Worthy.Bible » YLT » Jeremiah » Chapter 15 » Verse 11

Jeremiah 15:11 Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

11 Jehovah said, Did I not direct thee for good? Did not I intercede for thee in a time of evil, And in a time of adversity, with the enemy?

Cross Reference

Proverbs 16:7 YLT

When a man's ways please Jehovah, even his enemies, He causeth to be at peace with him.

Psalms 106:46 YLT

And He appointeth them for mercies Before all their captors.

Jeremiah 29:11-14 YLT

For I have known the thoughts that I am thinking towards you -- an affirmation of Jehovah; thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give to you posterity and hope. `And ye have called Me, and have gone, and have prayed unto Me, and I have hearkened unto you, And ye have sought Me, and have found, for ye seek Me with all your heart; And I have been found of you -- an affirmation of Jehovah; and I have turned back `to' your captivity, and have gathered you out of all the nations, and out of all the places whither I have driven you -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- and I have brought you back unto the place whence I removed you.

Psalms 37:3-11 YLT

Trust in Jehovah, and do good, Dwell `in' the land, and enjoy faithfulness, And delight thyself on Jehovah, And He giveth to thee the petitions of thy heart. Roll on Jehovah thy way, And trust upon Him, and He worketh, And hath brought out as light thy righteousness, And thy judgment as noon-day. Be silent for Jehovah, and stay thyself for Him, Do not fret because of him Who is making prosperous his way, Because of a man doing wicked devices. Desist from anger, and forsake fury, Fret not thyself only to do evil. For evil doers are cut off, As to those waiting on Jehovah, they possess the land. And yet a little, and the wicked is not, And thou hast considered his place, and it is not. And the humble do possess the land, And they have delighted themselves In the abundance of peace.

Proverbs 21:1 YLT

Rivulets of waters `is' the heart of a king in the hand of Jehovah, Wherever He pleaseth He inclineth it.

Ecclesiastes 8:12 YLT

Though a sinner is doing evil a hundred `times', and prolonging `himself' for it, surely also I know that there is good to those fearing God, who fear before Him.

Jeremiah 21:2 YLT

`Inquire, we pray thee, for us at Jehovah, for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath fought against us; perhaps Jehovah doth deal with us according to all His wonders, and doth cause him to go up from off us.'

Jeremiah 37:3 YLT

And Zedekiah the king sendeth Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, unto Jeremiah the prophet, saying, `Pray, we beseech thee, for us unto Jehovah our God.'

Jeremiah 39:11-12 YLT

And Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon giveth a charge concerning Jeremiah, by the hand of Nebuzar-Adan, chief of the executioners, saying, `Take him, and place thine eyes upon him, and do no evil thing to him, but as he speaketh unto thee, so do with him.'

Jeremiah 40:2-6 YLT

And the chief of the executioners taketh Jeremiah, and saith unto him, `Jehovah thy God hath spoken this evil concerning this place, and Jehovah bringeth `it' in, and doth as He spake, because ye have sinned against Jehovah, and have not hearkened to His voice, even this thing hath been to you. `And now, lo, I have loosed thee to-day from the chains that `are' on thy hand; if good in thine eyes to come with me `to' Babylon, come, and I keep mine eye upon thee: and if evil in thine eyes to come with me to Babylon, forbear; see, all the land `is' before thee, whither `it be' good, and whither `it be' right in thine eyes to go -- go.' -- and while he doth not reply -- `Or turn back unto Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon hath appointed over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him in the midst of the people, or whithersoever it is right in thine eyes to go -- go.' And the chief of the executioners giveth to him for the way, and a gift, and sendeth him away, and Jeremiah cometh in unto Gedaliah son of Ahikam, to Mizpah, and dwelleth with him, in the midst of the people who are left in the land.

Jeremiah 42:2 YLT

and they say unto Jeremiah the prophet, `Let, we pray thee, our supplication fall before thee, and pray for us unto Jehovah thy God, for all this remnant; for we have been left a few out of many, as thine eyes do see us;

Commentary on Jeremiah 15 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible


CHAPTER 15

Jer 15:1-21. God's Reply to Jeremiah's Intercessory Prayer.

1. Moses … Samuel—eminent in intercessions (Ex 32:11, 12; 1Sa 7:9; Ps 99:6).

be toward—could not be favorably inclined toward them.

out of my sight—God speaks as if the people were present before Him, along with Jeremiah.

2. death—deadly plague (Jer 18:21; 43:11; Eze 5:2, 12; Zec 11:9).

3. appoint—(Le 26:16).

kinds—of punishments.

