from the same פתה (patah) root as “deceived” in Jeremiah. That shared seed makes Jeremiah’s charge sharper: the word names being drawn in, while the rest of his sentence tells you this pull feels overpowering and costly.
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