I will give as aplunder without price,
Because of all your sins,
Throughout your territories.
aInto a land which you do not know;
For a bfire is kindled in My anger,
Which shall burn upon you.”
Remember me and1 visit me,
And btake vengeance for me on my persecutors.
In Your enduring patience, do not take me away.
Know that cfor Your sake I have suffered rebuke.
And bYour word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart;
For I am called by Your name,
O Lord God of hosts.
Nor did I rejoice;
I sat alone because of Your hand,
For You have filled me with indignation.
And my wound incurable,
Which refuses to be healed?
Will You surely be to me blike an unreliable stream,
As waters that1 fail?
The Lord Reassures Jeremiah
a“If you return,
Then I will bring you back;
You shall bstand before Me;
If you ctake out the precious from the vile,
You shall be as My mouth.
Let them return to you,
But you must not return to them.
And they will fight against you,
But bthey shall not prevail against you;
For I am with you to save you
And deliver you,” says the Lord.
And I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible.”
| << Jeremiah 15:14 | Jeremiah 15:16 >> |
What Does Jeremiah 15:15 Mean?
Jeremiah 15:15-18
Jeremiah is not satisfied with God's assurances. In verses 15-18, the prophet retorts with words bespeaking the depth of his dejection, the seriousness of his crises of belief. Jeremiah reminds God that he has taken of God's Word and rejoiced in it; he has called on God's name and avoided the gainsayers. Yet, his pain is ongoing. Like Baruch, he finds no rest (see Jeremiah 45:3). Will God be with him to the end? Will God abandon him? The Jubilee Bible 2000 renders verse 18 this way: “Why was my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar and as waters that fail?”
Strong words! Like Asaph, whose “feet had almost stumbled” and whose “steps had nearly slipped” when he became envious of “the prosperity of the wicked” (Psalm 73:2-3), Jeremiah is clearly experiencing intense spiritual doubts. Can God use such an individual as His spokesman, His prophet, especially in this time of national emergency, the approaching “worst of times?”
Charles Whitaker
A Tale of Two Complaints (Part Two)
Jeremiah 15:15
God bears long and is slow to anger. Longsuffering is proof of God's goodness, faithfulness, and His desire to grant us salvation. Romans 2:4 describes God as forbearing and longsuffering. Forbearance is refraining from the enforcement of something that is due like a debt, right, or obligation. Longsuffering differs slightly in that its emphasis is on temperament.
Martin G. Collins
Longsuffering
| << Jeremiah 15:14 | Jeremiah 15:16 >> |
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