4. cause … to be removed—(De 28:25; Eze 23:46). Rather, "I will give them up to vexation," I will cause them to wander so as nowhere to have repose [Calvin]; (2Ch 29:8, "trouble;" Margin, "commotion").

because of Manasseh—He was now dead, but the effects of his sins still remained. How much evil one bad man can cause! The evil fruits remain even after he himself has received repentance and forgiveness. The people had followed his wicked example ever since; and it is implied that it was only through the long-suffering of God that the penal consequences had been suspended up to the present time (compare 1Ki 14:16; 2Ki 21:11; 23:26; 24:3, 4).

5. go aside … how thou doest—Who will turn aside (in passing by) to salute thee (to wish thee "peace")?

6. weary with repenting—(Ho 13:14; 11:8). I have so often repented of the evil that I threatened (Jer 26:19; Ex 32:14; 1Ch 21:15), and have spared them, without My forbearance moving them to repentance, that I will not again change My purpose (God speaking in condescension to human modes of thought), but will take vengeance on them now.

7. fan—tribulation—from tribulum, a threshing instrument, which separates the chaff from the wheat (Mt 3:12).

gates of the land—that is, the extreme bounds of the land through which the entrance to and exit from it lie. Maurer translates, "I will fan," that is, cast them forth "to the gates of the land" (Na 3:13). "In the gates"; English Version draws the image from a man cleaning corn with a fan; he stands at the gate of the threshing-floor in the open air, to remove the wheat from the chaff by means of the wind; so God threatens to remove Israel out of the bounds of the land [Houbigant].

8. Their widows—My people's (Jer 15:7).

have brought—prophetical past: I will bring.

mother of the young men—"mother" is collective; after the "widows," He naturally mentions bereavement of their sons ("young men"), brought on the "mothers" by "the spoiler"; it was owing to the number of men slain that the "widows" were so many [Calvin]. Others take "mother," as in 2Sa 20:19, of Jerusalem, the metropolis; "I have brought on them, against the 'mother,' a young spoiler," namely, Nebuchadnezzar, sent by his father, Nabopolassar, to repulse the Egyptian invaders (2Ki 23:29; 24:1), and occupy Judea. But Jer 15:7 shows the future, not the past, is referred to; and "widows" being literal, "mother" is probably so, too.

at noonday—the hottest part of the day, when military operations were usually suspended; thus it means unexpectedly, answering to the parallel, "suddenly"; openly, as others explain it, will not suit the parallelism (compare Ps 91:6).

it—English Version seems to understand by "it" the mother city, and by "him" the "spoiler"; thus "it" will be parallel to "city." Rather, "I will cause to fall upon them (the 'mothers' about to be bereft of their sons) suddenly anguish and terrors."

the city—rather, from a root "heat," anguish, or consternation. So the Septuagint.

9. borne seven—(1Sa 2:5). Seven being the perfect number indicates full fruitfulness.

languisheth—because not even one is left of all her sons (Jer 15:8).

sun is gone down while … yet day—Fortune deserts her at the very height of her prosperity (Am 8:9).

she … ashamed—The mothers (she being collective) are put to the shame of disappointed hopes through the loss of all their children.

10. (Jer 20:14; Job 3:1, &c.). Jeremiah seems to have been of a peculiarly sensitive temperament; yet the Holy Spirit enabled him to deliver his message at the certain cost of having his sensitiveness wounded by the enmities of those whom his words offended.

man of strife—exposed to strifes on the part of "the whole earth" (Ps 80:6).

I have neither lent, &c.—proverbial for, "I have given no cause for strife against me."

11. Verily—literally, "Shall it not be?" that is, "Surely it shall be."

thy remnant—the final issue of thy life; thy life, which now seems to thee so sad, shall eventuate in prosperity [Calvin]. They who think that they shall be the surviving remnant, whereas thou shalt perish, shall themselves fall, whereas thou shalt remain and be favored by the conquerors [Junius], (Jer 40:4, 5; 39:11, 12). The Keri reads, "I will set thee free (or as Maurer, 'I will establish thee') for good" (Jer 14:11; Ezr 8:22; Ps 119:122).

to entreat thee well—literally, "to meet thee"; so "to be placable, nay, of their own accord to anticipate in meeting thee with kindness" [Calvin]. I prefer this translation as according with the event (Jer 39:11, 12; 40:4, 5). Gesenius, from Jer 7:16; 27:18; Job 21:15, translates (not only will I relieve thee from the enemy's vexations, but) "I will make thine enemy (that now vexeth thee) apply to thee with prayers" (Jer 38:14; 42:2-6).

12. steel—rather, brass or copper, which mixed with "iron" (by the Chalybes near the Euxine Pontus, far north of Palestine), formed the hardest metal, like our steel. Can the Jews, hardy like common iron though they be, break the still hardier Chaldees of the north (Jer 1:14), who resemble the Chalybian iron hardened with copper? Certainly not [Calvin]. Henderson translates. "Can one break iron, (even) the northern iron, and brass," on the ground that English Version makes ordinary iron not so hard as brass. But it is not brass, but a particular mixture of iron and brass, which is represented as harder than common iron, which was probably then of inferior texture, owing to ignorance of modern modes of preparation.

