Jeremiah 15 opens with God's most absolute refusal of intercession — even Moses and Samuel, Israel's greatest intercessors, could not turn him from judgment (v. 1). Four agents of destruction are appointed: sword, dogs, birds, and beasts (v. 3). The chapter then shifts into Jeremiah's first major confession (vv. 10-21), one of the most raw personal prayers in scripture. The prophet laments his birth, confesses that God's word was his joy and delight yet also his source of isolation and suffering, and receives a conditional divine promise: 'If you return, I will restore you' (v. 19) — God demands repentance even from his own prophet.
What Makes This Chapter Remarkable
This chapter contains one of the most extraordinary reversals in prophetic literature: God applies the verb shuv ('return') to Jeremiah himself (v. 19). Throughout the book, shuv is directed at wayward Israel — here God turns it on his own prophet, demanding that Jeremiah repent of his despair and self-pity before he can be restored to prophetic service. The image of God's word as fire and joy (v. 16) stands in tension with the isolation and suffering that same word causes (v. 17) — the prophet's vocation is simultaneously his greatest gift and his greatest burden. The mention of Moses and Samuel as failed intercessors (v. 1) is not merely rhetorical — it establishes that Judah's guilt exceeds anything in Israel's prior history. We rendered the confession with its full emotional force, preserving Jeremiah's accusations against God without softening.
Translation Friction
The phrase 'I sat alone because of your hand' (v. 17) uses the word badad ('alone, isolated'), which carries the resonance of Lamentations 1:1 ('How the city sits alone'). Jeremiah's isolation prefigures Jerusalem's. The verb pittitani does not appear in this chapter (it is in chapter 20), but the emotional trajectory toward that accusation begins here. The conditional promise in verse 19 — 'if you return' (im tashuv) — required careful handling because shuv is Jeremiah's signature verb for Israel's repentance, and applying it to the prophet himself is theologically startling. The word mevasser in verse 16 ('your word was called over me') uses the same name-calling formula as covenant possession.
Connections
Moses's intercession (Exodus 32:11-14, Numbers 14:13-19) and Samuel's intercession (1 Samuel 7:9, 12:19-23) are the background for verse 1 — both succeeded where Jeremiah is told even they would fail. The birth-lament in verse 10 anticipates the fuller curse in 20:14-18 and echoes Job 3:1-26. The devouring of God's word (v. 16) connects to Ezekiel's scroll-eating (Ezekiel 2:8-3:3). The promise 'I will make you a fortified wall of bronze' (v. 20) reprises the commissioning language of 1:18. The four-fold judgment of verse 3 echoes Ezekiel 14:21.
Then the LORD said to me: Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them away from my presence — let them go!
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
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.
And when they ask you, 'Where should we go?' — tell them: This is what the LORD says:
Those destined for death — to death.
Those destined for the sword — to the sword.
Those destined for famine — to famine.
Those destined for captivity — to captivity.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
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.
I will appoint four kinds of destroyers against them, declares the LORD: the sword to kill, dogs to drag away, the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
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.
I will make them an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
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.
For who will have compassion on you, Jerusalem?
Who will mourn for you?
Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
KJV For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
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.
You have abandoned me, declares the LORD;
you keep going backward.
So I stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you —
I am weary of relenting.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
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).
I winnowed them with a winnowing fork at the gates of the land.
I bereaved them; I destroyed my people,
for they did not turn back from their ways.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
1 term
Key Terms
שׁוּבshuv
"turn back"—return, turn back, repent, turn away, go back, restore
The defining verb of Jeremiah's theology. Used here negatively — the people refused to turn from their ways. The same verb will be turned on Jeremiah himself in verse 19.
Translator Notes
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.
Their widows are more numerous to me than the sand of the seas.
I brought against the mother of young men
a destroyer at midday.
I made anguish and terror
fall on her suddenly.
KJV I have brought against 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
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.
The mother of seven grows faint;
she breathes out her life.
Her sun has set while it is still day —
she is shamed and disgraced.
And their survivors I will give to the sword
before their enemies, declares the LORD.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
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.
Woe to me, my mother, that you gave birth to me —
a man of conflict and a man of dispute with the whole land!
I have not lent, and no one has lent to me,
yet everyone curses me.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
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.
The LORD said: Surely I have set you free for a good purpose. Surely I have made the enemy plead with you in the time of disaster and in the time of distress.
KJV The LORD said, Verily I will strengthen thee for good; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
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).
KJV Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
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.
Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder — without cost — because of all your sins throughout all your territory.
KJV Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
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.
I will make you serve your enemies in a land you do not know, for a fire is kindled in my anger — it will burn against you.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
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.
You know, LORD.
Remember me and attend to me;
avenge me against my persecutors.
In your patience, do not take me away.
Know that for your sake I bear reproach.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
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.
Your words were found, and I devoured them.
Your word became my joy
and the delight of my heart,
for your name has been called over me,
LORD, God of Hosts.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
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.
I did not sit in the company of revelers and celebrate.
Because of your hand upon me, I sat alone,
for you filled me with indignation.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
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.
Why is my pain unending,
my wound incurable, refusing to heal?
Will you truly be to me like a deceptive stream,
like waters that cannot be trusted?
KJV 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?
Notes & Key Terms
1 term
Key Terms
אַכְזָבakhzav
"deceptive stream"—deceptive, disappointing, a stream that dries up, a lie
A wadi that appears to offer water but is dry — the most dangerous kind of water source in the desert. Jeremiah applies this image directly to God.
Translator Notes
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.
Therefore this is what the LORD says:
If you return, I will restore you —
you will stand before me.
If you extract what is precious from what is worthless,
you will be as my mouth.
They will turn to you,
but you must not turn to them.
KJV 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: they shall return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.
The defining verb of Jeremiah, used here in its most stunning application — directed at the prophet himself. Three different forms of shuv in one verse create a web of turning: Jeremiah must turn, God will turn him back, and the people will turn to him.
Translator Notes
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.
I will make you a fortified wall of bronze to this people.
They will fight against you,
but they will not overcome you,
for I am with you to save you and deliver you,
declares the LORD.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
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.
I will rescue you from the hand of the wicked
and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.
KJV And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
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.