Jeremiah 15

Translator Notes

1. The mention of Moses and Samuel is not arbitrary — these are Israel's two greatest intercessors. Moses turned away God's wrath after the golden calf (Exodus 32:11-14) and after the spies' report (Numbers 14:13-19). Samuel's prayers brought victory at Mizpah (1 Samuel 7:9) and he promised never to cease praying for Israel (1 Samuel 12:23). If even these two could not save this generation, no one can. The phrase ein nafshi el ('my soul/heart is not toward') expresses total emotional withdrawal — God has no remaining inclination toward these people. The imperatives shalach ('send away') and yetse'u ('let them go out') reverse the Exodus — God once brought them out of Egypt to himself; now he sends them out from his presence.

Translator Notes

1. The fourfold assignment is merciless in its finality — each person's fate is already sealed. The repetitive structure (asher la-X la-X) creates a drumbeat of inevitability. The four fates represent escalating severity: death (by plague), the sword (military violence), famine (slow starvation), and captivity (exile) — though exile, paradoxically, is survival. This quatrain echoes Revelation 6:8, where the fourth horseman is given authority over these same four destroyers.

Translator Notes

1. The word mishpachot ('kinds, families, clans') is used with grim irony — these four 'families' of destruction replace the family of Israel. Dogs in the ancient Near East were not domestic pets but scavengers that roamed the streets feeding on refuse and corpses — being dragged away by dogs means the bodies will not receive burial. The progression from sword (human violence) to dogs, birds, and beasts (animal scavenging) depicts a total reversal of the created order, where humans were given dominion over animals (Genesis 1:28). The formula ne'um YHWH ('declares the LORD') stamps this as irrevocable divine decree.

Translator Notes

1. The word za'avah ('horror, object of trembling') describes something so terrible that onlookers shudder — Israel's fate will serve as a cautionary tale among the nations. Manasseh (reigned c. 697-642 BCE) is singled out as the king whose sins made Judah's destruction inevitable, despite Josiah's later reforms. According to 2 Kings 21:16, Manasseh 'filled Jerusalem with innocent blood from one end to the other.' The mention of Hezekiah as his father heightens the tragedy — the most righteous king fathered the most wicked.

Translator Notes

1. Three rhetorical questions hammer home Jerusalem's total abandonment — no compassion (yachmol), no mourning (yanud), and no one even pausing to inquire after her well-being. The verb yanud ('to shake the head, to wag in sympathy') describes the gesture of condolence. The final question uses lish'ol leshalom ('to ask about peace/welfare') — the standard Hebrew greeting. No one will even say 'How are you?' to Jerusalem.

Translator Notes

1. The verb natash ('abandon, forsake') is covenant-language for desertion — God accuses Jerusalem of abandoning him, not the other way around. The phrase achor telekhi ('you walk backward') is the opposite of 'walking with God' — Jerusalem moves in reverse, away from the covenant relationship. The stunning confession nil'eiti hinnahem ('I am weary of relenting') admits divine exhaustion — God has relented so many times that he can no longer sustain compassion. The verb n-ch-m ('relent, comfort, repent') is the same verb used when God 'relented' from destroying Israel after Moses's intercession (Exodus 32:14).

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The winnowing image (ezrem bemizreh) is agricultural — grain is tossed into the wind so that chaff blows away and good grain falls. God is winnowing his people, separating them at the 'gates of the land' — the borders through which they will pass into exile. The verb shikkalti ('I bereaved') uses the piel intensive form, emphasizing the thoroughness of the loss. The root shuv ('return') appears in its negative form — they did not shuv. This is the verb of the entire book applied to Israel's persistent refusal.

Translator Notes

1. The comparison of widows to the sand of the seas (mechol yammim) inverts the Abrahamic blessing — God promised Abraham descendants like the sand (Genesis 22:17), now the widows are like sand. The 'mother of a young man' (em bachur) may refer to the city itself as a bereaved mother, or to individual mothers losing their sons. The destroyer comes 'at midday' (batstsahorayim) — the most unexpected time, when people feel safest. The word behalot ('terrors, sudden confusions') suggests panic so overwhelming that all ordered thought collapses.

Translator Notes

1. The 'mother of seven' represents the most blessed woman in Israelite culture — seven sons was the fullness of maternal blessing (cf. Ruth 4:15, 1 Samuel 2:5). Even she is undone. The phrase ba'ah shimshah be'od yomam ('her sun has set while it is still day') is a powerful image of premature death and untimely catastrophe — the natural order of day and night is violated. The survivors (she'eritam) face the sword — there is no escape route. The ne'um YHWH formula seals the pronouncement as divine decree.

Translator Notes

1. Jeremiah's first major confession begins here. The cry oi li immi ('woe to me, my mother') is directed not at God but at his mother — it is a lament over existence itself, anticipating the fuller birth-curse of 20:14-18. The words riv ('conflict, legal dispute') and madon ('contention, strife') characterize Jeremiah's entire life as one long quarrel. The usury reference is significant: lending disputes were the most common source of social conflict in ancient Israel. Jeremiah has not created enemies through financial dealings — his enemies come solely from his prophetic calling.

Translator Notes

1. This verse is notoriously difficult in Hebrew, with multiple possible readings. The verb sheritikha may come from sharah ('to set free, to loose') or sharar ('to strengthen'). We follow the reading 'set you free for good purpose,' which fits the context of Jeremiah's complaint about his unwanted calling. The verb hifga'ti ('I caused to encounter, I made plead') suggests God orchestrating circumstances so that even enemies must acknowledge Jeremiah — as will happen when Nebuchadnezzar gives Jeremiah favorable treatment (39:11-12).

