The Prophets · Old Testament

Jeremiah 15

Jeremiah 15: not even Moses and Samuel, and the prophet's incurable wound

General context

The Lord answers that even if Moses and Samuel stood before him his mind could not be toward this people. If they ask where to go, they are to be told: such as are for death, to death; for the sword, to the sword; for the famine, to the famine; for the captivity, to the captivity. Four kinds are appointed over them, sword, dogs, fowls and beasts. They will be removed into all kingdoms because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem. No one will pity Jerusalem; she has gone backward, and the Lord is weary with repenting. He will bereave them of children, multiply their widows above the sand of the seas, and bring a spoiler at noonday; she that bore seven languishes and her sun goes down while it is yet day. Jeremiah then cries to his mother that she bore him a man of strife to the whole earth, and everyone curses him. The Lord says it will be well with his remnant and says the people's substance will go to the spoil and they will pass into an unknown land. Jeremiah asks the Lord to remember him and avenge him of his persecutors; he ate the Lord's words and they were his joy, and he asks why his wound is incurable and whether the Lord will be to him as a liar and as waters that fail. The Lord replies: if Jeremiah returns, he will stand before him; if he takes the precious from the vile he will be as the Lord's mouth; the people may return to him but he must not return to them. The Lord will make him a fenced brasen wall against whom they fight and do not prevail.

Cited passages: Jeremiah 15:1, Jeremiah 15:2, Jeremiah 15:3, Jeremiah 15:4, Jeremiah 15:5, Jeremiah 15:6, Jeremiah 15:7, Jeremiah 15:8, Jeremiah 15:9, Jeremiah 15:10, Jeremiah 15:11, Jeremiah 15:12, Jeremiah 15:13, Jeremiah 15:14, Jeremiah 15:15, Jeremiah 15:16, Jeremiah 15:17, Jeremiah 15:18, Jeremiah 15:19, Jeremiah 15:20, Jeremiah 15:21

Jeremiah 15 (KJV)

¹Then 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.

²And 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.

³And 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.

⁴And 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.

⁵For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest?

⁶Thou 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.

⁷And 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.

⁸Their 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.

⁹She 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.

¹⁰Woe 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.

¹¹The 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.

¹²Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?

¹³Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.

¹⁴And 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.

¹⁵O 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.

¹⁶Thy 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.

¹⁷I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation.

¹⁸Why 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?

¹⁹Therefore 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.

²⁰And 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.

²¹And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.

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Historical context

Verse 1 begins "Then said the Lord unto me," answering the prayer that closed chapter 14. Moses and Samuel are named as intercessors whose standing would not change the Lord's mind; the text does not narrate any intercession of theirs here. Verse 4 gives one named cause for the removal into all kingdoms: "Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem." The chapter does not say what he did; the reference stands alone. Verses 10 and 15 through 18 are the prophet's own words, addressed first to his mother and then to the Lord, and his claim "I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury" is his own defence against being cursed. Verse 11 is marked "The Lord said," but verses 12 through 14 shift from the prophet's remnant to "thy substance and thy treasures" going to the spoil "for all thy sins," and the text does not label whether the addressee has changed from the prophet to the people. The "northern iron" of verse 12 is not identified. The Lord's answer in verses 19 through 21 makes the prophet's restoration conditional, "If thou return," and repeats the promise of 1:18 and 19, a brasen wall against which they fight and do not prevail. The women's grief in verses 8 and 9, widows increased and a mother of seven giving up the ghost, is stated as the Lord's act.

Cited passages: Jeremiah 15:1, Jeremiah 15:4, Jeremiah 15:8, Jeremiah 15:9, Jeremiah 15:10, Jeremiah 15:11, Jeremiah 15:12, Jeremiah 15:13, Jeremiah 15:15, Jeremiah 15:18, Jeremiah 15:19, Jeremiah 15:20

Literary context

The chapter sets the Lord's refusal against the prophet's complaint and ends with the Lord's conditional promise. The sentence of verse 2 is built as four matched clauses, death, sword, famine, captivity, and verse 3 answers with four destroyers. The figures of harvest and family carry the judgment: fanning in the gates, bereaving of children, widows beyond the sand, a sun gone down while it is yet day. The prophet's complaint turns the language of the call back on itself: he was known before birth in 1:5, and now he laments that his mother bore him a man of strife. His eating of the Lord's words and the joy they gave is set beside the wound that refuses healing, and his charge that the Lord may be "as waters that fail" answers the Lord's own charge in 2:13 that the people forsook the fountain of living waters. The Lord's reply repeats the word return three times in one verse, first for the prophet, then for the people, then as a prohibition, "return not thou unto them," and it restores the images of the first chapter, the mouth and the brasen wall. The chapter closes with deliverance promised to the prophet, not to the people.

Cited passages: Jeremiah 15:1, Jeremiah 15:2, Jeremiah 15:3, Jeremiah 15:7, Jeremiah 15:8, Jeremiah 15:9, Jeremiah 15:10, Jeremiah 15:16, Jeremiah 15:18, Jeremiah 15:19, Jeremiah 15:20, Jeremiah 15:21

Key moments

Though Moses and Samuel stood (Jeremiah 15:1). The Lord says even those intercessors could not turn his mind toward this people.
Death, sword, famine, captivity (Jeremiah 15:2). The people are sorted to four ends when they ask where to go.
Because of Manasseh (Jeremiah 15:4). The removal into all kingdoms is tied to what Manasseh did in Jerusalem.
Her sun gone down by day (Jeremiah 15:9). The mother of seven languishes and the residue is given to the sword.
Woe is me, my mother (Jeremiah 15:10). Jeremiah laments being born a man of strife whom everyone curses.
As waters that fail? (Jeremiah 15:18). Jeremiah asks why his wound is incurable and whether the Lord will be as a liar to him.
If thou return (Jeremiah 15:19). The Lord makes the prophet's standing conditional and promises to make him a brasen wall.

For reflection

Jeremiah asks whether the Lord will be to him as a liar and as waters that fail, and the Lord's answer begins with If thou return. What does the chapter suggest about a prophet who needs the same return he preaches?