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Tuesday · Week 32
The Early Prophets

Jeremiah 15-16

Week 32 · about 10 min
  1. Wed: 2 Kings 14-17
  2. Thu: Hebrews 5-7
  3. Fri: Hosea 1-3

Jeremiah complains to God, and God calls him to repent of self-pity. Then Jeremiah’s own life becomes a sign.

Thy Words Were Found and I Did Eat Them

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.

Jeremiah 15:16 (KJV)

God says that even if Moses and Samuel prayed for Judah now, it wouldn’t change the outcome. Jeremiah wishes he’d never been born: “Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife.” He even accuses God of being like a stream that dries up when you need it. God doesn’t scold him for being honest, but he tells him, “If thou return, then will I bring thee again.” Even a prophet needed to repent of his self-pity. In chapter 16 God tells Jeremiah not to marry and not to go to funerals or parties. His lonely life itself became part of the message.

Reflect: What has Scripture been to you lately: food, duty, or something you skip?

Jeremiah 15

1And Jehovah saith unto me: Though Moses and Samuel should stand before Me, My soul is not toward this people, Send from before My face, and they go out.

2And it hath come to pass, when they say to thee, Whither do we go out? that thou hast said unto them, Thus said Jehovah: Those who are for death -- to death, And those who are for the sword, to the sword, And those who are for famine, to famine, And those who are for captivity, to captivity.

3And I have appointed over them four kinds, an affirmation of Jehovah, The sword to slay, and the dogs to drag, And the fowl of the heavens, And the beast of the earth, to consume and to devour.

4And I have given them for a trembling To all kingdoms of the earth, Because of Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah, For that which he did in Jerusalem.

5For who hath pity on thee, O Jerusalem? And who doth bemoan for thee? And who turneth aside to ask of thy welfare?

6Thou -- thou hast left Me -- an affirmation of Jehovah, Backward thou goest, And I stretch out My hand against thee, And I destroy thee, I have been weary of repenting,

7And I scatter them with a fan, in the gates the land, I bereaved, I have destroyed My people, From their ways they turned not back.

8Its widows have been more to Me than the sand of the seas, I brought in to them -- against the mother -- A young man -- a spoiler -- at noon. I caused to fall upon her suddenly, wrath and trouble.

9Languished hath the bearer of seven, She hath breathed out her spirit, Gone in hath her sun while yet day, It hath been ashamed and confounded, And their residue to the sword I give up before their enemies, An affirmation of Jehovah.

10Wo to me, my mother, For thou hast borne me a man of strife, And a man of contention to all the land, I have not lent on usury, Nor have they lent on usury to me -- All of them are reviling me.

11Jehovah 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?

12Doth one break iron -- northern iron, and brass?

13Thy strength and thy treasures For a prey I do give -- not for price, Even for all thy sins, and in all thy borders.

14And I have caused thine enemies To pass over into the land -- Thou hast not known, For a fire hath been kindled in Mine anger, Against you it doth burn.

15Thou, Thou hast known, O Jehovah, Remember me, and inspect me, And take vengeance for me of my pursuers, In Thy long-suffering take me not away, Know -- I have borne for Thee reproach.

16Thy words have been found, and I eat them, And Thy word is to me for a joy, And for the rejoicing of my heart, For Thy name is called on me, O Jehovah, God of Hosts.

17I have not sat in an assembly of deriders, Nor do I exult, because of thy hand, -- Alone I have sat, For with indignation Thou hast filled me.

18Why hath my pain been perpetual? And my wound incurable? It hath refused to be healed, Thou art surely to me as a failing stream, Waters not stedfast.

19Therefore, thus said Jehovah: If thou turnest back, then I bring thee back, Before Me thou dost stand, And if thou bringest out the precious from the vile, As My mouth thou art! They -- they turn back unto thee, And thou dost not turn back unto them.

20And I have made thee to this people For a wall -- brazen -- fenced, And they have fought against thee, And they do not prevail against thee, For with thee am I to save thee, And to deliver thee -- an affirmation of Jehovah,

21And I have delivered thee from the hand of evil doers, And I have ransomed thee From the hand of the terrible!

Jeremiah 16

1And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying:

2Thou dost not take to thee a wife, Nor hast thou sons and daughters in this place.

3For thus said Jehovah, Of the sons and of the daughters who are born in this place, And of their mothers -- those bearing them, And of their fathers -- those begetting them in this land:

4Of painful deaths they die, They are not lamented, nor are they buried, For dung on the face of the ground they are, And by sword and by famine are consumed, And their carcase hath been for food To the fowl of the heavens, And to the beast of the earth.

5For thus said Jehovah: Do not enter the house of a mourning-feast, Nor go to lament nor bemoan for them, For I have removed My peace from this people, An affirmation of Jehovah, The kindness and the mercies.

6And died have great and small in this land, They are not buried, and none lament for them, Nor doth any cut himself, nor become bald for them.

7Nor do they deal out to them for mourning, To comfort him concerning the dead, Nor cause them to drink a cup of consolations For his father and for his mother.

8A house of banqueting thou dost not enter, To sit with them, to eat and to drink,

9For thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: Lo, I am causing to cease from this place, Before your eyes, and in your days, The voice of joy, and the voice of rejoicing, The voice of bridegroom and voice of bride.

10And it hath come to pass when thou declarest to this people all these words, and they have said unto thee, ‘For what hath Jehovah spoken against us all this great evil? yea, what is our iniquity, and what our sin, that we have sinned against Jehovah our God?'

11Then thou hast said unto them: Because that your fathers have forsaken Me, An affirmation of Jehovah, And go after other gods, and serve them, And they bow themselves to them, And Me have forsaken, and My law not kept,

12Ye also have done evil above your fathers, And lo, ye are walking each after the stubbornness of his evil heart, So as not to hearken unto Me.

13And I have cast you from off this land, On to a land that ye have not known, Ye and your fathers, And ye have served there other gods by day and by night, Where I do not give to you grace.

14Therefore, lo, days are coming, An affirmation of Jehovah, And it is not said any more: ‘Jehovah liveth, who brought up The sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,'

15But, ‘Jehovah liveth, who brought up The sons of Israel out of the land of the north, And out of all the lands whither He drove them,' And I have brought them back to their land, That I gave to their fathers.

16Lo, I am sending for many fishers, An affirmation of Jehovah, And they have fished them, And after this I send for many hunters, And they have hunted them from off every mountain, And from off every hill, and from holes of the rocks.

17For Mine eyes are upon all their ways, They have not been hidden from My face, Nor hath their iniquity been concealed from before Mine eyes.

18And I have recompensed a first -- A second time -- their iniquity and their sin, Because of their polluting My land, With the carcase of their detestable things, Yea, their abominable things have filled Mine inheritance.

19O Jehovah, my strength, and my fortress, And my refuge in a day of adversity, Unto Thee nations do come from the ends of earth, And say, Only falsehood did our fathers inherit, Vanity, and none among them is profitable.

20Doth man make for himself gods, And they -- no gods?

21Therefore, lo, I am causing them to know at this time, I cause them to know My hand and My might, And they have known that My name is Jehovah!

Young’s Literal Translation (YLT). Public domain.