Translator Notes

1. This enigmatic verse is among the most debated in Jeremiah. The 'iron from the north' (barzel mitstsafon) likely refers to Babylon, the enemy from the north (cf. 1:14, 4:6, 6:1). The rhetorical question implies that ordinary iron cannot break the hardened northern iron — Judah cannot resist Babylon. Some read this as reassurance to Jeremiah: his enemies cannot break him because God has made him iron and bronze (1:18). The brevity and ambiguity may be deliberate.

Translator Notes

1. The address shifts to Judah collectively. The phrase lo vimchir ('without price, for nothing') means the plunder will be given freely to the enemy — Judah's wealth has no redemptive value. The comprehensive phrase bekhol-gevulekha ('in all your borders') means no corner of the land will be spared. This verse closely parallels 17:3, suggesting it may be a fragmentary oracle inserted here.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase erets lo yada'ta ('a land you do not know') is the dread of exile — being uprooted from the promised land to an alien place. The fire of God's anger (esh qadchah be'appi) is a standard prophetic image, but here the verb tuqad ('it will burn') is in the hophal passive — the fire burns on its own, sustained by God's settled fury rather than momentary anger. Some manuscripts and versions read 'I will make your enemies pass over you' rather than 'I will make you pass with your enemies,' affecting whether this is about exile or invasion.

Translator Notes

1. Jeremiah's prayer resumes with direct address to God. Three imperatives — zokhreni ('remember me'), poqdeni ('attend to me, visit me'), hinnaqem ('avenge me') — escalate in intensity from memory to action to vengeance. The plea al-le'erekh appekha tiqqacheni ('in your patience do not take me away') is paradoxical: God's patience with the wicked means extended suffering for the prophet. Jeremiah asks God not to let his own long-suffering become the prophet's death sentence. The phrase se'eti alekha cherpah ('I bear reproach for your sake') makes the claim explicit — Jeremiah suffers because he carries God's message.

Translator Notes

1. The image of 'finding' and 'devouring' God's words (nimtse'u devarekha va'okhlam) is among the most powerful descriptions of prophetic calling in scripture. The verb akhal ('to eat, devour') suggests not casual reading but total internalization — the word becomes part of the prophet's body. Ezekiel will enact this literally by eating a scroll (Ezekiel 2:8-3:3). The phrase niqra shimkha alai ('your name has been called over me') is covenant-possession language — Jeremiah belongs to God the way a wife bears her husband's name or a city bears its conqueror's. This verse stands in agonizing tension with the surrounding lament — God's word is simultaneously Jeremiah's greatest joy and the cause of all his suffering.

Translator Notes

1. The word badad ('alone, in isolation') is the same word that opens Lamentations: 'How the city sits alone' (eikhah yashvah badad). Jeremiah's personal isolation prefigures Jerusalem's desolation. The prophet's solitude is not chosen but imposed — mippenei yadkha ('because of your hand') means God's power kept him apart from normal human community. The mesachaqim ('those who laugh, revelers') represent ordinary social life that is denied to the prophet. The word za'am ('indignation, wrath') is the divine fury that fills Jeremiah — he carries God's anger inside himself, making human fellowship impossible.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The accusation reaches its peak: Jeremiah compares God to an akhzav — a wadi that appears to hold water but runs dry when you need it most. In the arid Judean landscape, a deceptive wadi could mean death for a thirsty traveler. The phrase mayim lo ne'emanu ('waters that cannot be trusted') uses the root a-m-n, from which 'faithfulness' (emunah) and 'amen' derive. Jeremiah is accusing God of being un-amen, unfaithful — the most devastating charge a covenant partner can make. The word netsach ('perpetual, unending') suggests Jeremiah sees no end to his suffering.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. This verse is the theological center of the confession. The verb shuv appears three times: im tashuv ('if you return'), va'ashivkha ('I will restore you' — the causative hiphil of shuv), and yashuvu ('they will return'). God demands of Jeremiah the same repentance he demands of Israel. The phrase kefi tihyeh ('you will be as my mouth') is the most intimate description of prophetic calling in the Hebrew Bible — the prophet becomes God's mouth, the organ through which divine speech enters the world. The distinction between 'precious' (yaqar) and 'worthless' (zolel) may refer to separating genuine divine words from the prophet's own despairing complaints.

Translator Notes

1. This promise directly reprises the commissioning language of 1:18, where God told the young Jeremiah, 'I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls.' The conditional promise of verse 19 becomes unconditional here — once Jeremiah returns, God will fortify him. The verbs lehoshi'akha ('to save you') and lehattsilekha ('to deliver you') are the same pair used for God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt. The prophet receives the same covenantal protection once reserved for the whole nation. The formula ne'um YHWH seals this as irrevocable divine commitment.

Translator Notes

1. The chapter ends with two parallel promises: hitstsaltikha ('I will rescue you') and peditikha ('I will redeem you'). The verb padah ('redeem') is ransom language — God will pay the price to free Jeremiah from his enemies. The ra'im ('wicked') and aritsim ('ruthless, violent ones') likely refer to Jeremiah's own countrymen who want him dead, not foreign enemies. The divine promise bookends the confession: Jeremiah began by lamenting his birth (v. 10), and God ends by guaranteeing his survival. The suffering will not end, but neither will God's protection.