Jeremiah 15
21 verses
Jeremiah's third confession expresses deepest desolation: YHWH's continued withdrawal means judgment cannot be averted even if Moses and Samuel (the greatest intercessors) were to stand before YHWH, as the people have rejected the divine word repeatedly and judgment has become inescapable through their own choices and covenant violation. YHWH responds with assurance of Jeremiah's continued mission despite his anguish: the prophet will be made a bronze wall and iron pillar able to withstand the opposition of his people and their rulers, establishing that prophetic faithfulness requires accepting isolation, rejection, and the burden of announcing judgment without hope of popular acceptance. The chapter introduces the harsh reality that Jeremiah cannot marry and have children (perhaps due to the extremity of coming judgment), that he is separated from normal human community through his prophetic calling, and that his entire existence is subsumed into the message he bears, illustrating the totalizing nature of prophetic vocation. YHWH's promise that Jeremiah's enemies will seek his favor yet he will remain unmoved establishes ultimate vindication while the prophet endures contemporary rejection, suggesting that the prophet's faithfulness in announcing unwelcome truth is itself the path to ultimate significance even as it ensures immediate suffering.
VERSES IN THIS CHAPTER
1
Then said the Lord unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.
0 0Open verse page →
2
And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the Lord; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.
0 0Open verse page →
3
And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the Lord: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.
0 0Open verse page →
4
And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.
0 0Open verse page →
5
For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest?
0 0Open verse page →
6
Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.
0 1Open verse page →
7
And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy my people, since they return not from their ways.
0 0Open verse page →
8
Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.
0 0Open verse page →
9
She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the Lord.
0 0Open verse page →
10
Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.
0 0Open verse page →
11
The Lord said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.
0 0Open verse page →
12
Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?
0 0Open verse page →
13
Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
0 0Open verse page →
14
And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon you.
0 0Open verse page →
15
O Lord, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.
0 0Open verse page →
16
Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.
0 0Open verse page →
17
I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation.
0 0Open verse page →
18
Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?
0 0Open verse page →
19
Therefore thus saith the Lord, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.
0 0Open verse page →
20
And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
0 0Open verse page →
21
And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.
0 0Open verse page →
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
No notes on this chapter yet. Be the first to write one!