"For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side. Denounce him, and let us denounce him. All my familiar friends watched for my stumbling, saying, perhaps he will be enticed and we shall prevail against him and take our revenge upon him." For I have heard the slander of many. The word dibah, slander, comes from the root of dibbur, speech, from ledovev, to make speak. "I have heard the slander of many" (dibat rabbim) means the idea of spreading slander, which really refers to spreading words. "I have heard the slander of many," I have heard many speaking, whispering against me. Magor, terror, here comes from the meaning of gathering. Rashi asks: what is this gathering? What are the many who whisper around me? What do they say? "Denounce him, and let us denounce him." What does this mean? Rashi brings two explanations. One, that of Menachem, connects hagidu venagidenu to lo titgodedu. Lo titgodedu is a term of destruction, do not destroy, meaning not to cut one's flesh over a dead person. That is the sense of lo titgodedu, like godu ilana, cut down the tree, from the meaning of chopping. According to this, hagidu venagidenu means come, let us cut him down, let us destroy him. Dunash, on the other hand, as Rashi brings, explained the words here from the actual meaning of hagadah, telling. How? Report false words against him, and let us bring him before the king. The idea is that one will invent the story and the rest will come and spread it, will come and pass it along. That is hagidu venagidenu. The Malbim explains: "For I have heard the slander of many." The Malbim says, apart from their reviling me and pursuing me over the words of prophecy, they also spread slander about me with false words. And lest you think these are isolated individuals, whose slander is not taken seriously, he says this is the slander of many. And when it is the slander of many, then we all know: what, haven't you heard? No, no way, it can't be, I don't think so, it makes no sense. What are you talking about, everyone says so. "Everyone says so" is stronger than anything. What, they said it on the news. What more do you need? That is it, it is settled, it is absolute, it is clear, there are no doubts about it. About this he says it is the slander of many. It is not isolated individuals speaking, but the slander of many. And not only that, but also the slander of magor missaviv, terror on every side. Who is magor? Magor is Pashchur, whom we saw he called Magor Missaviv. So he says, even Pashchur, who is a great man, even he spreads slander about me. If so, both the many and a great man, then surely this slander is accepted. And what do they say? First, they set up false witnesses against me. And these witnesses, as we said earlier, say: you spread the slander and we will tell it to the king, we will pass it to the judges. Another thing he says: "All my familiar friends watched for my stumbling." This means all those who were people of my peace, my friends, are now watching for my fall. What is watching for my stumbling? They are waiting for me to fail. Tzela is a term of stumbling, as in "and at my stumbling (tzali) they rejoiced and gathered." Tzela means a term of failure, of falling. So they are waiting for my stumble, my failure. They are waiting for me to fail, to slip, to say some word out of place, and then they will catch me on that word. That is "watchers of my stumbling." They watch, waiting for the stumble, the failure, the slip. Like "at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered," as we said, tzela means a term of failure, like a limping person (tzolea), who leans to the side, inclined to fall. So this is the meaning, they are waiting for my stumble, my inclination, my failure. So they are watchers of my stumbling, waiting for me to fail. "Perhaps he will be enticed and we shall prevail against him." Perhaps he will be enticed means perhaps he will be tempted, perhaps he will fail, perhaps he will say some word out of place, and then we shall prevail against him. "We shall prevail against him" means we will be able to frame him, we will be able to bring him down. "And take our revenge upon him." Why take revenge upon him? What do they have to avenge? Because, as we said earlier, they believe he says all this prophecy on his own, he fabricates all the evil words from his own heart, so we need to give him the fitting punishment. That is how they hold. They believe Yirmiyahu speaks these things from the wickedness of his heart.
