Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

Why came I out of the womb, to see labour and sorrow, and that my days should be spent in confusion?

Why was I brought into the world to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

Why is this? from the womb I have come out, To see labour and sorrow, Yea, consumed in shame are my days!

Why did I come from my mother's body to see pain and sorrow, so that my days might be wasted with shame?

Why did I depart from the womb, so that I would see hardship and sorrow, and so that my days would be consumed by trouble?"

Quare ex utero egressus sum ad videndum molestiam et dolorem, ut consumantur in opprobrio dies mei?

Wherefore came I forth - It would have been well had I never been born, as I have neither comfort in my life, nor comfort in my work.

Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow,.... "Labour" in performing his work and office as a prophet; and "sorrow" in suffering reproach, contempt, and persecution for it; which to avoid, he wishes he had never been born: a sign of a very fretful and impatient spirit, and of a carnal frame. Jarchi thinks this refers to the destruction of the temple;
that my days should be consumed with shame? through the bad usage of him, the reproach that was cast upon him, and the contempt he was had in for prophesying in the name of the Lord. All this shows that there is sin in the best of men, and what they are when left to themselves; how weak, foolish, and sinful they appear. And Jeremiah recording these his sins and failings, is an argument of the uprightness and sincerity of the man, and of the truth of Scripture.