Full Bible Verse
"Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, saying, 'A son is born to you,' making him very glad. Cursed be that man because he slew me not from the womb, so that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb always great. Why did I come forth from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and spend my days in shame?" - Jeremiah 20:15-18
ChatGPT Elaboration
The phrase "because he slew me not from the womb" (often found in verse 17, depending on the translation) is an intense expression of profound despair from the prophet Jeremiah. Following persecution and suffering for faithfully delivering God's message, Jeremiah is so overwhelmed that he curses the very day he was born and the man who announced his birth.
The core meaning of the phrase is: "I wish I had died before I was born." He is saying that the messenger who announced his birth should have, instead, been the one to kill him while he was still in the womb. His suffering is so great that he views being born only to face "toil and sorrow" and "shame" as a worse fate than never having lived at all.
me: this suggests that when Jeremiah in the womb he was a person
chatGPT:
Yes, your inference aligns with how this specific passage from Jeremiah 20:15-18 is often interpreted, both theologically and literarily.
Here is a breakdown of why this suggests Jeremiah views the existence in the womb as personhood:
1. The Language of Personhood
Jeremiah uses deeply personal and active language to describe his existence in the womb and his desire for non-existence:
"he slew me not from the womb" (Jeremiah 20:17) and "Why did I come forth from the womb?" (Jeremiah 20:18).
By wishing that he had been "slain" (killed) while still in the womb, Jeremiah attributes the concept of life, and the potential for it to be ended, to the fetus. You can't "slay" something that is not, in some sense, alive or existing.
He is not cursing an object or a potentiality, but cursing the event that led to the person he is becoming, suggesting his identity was already linked to the experience of the womb.
2. Theological Context in the Bible
This idea is consistent with other verses in the Bible, particularly within the prophetic books and Psalms, that speak of God's intimate knowledge and relationship with an individual before birth, implying personhood or at least a unique human identity in the womb:
Jeremiah 1:5: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." (This verse establishes that Jeremiah's divine calling preceded his birth.)
Psalm 139:13: "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb."
While these passages do not directly define the precise philosophical or biological moment of personhood, the ancient Hebrew perspective, as expressed by the prophets and psalmists, strongly emphasized that a distinct human life, known and intended by God, exists within the womb.
