Jeremiah 15

The original text was written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 21 verses.

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex (10th century), Codex Leningradensis (1008).{{sfn|Würthwein|1995|pp=35-37}} Some fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, i.e., 4QJer^a (4Q70; 225-175 BCECross, F.M. apud Freedman, D.N.; Mathews, K.A. (1985). The Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus Scroll (11QpaleoLev). Winona Lake, Indiana. p. 55{{cite book

|last = Sweeney

|first = Marvin A.

|title =Form and Intertextuality in Prophetic and Apocalyptic Literature

|volume = 45

|series=Forschungen zum Alten Testament

|issn = 0940-4155

|edition=reprint

|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers

|year= 2010

|pages=66

|isbn=9781608994182|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KIxMAwAAQBAJ

}}) with extant verses 1–2.{{Cite book|title = A Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature|last = Fitzmyer|first = Joseph A.| author-link = Joseph Fitzmyer | publisher = William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=TILXeWJ2eNAC | year = 2008 | pages = 37 |isbn = 9780802862419 | location = Grand Rapids, MI | access-date= February 15, 2019}}{{Cite book | editor-last = Ulrich | editor-first = Eugene | editor-link = Eugene Ulrich | title = The Biblical Qumran Scrolls: Transcriptions and Textual Variants | year = 2010 | page = 566 | publisher = Brill | url = https://archive.org/details/TheBiblicalQumranScrolls |access-date= May 15, 2017 | isbn= 9789004181830}}

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; $\backslash mathfrak\{G\}$^B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: $\backslash mathfrak\{G\}$^S; 4th century), Codex Alexandrinus (A; $\backslash mathfrak\{G\}$^A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q; $\backslash mathfrak\{G\}$^Q; 6th century).{{sfn|Würthwein|1995|pp=73-74}}

The parashah sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex.As reflected in the [http://mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et0.htm Jewish Publication Society's 1917 edition of the Hebrew Bible in English]. Jeremiah 15 is a part of the Sixth prophecy (Jeremiah 14-17) in the section of Prophecies of Destruction (Jeremiah 1-25). {P}: open parashah; {S}: closed parashah.

: {P} 15:1-9 {S} 15:10 {S} 15:11-14 {S} 15:15-16 {S} 15:17-18 {S} 15:19-21 {S}

Verses 1–4, starting a passage that continues to Jeremiah 16:21, parallels Jeremiah 14:11—12 in the rejection of Jeremiah's intercession, as no mediation would work to prevent the impending disaster, not even by Moses or Samuel (verse 1). In chapters 2–10 the enemy comes from the north to Jerusalem, whereas in chapters 11–20 the enemy appears only in 13:20, but 'the modes of tragedy' become more detailed: 'pestilence and sword, famine and captivity' (15:2; 11:22; 14:15; 21:8), as well as 'unburied bodies' (14:16), that birds that scavenge (15:3). The former King Manasseh (2 Kings 21:10-15) is held responsible here, not the people.{{sfn|O'Connor|2007|p=502}}

: Then the Lord said to me: Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, yet My heart would not be with this people. Cast them out of My sight and let them go!{{bibleref2|Jeremiah|15:1|MEV}} MEV

• "Moses and Samuel": both persons were 'well known for their successful intercession on behalf of Israel' (Moses: {{bibleverse|Exodus|32:11-14|9}}, {{bibleverse|Exodus|32:30-34|9|30-34}}; {{bibleverse|Numbers|14:13-19|9}}; {{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|9:18-20|9}}, {{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|9:25-29|9|25-29}}; Samuel: {{bibleverse|Psalm|99:6-8|9}}; {{bibleverse|1 Samuel|7:5-9|9}}; {{bibleverse-nb|1 Samuel|12:19-23|9}}), but here the Lord rejects Jeremiah's intercession (Jeremiah 14:19-22).Note [a] on Jeremiah 15:1 in NET Bible{{sfn|Huey|1993|p=157}}
• "My heart would not be with": lit. in Hebrew: "my soul was not toward".Note on Jeremiah 15:1 on NKJV
• "Cast": is from the same Hebrew verb (shalah) used in {{bibleverse|Exodus|5:1|9}} (translated as "let my people go"), so it could be an 'intentional play' on the Exodus text but here with the 'ominous meaning'.{{sfn|Huey|1993|p=157}}

: And it shall be, if they say to you, 'Where should we go?'