"But Hashem is with me like a mighty, awesome one. Therefore my pursuers shall stumble and shall not prevail. They shall be greatly ashamed, for they did not succeed, an everlasting disgrace that shall not be forgotten." "But Hashem is with me like a mighty, awesome one." The Radak says: they want to kill me, but I do not fear it. Because the Holy One, blessed be He, has already promised me above, "and they shall fight against you but shall not prevail against you." "And Hashem is with me like a mighty, awesome one." Note, the Radak explains here two interpretations. One, Hashem, like a mighty, awesome one, is together with me. So it is as if I have protection, a bodyguard. Hashem is with me like a mighty, awesome one. There is a mighty, awesome one who accompanies me all the time. That is Hashem, may He be blessed. Another interpretation the Radak gives: "and Hashem is with me" means Hashem made me like a mighty, awesome one. Hashem strengthened my power like a mighty, awesome one. Does "mighty, awesome one" refer to Hashem or to me? Either "Hashem with me," meaning Hashem is with me and Hashem is like a mighty, awesome one, or "Hashem me," as in Hashem made me like a mighty, awesome one. Either way, in both interpretations, I have power against them. Therefore I do not fear. "Therefore all my pursuers shall stumble and shall not prevail." Since it is so, the pursuers will ultimately not succeed in harming me. "They shall be greatly ashamed, for they did not succeed." What does "did not succeed" mean? To succeed, says the Radak, we saw, "and David was successful (maskil) in all his ways." What is maskil? Maskil means successful. Therefore he says, they shall be greatly ashamed, for they did not succeed. All their attempts are doomed to failure. And then this is a disgrace for them. That is "they shall be greatly ashamed, for they did not succeed." They will have great shame because in all their attempts to harm me, they will not succeed. And then this shame, "an everlasting disgrace that shall not be forgotten." That is, it will be such a disgrace for them that everyone will remember it as an everlasting disgrace. There are things in history that are not forgotten. When one wants to recall things of disgrace, or things that caused damage, or things that caused ruin, sometimes history recalls all sorts of things and remembers them forever. Like the Trojan horse, when one wants to recall some brilliant victory achieved cleverly, or all sorts of things recalled from the past. He says likewise, their failure will yet be taught in the history books. It will be an everlasting disgrace that shall not be forgotten. It will be a disgrace remembered permanently. The Malbim has an original interpretation. What is "and Hashem me" (v'Hashem oti)? The Malbim says: oti is like my sign (oti = my ot). "My sign" is oti. Like "and it shall be a sign upon your hand." Hashem, as it were, is my sign, He is my banner. What does this mean? "Raise a banner (nes) toward Zion." Nes means the flag, the pole on which the flag is raised is called nes, "raise a banner." So Hashem, as it were, is like something drawn on my banner, He is my sign, my flag. He fights for me. And since it is so, my pursuers shall stumble and shall not prevail. They will not be able to do me any harm. And not only that, they shall be ashamed, they are destined to be shamed with an everlasting disgrace that shall not be forgotten, for going and spreading slander about me and fabricating deeds that never happened. What is the difference between bosh (be ashamed) and yikalmu (be disgraced)? "They shall be greatly ashamed, an everlasting disgrace that shall not be forgotten." The Malbim says, something we have already seen several times above, that boshah, shame, is when a person is ashamed of himself. A person says, I was very ashamed, of myself I was ashamed. In contrast, kelimah, disgrace, is always through others. One stands disgraced before someone else, disgraced by another person.
"And Hashem of Hosts tests the righteous, sees the kidneys and heart. Let me see Your vengeance upon them, for to You I have revealed my cause." Hashem of Hosts tests the righteous. You, Master of the Universe, know whether a person who appears righteous in people's eyes is truly so. You know if his inside matches his outside. You know whether within his heart, his deeds, his thoughts, are truly as they appear outwardly. And if not, then Hashem reveals his evil deeds. Hashem, as it were, publicizes it. A person who does deeds in secret, the Holy One, blessed be He, proclaims about him openly, for good and for bad. When a person learns Torah in secret, the Gemara says that afterward his Torah publicizes him, his Torah becomes known in the world. And likewise the reverse, when a person does negative things in secret, the Holy One, blessed be He, publicizes him, reveals it before all. The Malbim explains, since You, Hashem, test who is truly the righteous person in his judgment, You, Hashem, see and test kidneys and heart, You see a person's thoughts, and You, Hashem, know that all the slander they fabricated against me, as we saw, the slander of many, terror on every side, You know it is false, and You know it was not even in thought. For the rule is, there is no smoke without fire. And the rule is that if people say something against someone, the Gemara says that even if you say he did not do the thing, at any rate it arose in