13. Thy substance … sins—Judea's, not Jeremiah's.

without price—God casts His people away as a thing worth naught (Ps 44:12). So, on the contrary, Jehovah, when about to restore His people, says, He will give Egypt, &c., for their "ransom" (Isa 43:3).

even in all thy borders—joined with "Thy substance … treasures, as also with "all thy sins," their sin and punishment being commensurate (Jer 17:3).

14. thee—Maurer supplies "them," namely, "thy treasures." Eichorn, needlessly, from Syriac and the Septuagint, reads, "I will make thee to serve thine enemies"; a reading doubtless interpolated from Jer 17:4.

fire—(De 32:22).

15. thou knowest—namely, my case; what wrongs my adversaries have done me (Jer 12:3).

revenge me—(See on Jer 11:20). The prophet in this had regard to, not his own personal feelings of revenge, but the cause of God; he speaks by inspiration God's will against the ungodly. Contrast in this the law with the gospel (Lu 23:34; Ac 7:60).

take me not away in thy long-suffering—By Thy long-suffering towards them, suffer them not meanwhile to take away my life.

for thy sake I have suffered rebuke—the very words of the antitype, Jesus Christ (Ps 69:7, 22-28), which last compare with Jeremiah's prayer in the beginning of this verse.

16. eat—(Eze 2:8; 3:1, 3; Re 10:9, 10). As soon as Thy words were found by me, I eagerly laid hold of and appropriated them. The Keri reads, "Thy word."

thy word … joy—(Job 23:12; Ps 119:72, 111; compare Mt 13:44).

called by thy name—I am Thine, Thy minister. So the antitype, Jesus Christ (Ex 23:21).

17. My "rejoicing" (Jer 15:16) was not that of the profane mockers (Ps 1:1; 26:4, 5) at feasts. So far from having fellowship with these, he was expelled from society, and made to sit "alone," because of his faithful prophecies.

because of thy hand—that is, Thine inspiration (Isa 8:11; Eze 1:3; 3:14).

filled me with indignation—So Jer 6:11, "full of the fury of the Lord"; so full was he of the subject (God's "indignation" against the ungodly) with which God had inspired him, as not to be able to contain himself from expressing it. The same comparison by contrast between the effect of inspiration, and that of wine, both taking a man out of himself, occurs (Ac 2:13, 15, 18).

18. (Jer 30:15). "Pain," namely, the perpetual persecution to which he was exposed, and his being left by God without consolation and "alone." Contrast his feeling here with that in Jer 15:16, when he enjoyed the full presence of God, and was inspired by His words. Therefore he utters words of his natural "infirmity" (so David, Ps 77:10) here; as before he spoke under the higher spiritual nature given him.

as a liar, and as—rather, "as a deceiving (river) … waters that are not sure (lasting)"; opposed to "living (perennial) waters" (Job 6:15). Streams that the thirsty traveller had calculated on being full in winter, but which disappoint him in his sorest need, having run dry in the heat of summer. Jehovah had promised Jeremiah protection from his enemies (Jer 1:18, 19); his infirmity suggests that God had failed to do so.

19. God's reply to Jeremiah.

return … bring … again—Jeremiah, by his impatient language, had left his proper posture towards God; God saith, "If thou wilt return (to thy former patient discharge of thy prophetic function) I will bring thee back" to thy former position: in the Hebrew there is a play of words, "return … turn again" (Jer 8:4; 4:1).

stand before me—minister acceptably to Me (De 10:8; 1Ki 17:1; 18:15).

take … precious from … vile—image from metals: "If thou wilt separate what is precious in thee (the divine graces imparted) from what is vile (thy natural corruptions, impatience, and hasty words), thou shall be as My mouth": my mouthpiece (Ex 4:16).

return not thou unto them—Let not them lead you into their profane ways (as Jeremiah had spoken irreverently, Jer 15:18), but lead thou them to the ways of godliness (Jer 15:16, 17). Eze 22:26 accords with the other interpretation, which, however, does not so well suit the context, "If thou wilt separate from the promiscuous mass the better ones, and lead them to conversion by faithful warnings," &c.

20, 21. The promise of Jer 1:18, 19, in almost the same words, but with the addition, adapted to the present attacks of Jeremiah's formidable enemies, "I will deliver thee out of … wicked … redeem … terrible"; the repetition is in order to assure Jeremiah that God is the same now as when He first made the promise, in opposition to the prophet's irreverent accusation of unfaithfulness (Jer 15:18).