I said, ¹  “Oh, mother, how I regret ²  that you ever gave birth to me! I am always starting arguments and quarrels with the people of this land. ³  I have not lent money to anyone and I have not borrowed from anyone. Yet all of these people are treating me with contempt.” ⁴ 

biblegateway Jer 15:10

Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne me As a man of strife and a man of contention to all the land! I have not lent, nor have men lent money to me, Yet everyone curses me.

Woe is me, my mother, that you gave birth to me, a man who incites dispute and conflict in all the land. I did not lend or borrow, yet everyone curses me.

I’m so miserable! Why did my mother give birth to me? I am a man who argues and quarrels with the whole earth. I have never lent or borrowed anything. Yet, everyone curses me.

biblegateway Jer 15:10

Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends! I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me.

Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me.

bibleoremus Jer 15:10

Woe is me, my mother, that you ever bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me.

ALAS, my mother, that ever you gave birth to me, a man doomed to strife with the whole world against me! I have borrowed from no one, I have lent to no one, yet everyone abuses me.

biblegateway Jer 15:10

Woe is me, my mother, That you have borne me, A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent for interest, Nor have men lent to me for interest. Every one of them curses me.

Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; [yet] every one of them doth curse me.

biblegateway Jer 15:10

I said, ¹  “Oh, mother, how I regret ²  that you ever gave birth to me! I am always starting arguments and quarrels with the people of this land. ³  I have not lent money to anyone and I have not borrowed from anyone. Yet all of these people are treating me with contempt.” ⁴ 

¹ tn The words “I said” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to mark a shift in the speaker.

² tn Heb “Woe to me, my mother.” See the comments on 4:13 and 10:19.

³ tn Heb “A man of strife and a man of contention with all the land.” The “of” relationship (Hebrew and Greek genitive) can convey either subjective or objective relationships, i.e., he instigates strife and contention or he is the object of it. A study of usage elsewhere, e.g., Isa 41:11; Job 31:35; Prov 12:19; 25:24; 26:21; 27:15, is convincing that it is subjective. In his role as God’s covenant messenger charging people with wrong doing he has instigated counterarguments and stirred about strife and contention against him.

⁴ tc The translation follows the almost universally agreed upon correction of the MT. Instead of reading כֻּלֹּה מְקַלְלַונִי (kulloh mÿqallavni, “all of him is cursing me”) as the Masoretes proposed (Qere) one should read קִלְלוּנִי (qilluni) with the written text (Kethib) and redivide and repoint with the suggestion in BHS כֻּלְּהֶם (qullÿhem, “all of them are cursing me”).