thought. It arose in thought, that is, he had such a plan. If so, then woe, for every fabrication they invent, say they fabricated a fabrication against Moshe and each went to check his wife against Moshe as a sotah, then what, did it arise in Moshe's thought, God forbid? Is that conceivable? So indeed the Gemara says that this is on condition that he has no enemies. It is on condition that he has no enemies. But if he has enemies, enemies will fabricate things that did not even arise in thought, things where not even a stray thought existed. Based on this, we can understand what they explain regarding "and they could not speak peaceably to him." Why could they not speak peaceably to him? It is written in Chazal, who is called an enemy? A person who does not speak to his fellow for three days is called an enemy. So essentially their idea was this: Yosef spread evil reports about us, "and Yosef brought their evil report to their father." And then they would immediately say, listen, there is no smoke without fire. And even if it did not actually happen, surely it arose in their thought, they had some such plan. What do they do? They do not speak to him. The moment they do not speak to him for three days, the Gemara says one who does not speak to his fellow for three days is in the category of an enemy. Ah, so if he is our enemy, then what he says has no significance, even in thought it did not arise with us. Because when a person has enemies, they fabricate against him even things that never arose in our thought. But when it is a situation where he has no enemies, then if they said something, apparently there is something to it, some grain. Apparently perhaps you even thought about it, even if you did not do the things they say. Therefore here he says, Master of the Universe, You know my righteousness, and the slander they spread about me is false, and it did not even arise in my thought, I did not even give it a stray thought, this thing they say. Therefore I ask, Master of the Universe, let me see Your vengeance upon them. Not my vengeance, note, but Your vengeance. What is really the idea? The Malbim says: in whose name do I prophesy? In my own? On whose mission do I go? On my own mission? It is on Your mission, Master of the Universe. So it turns out that when they rise against me, it is not against me. They rise against You. If so, Master of the Universe, let me see Your vengeance upon them. Let vengeance for Your honor be taken from them. "For to You I have revealed my cause." This means I have revealed the dispute to You, meaning the entire dispute I made is only for You. For whose sake do I go to quarrel with them? For whose sake do I speak harsh words to them? For my own? On the contrary, I would want to speak pleasant words to them; do I want to make myself hated by them? All my dispute is toward You, meaning for You, for Your honor, because of Your mission. And since it is so, Master of the Universe, let me see Your vengeance upon them. The one who needs to settle the account with them is You.
"Sing to Hashem, praise Hashem, for He has saved the soul of the needy from the hand of evildoers." And I nevertheless thank Hashem for saving me from their evil slander, that they could not carry out their scheme.
"Cursed be the day on which I was born. The day my mother bore me, let it not be blessed." Cursed be the day on which I was born. The day on which I was born (yuladti) means the day on which my mother conceived me. For he says "in which I was conceived." And it is impossible to explain yuladti as being born, because afterward you say "the day my mother bore me, let it not be blessed," so you already spoke of the day of birth. What is "the day on which I was born (yuladti)"? It means the day on which my mother conceived me. So cursed be the day on which my mother conceived me, and cursed also be the day on which my mother bore me. Seemingly, why does he say cursed be the day my mother conceived me? Seemingly, with Iyov we saw that Iyov cursed the night on which a man was conceived. That is logical: the man was intimate at night, so the conception was at night. Why, why here does he curse the day? Chazal say: when Menashe was killing the prophets, Chilkiyah, Yirmiyahu's father, fled. He escaped. And when he fled, it was during the day. And before he fled, he was intimate with his wife and left. And from that union came Yirmiyahu. So then it is very logical what Yirmiyahu says here, cursed be the day on which I was conceived, meaning cursed be the day on which my mother conceived. That is the meaning of "the day on which I was born." The Radak says: out of the bitterness of their soul, the righteous curse the day they were born. From the bitterness of their soul they curse the day. And the Radak immediately adds and says: even though no curse will reach it. Can you curse yesterday? Yesterday has passed, what will you curse in it? What, what, what will happen to it? It is over, it is already gone. Even though no curse will reach it, for it has already passed, nevertheless he says that day was cursed, for behold, on that day I came into the world. So too Iyov said, "let the day perish on which I was born." Incidentally, regarding birth there is no problem saying "day," because a woman gives birth during the day too. But as we explained earlier, it refers to the conception. So you see that Iyov too said, let it perish, cursed be the day on which I was born.
