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Jeremiah 19:1-20:18

A Fire in My Bones

Lyrics · Jeremiah

A Fire in My Bones

Jeremiah 19:1-20:18

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About this song

About this song

This song belongs to the Jeremiah collection. One recording is available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.

Bible book
Jeremiah
Collection
Jeremiah
Musical styles
Uncategorized
[Processional Chant] I said, I will silence the word in my chest, I will close every door and give warning a rest. Clay broke once and could not be made whole, [Verse 1] The sound crossed Tophet like a bell for the soul. Then leather and wood held the prophet at dawn, Mockery waited where comfort was gone. But fire in my bones would not let me lie, [Chorus] I said, I will silence the word in my chest, I will close every door and give warning a rest. It climbed through the ribs and demanded a cry. Terror on every side, whispers behind, [Silence] Friends watched the step where they hoped I would slide. [Verse 2] Still the LORD stood near like a warrior awake, Though the mouth cursed the morning for sorrow’s sake. A broken flask, a broken man, one message remained: [Final Chorus] I said, I will silence the word in my chest, I will close every door and give warning a rest. The fire could be hated, but not be restrained.

About the passage

Jeremiah 19: A broken vessel before public witnesses

Jeremiah 19 returns to pottery, but the object is no longer soft clay on a wheel. Jeremiah takes a finished earthen bottle and representative elders into the valley of Hinnom, a place already marked by innocent blood and the burning of children to Baal. The witnesses matter because the sign will be performed before public leadership, not merely reported from a private encounter. The valley is renamed through the slaughter that is coming, and siege is described as the destruction of even the most basic bonds of human care. Jeremiah then breaks the vessel. Unlike the clay remade in chapter 18, this bottle represents a city entering a judgment that will not leave its existing form intact. Rooftop worship brings Jerusalem's own houses under the valley's accusation, so sacred and prestigious locations cannot distance themselves from the practices condemned there. The final movement returns to the temple court, where Jeremiah repeats the warning and names stubborn refusal to hear as its cause.

Study Jeremiah 19 in depth

Jeremiah 20: Fire within, terror on every side

Jeremiah 20 places public humiliation and private lament in the same chapter without forcing either one to explain the other away. Pashur, a priest and temple official, strikes Jeremiah and confines him in stocks for speaking the warning from chapter 19. Release does not produce retraction. Jeremiah names Pashur "terror on every side" and announces Babylonian captivity. Then the speech turns inward. Jeremiah accuses God of overpowering him, says the word has made him a daily object of ridicule, and describes silence as impossible because the word becomes fire shut up in his bones. Confidence follows as he declares that his persecutors will not prevail and calls for praise. Yet praise does not get the final line. Jeremiah curses the day of his birth and asks why he ever came from the womb to see sorrow and shame. The Book of Jeremiah leaves that last question unanswered, refusing a neat progression from despair to triumph.

Study Jeremiah 20 in depth