The utter rejection and manifold judgments of the Jews, 1-9. Jeremiah, complaining of their spite, receives a promise for himself, 10, 11; and a threatening for them, 12-14. He prays, 15-18; and receives a gracious promise, 19-21.
1 Then the LORD said to 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.
2 And it shall come to pass, that they shall say to you, 'Where shall we go forth?' Then you shall tell them, 'Thus says the LORD:
"Those who are for death, to death./
Those who are for the sword, to the sword./
Those who are for the famine, to the famine./
And those who are for the captivity, to the captivity."'
3 "And I will appoint over them four kinds," says the LORD. "The sword to slay, the dogs to tear, the birds of the heaven and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. 4 And I will cause them to be a horror among all kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.
5 "For who shall have pity upon you, O Jerusalem?/
Or who shall bemoan you?/
Or who shall go aside/
to ask concerning your welfare?
6 You have forsaken me,"/
says the LORD,/
"you have gone backward;/
therefore, I will stretch out my hand against you/
and destroy you./
I am weary with repenting.
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 do not return from their ways.
8 Their widows are multiplied to me/
above the sand of the seas./
I have brought upon them/
against the mother of the young men/
a destroyer at noon-day./
I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly,/
and terrors upon the city.
9 She who has borne seven languishes./
She has resigned her breath./
Her sun has gone down while it was yet day./
She has been ashamed and confounded./
And their remnant I will deliver to the sword/
before their enemies,"/
says the LORD.
10 Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor have men lent to me on usury, yet every one of them curses me. 11 The LORD said, "Truly it shall be well with your remnant. Truly I will cause the enemy to treat you well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction. 12 Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? 13 Your substance and your treasures I will give as plunder without price, and that for all your sins, even in all your borders. 14 And I will make you to pass with your enemies into a land which you do not know, for a fire is kindled in my anger which shall burn upon you."
15 O LORD, you know./
Remember me, visit me,/
and avenge me of my persecutors./
Do not take me away in your patience./
Know that for your sake I have suffered rebuke.
16 Your words were found, and I ate them./
And your word was to me/
the joy and rejoicing of my heart,/
for I am called by your name,/
O LORD God of hosts.
17 I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoice./
I sat alone because of your hand,/
for you have filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable,/
which refuses to be healed?/
Will you be altogether to me as a liar/
and as waters that fail?
19 Therefore, thus says the LORD:/
"If you return, then I will bring you back,/
and you shall stand before me./
And if you separate the precious from the vile,/
you shall be as my mouth./
They shall return to you,/
but you shall not return to them.
20 And I will make you to this people a fortified brazen wall./
And they shall fight against you,/
but they shall not prevail against you,/
for I am with you to save you and to deliver you,"/
says the LORD.
21 "And I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked/
and redeem you from the hand of the terrible."
Matthew Henry Commentary - Jeremiah, Chapter 15[➚]