The Malbim explains that the first part, as we said, "cursed be the day on which I was born," refers to the stage when his mother conceived him. And that day is cursed, meaning it was already cursed from before. In what is it cursed? The Malbim says, according to what we explained earlier that on that day Menashe killed the prophets, then it is understood in what it is cursed. It is a cursed day on which the prophets were killed. That is the curse. It was a bad day, a day of trouble on which the prophets were killed. So cursed be the day, behold, that day on which I was born, I was born on a bad day, bitter and hasty, on which the prophets were killed, for, as we said, his father fled on that day. So that day was, so to speak, cursed from long ago. Thus the Malbim need not confront the Radak's difficulty. What bothered the Radak was: how do you curse a day that has already passed? The Malbim says no, he is not cursing the day. He says, behold and see that this day was already cursed, for it is a day that was a day of killing for the prophets. And the day on which Yirmiyahu was born, Chazal say, was Tishah B'Av. A day on which the Temple was destined to be destroyed. Therefore he says, the day of birth, let it not be blessed. That is, afterward, the day of birth which "shall be" (yehi, a term of future) was also not blessed, for behold, I was born on the day of the destruction, on Tishah B'Av. So you see that even the day of birth ultimately is a day that in the future will prove to be unblessed. According to this, it turns out that he curses the days in themselves. Since on that day the prophets were killed, and on the day of my birth the Temple was destined to be destroyed. So you see that these days in themselves are days that have no blessing in them. The Malbim explains, yuladti (I was born) and "my mother bore me." The Malbim says, when speaking of birth from the father's side, one is really speaking of the conception. That is, yuladti speaks of the conception, that his father, as it were, brought him into being. And regarding coming into the world, that is the actual birth, "my mother bore me."
"Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, a male child is born to you, making him very glad." Cursed be the man who brought my father the news and said, rejoice, a male child is born to you. "Making him very glad," meaning as though he is certain that he gladdened him. The Radak asks: seemingly, how does he curse the messenger? What, if this messenger is alive, will a curse strike him now, God forbid? A person comes to bring tidings to your father, a male child is born to you, and now you say he should be cursed? Should a curse be on him, God forbid? The Radak says, and perhaps this person was a good person? Then, God forbid, does Yirmiyahu have here a sin, cursing a fitting person? The Radak says, there is no difficulty here. Do you know who the messenger was? The messenger was Pashchur ben Immer. The one whom we saw above put him in the stocks, that was the messenger. Pashchur ben Immer was the messenger. So when he says cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, he is really speaking about him. "Making him glad," he really gladdened him. People rejoice, says the Radak, and I will read you his words so you do not accuse me of chauvinism. The Radak says, that he told him a male child was born to him, for people rejoice at a male child and worry over a female. So one who does this has a source in the Radak. The Radak says, and had my father known that my days would be toil and grief, he would not have rejoiced in me. So now my father thought it was a day of joy; he did not understand that this joy would turn to sorrow. The Metzudat David explains, since in retrospect it becomes clear that the tidings "a son is born to you" were not good tidings, for behold, see what was born to you, a son who will suffer, a son who will prophesy about the destruction, who will have harsh prophecies, it turns out, as it were, that no good came of it. The Metzudat David says, it is known that the way of a good person is to bring good tidings. As we saw there when they wanted to inform David of his son's death, and there was a debate over who would inform, he said there "this is a good man and he comes with good tidings." A good person comes in order to bring good tidings. Now it turns out that a person was born here who has such harsh prophecies, that a person was born here whose situation is so terrible, so persecuted, so it turns out now that the messenger brought good tidings or negative tidings? Negative tidings, evil tidings, a person born for suffering. So now if we say that a good person brings good tidings, then if these are evil tidings, what is this person? An evil person. And that is what he says, cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father. That is, in retrospect it becomes clear that the bearer of tidings was an evil person, for behold, see the results. And then, according to this, the Radak says, what is written "making him very glad," is a question. Did he make him glad? As it were, when we see things in retrospect, is there joy in this announcement that such a son would be born? Was there any joy in the matter? See what kind of son was born, with so many troubles.
