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 not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet everyone of them does curse me. 11 Yahweh said, Most certainly I will strengthen you for good; most certainly I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you in the time of evil and in the time of affliction. 12 Can one break iron, even iron from the north, and brass? 13 Your substance and your treasures will I give for a spoil without price, and that for all your sins, even in all your borders. 14 I will make them to pass with your enemies into a land which you don’t know; for a fire is kindled in my anger, which shall burn on you.
15 Yahweh, you know; remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors; don’t take me away in your longsuffering: know that for your sake I have suffered reproach. 16 Your words were found, and I ate them; and your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by your name, Yahweh, God of Armies. 17 I didn’t sit in the assembly of those who make merry, nor rejoiced; 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 indeed be to me as a deceitful brook, as waters that fail? 19 Therefore thus says Yahweh, If you return, then will I bring you again, that you may stand before me; and if you take forth the precious from the vile, you shall be as my mouth: they shall return to you, but you shall not return to them. 20 I will make you to this people a fortified bronze 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 Yahweh. 21 I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 15:10-21
Commentary on Jeremiah 15:10-14
(Read Jeremiah 15:10-14)
Jeremiah met with much contempt and reproach, when they ought to have blessed him, and God for him. It is a great and sufficient support to the people of God, that however troublesome their way may be, it shall be well with them in their latter end. God turns to the people. Shall the most hardy and vigorous of their efforts be able to contend with the counsel of God, or with the army of the Chaldeans? Let them hear their doom. The enemy will treat the prophet well. But the people who had great estates would be used hardly. All parts of the country had added to the national guilt; and let each take shame to itself.
Commentary on Jeremiah 15:15-21
(Read Jeremiah 15:15-21)
It is matter of comfort that we have a God, to whose knowledge of all things we may appeal. Jeremiah pleads with God for mercy and relief against his enemies, persecutors, and slanderers. It will be a comfort to God's ministers, when men despise them, if they have the testimony of their own consciences. But he complains, that he found little pleasure in his work. Some good people lose much of the pleasantness of religion by the fretfulness and uneasiness of their natural temper, which they indulge. The Lord called the prophet to cease from his distrust, and to return to his work. If he attended thereto, he might be assured the Lord would deliver him from his enemies. Those who are with God, and faithful to him, he will deliver from trouble or carry through it. Many things appear frightful, which do not at all hurt a real believer in Christ.