20:7 Lord, you coerced me into being a prophet,
and I allowed you to do it.
You overcame my resistance and prevailed over me. 1
Now I have become a constant laughingstock.
Everyone ridicules me.
20:8 For whenever I prophesy, 2 I must cry out, 3
“Violence and destruction are coming!” 4
This message from the Lord 5 has made me
an object of continual insults and derision.
20:9 Sometimes I think, “I will make no mention of his message.
I will not speak as his messenger 6 any more.”
But then 7 his message becomes like a fire
locked up inside of me, burning in my heart and soul. 8
I grow weary of trying to hold it in;
I cannot contain it.