"And let that man be like the cities that Hashem overturned and did not relent. Let him hear an outcry in the morning and a battle cry at noon." And let that man be like the cities that Hashem overturned, meaning Sedom and Amorah. "And did not relent," meaning that the Holy One, blessed be He, after deciding to do so, did not relent over them. Nicham means like regretting, but the Holy One, blessed be He, did not think another thought, rather He brought upon them the decree that He decreed. About this he says, let him hear an outcry in the morning and a battle cry at noon. This means, this person will hear an outcry from his relatives and loved ones in the morning, at the beginning of the day, and so it will accompany him until noon. That is, as it were, this trouble and this outcry will accompany him. The Radak says, it is written an outcry in the morning and a battle cry at noon, for a battle cry (teruah) is more than an outcry. Teruah, says the Radak, sometimes comes in joy and sometimes comes in mourning, as in "why do you cry out (tari'i) in distress," and likewise a battle cry at noon. The Malbim explains, and let that man be like the cities that Hashem overturned. According to the Malbim's approach, "cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father" is really describing what happened. And what happened? That following these tidings he became cursed, Menashe killed him. Meaning he received a curse instead of a blessing. And then that man, who was killed by Menashe, was like the cities that Hashem overturned, he and all that was his were lost through Menashe. "And let him hear an outcry in the morning," they took him to prison in the morning and judged him, "and a battle cry at noon," this is when they took him out to be executed, then they would sound the shofar, a herald would go out that so-and-so is being led to death.
And why did Menashe kill him? "Because he did not put me to death from the womb, so that my mother would have been my grave and her womb forever pregnant." That is, the Malbim according to his approach, what did Menashe want from him? Menashe said to him, I killed all the prophets, and you see the person who was just born and he is the son of a prophet, for his father Chilkiyah, every place where a prophet is mentioned along with his father's name, both he and his father are prophets. So then, Menashe killed the messenger because Menashe said, why did you not kill him immediately? You heard that a son was just born to a prophet, this is a person with high prophetic potential, and if so you should have killed him immediately. That is what is written here. He says, that man was like the cities that Hashem overturned, Menashe killed the messenger, and why? "Because he did not put me to death from the womb." So had he done so, "my mother would have been my grave," through this my mother would have been my grave, that is, I would have died there within the womb, "and her womb forever pregnant," and then her womb would become like an eternal pregnancy. What is "forever pregnant" (harat olam)? It means an eternal pregnancy. An eternal pregnancy means, every pregnancy eventually reaches birth, reaches life. But if the fetus is killed in its mother's womb, then it is a pregnancy that will never reach birth, it is like a permanent pregnancy, as it were, by way of analogy. An eternal pregnancy, a pregnancy that never comes to birth, never comes to life. So through his putting me to death from the womb, giving my mother a poisonous drink that kills the fetus, through this my mother would have been my grave and her pregnancy would have been an eternal pregnancy, as it were a pregnancy that never comes to birth. The Radak explains, "because he did not put me to death from the womb," meaning why did he not kill me even before I came out of the womb? So either this refers to the man, or, according to Rashi, it refers to the angel of death, he has a complaint against the angel of death, why did the angel of death not take me even before I came into the world, or it refers to God, says the Radak, as it were, why did Hashem bring me at all to a state of birth, as Iyov argued, why did Hashem not close the doors of my womb, why did Hashem not prevent my birth, and then I would not have had to suffer what I suffer now. And then through this, "so that my mother would have been my grave," if He had put me to death from the womb, from the meaning of putting me to death while still in the womb, then my mother would have been my grave, and the womb would have been as it were an eternal pregnancy, that would never come to birth.
"Why did I come out of the womb to see toil and grief, that my days should end in shame?" Why did I come out of the womb, says the Malbim, here Yirmiyahu concludes, so it turns out that the troubles and calamities had already descended upon me from the time I was formed in the womb, for behold, from the time I came out of the womb I came out into existence, into such an existence that many tribulations await me. So why did I come out of the womb to see toil and grief, that my days should end in shame? Rashi explains that toil and grief is the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash. Meaning, so why did I come out of the womb to see the House of Hashem destroyed? Was it at all worthwhile for me to be born into the world?