: then you shall tell them, 'Thus says 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."'{{bibleref2|Jeremiah|15:2|NKJV}} NKJV

Anticipating the people's question, the Lord prepares a harsh answer (in the sense of "I will not help you. I no longer care what happens to you") by leaving their predicament to death, sword, starvation and captivity, which usually accompany the 'horrors of warfare'.{{sfn|Huey|1993|p=157}}

:"I will appoint over them four forms of destruction", says the Lord:

::"the sword to slay,

::the dogs to drag,

::the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.{{bibleref2|Jeremiah|15:3|NKJV}} NKJV

"Four forms of destruction" in the New King James Version; "four kinds of doom" in the New American Standard Bible,{{bibleref2|Jeremiah|15:3|NASB}} NASB literally "four families".Streane, A. W. (1913), [https://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/jeremiah/15.htm Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges] on Jeremiah 15, accessed 23 January 2019

YHWH is lamenting because he is reluctant to destroy the city, using 'a poignant rhetorical question' to display 'divine anguish' and to portray Jerusalem's pitiful isolation (verse 5), but as the female Jerusalem rejected YHWH, so YHWH destroyed her, after YHWH alone puts effort into the relationship and is 'weary of relenting' (verse 6), so they cannot yet be reconciled (cf. Jeremiah 2:1–3:25). However, the poem also invites pity for her (verses 7–9).{{sfn|O'Connor|2007|p=502}}

Jeremiah's second confession can be compared with YHWH's lament over Jerusalem in some points:

1. YHWH doomed the mothers to childlessness (15:9), whereas Jeremiah's mother doomed him to a life of suffering by giving him birth (15:10)
2. Divine weariness (15:6) has become prophetic anguish (15:18).

This confession is an act of protest in which Jeremiah embodies the questions of the exiles while he complains about his people (verse 15). His hope is that if he repents (verse 19), he will be delivered from 'the hand of the wicked' (verse 21).{{sfn|O'Connor|2007|p=502}}

: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 neither lent for interest,

:Nor have men lent to me for interest.

:Every one of them curses me.{{bibleref2|Jeremiah|15:10|NKJV}} NKJV

The King James Version refers to lending "on usury".{{bibleref2|Jeremiah|15:10|KJV}}: King James Version Lending money and charging interest to a fellow-Israelite would have been contrary to {{bibleref2|Deuteronomy|23:19-20|NKJV}}. Biblical commentator A. W. Streane describes verses 10–21, Jeremiah's dejection and God's reply, as "one of the most eloquent and pathetic in the Book".

:Tell me, Lord, have I not served you for their good?

::Have I not interceded with you

::in time of misfortune and anguish? (NABRE)

{{bibleref2|Jeremiah|15:11|NABRE}} NABRE

The Septuagint wording ({{langx|el|γένοιτο, δέσποτα}}, genoito, despota,{{Cite web|url=https://biblehub.com/sepd/jeremiah/15.htm|title=Jeremiah 15 Swete's Septuagint|website=biblehub.com}} "Know, Lord …") continues Jeremiah's expression of despair from the previous verse, which the Jerusalem Bible describes as "a spiritual crisis of the prophet halfway through his ministry".Jerusalem Bible (11966), footnote e at Jeremiah 15:10 Streane suggests that "the whole (of verses 10-18) is best taken as Jeremiah’s utterance", although some Hebrew texts and many English translations based on the Hebrew begin this statement with "The Lord said …", thus:

New King James Version:

:The Lord said:

::“Surely it will be well with your remnant;

::Surely I will cause the enemy to intercede with you

::In the time of adversity and in the time of affliction".{{bibleref2|Jeremiah|15:11|NKJV}}: NKJV

:Why is my pain unceasing,

::my wound incurable,

::refusing to be healed?

:Truly, you are to me like a deceitful brook,

::like waters that fail.{{bibleref2|Jeremiah|15:18|NRSV}} NRSV

A deceitful brook flows like a torrent in winter, but presents as a dried-up watercourse in the summer, which "belies the anticipations of the thirsty traveller".

• Hezekiah
• Jerusalem
• Kingdom of Judah
• Manasseh of Judah
• Moses
• Samuel
• Related Bible parts: Exodus 32, {{bibleverse|Numbers|14|KJV}}, Deuteronomy 9, Jeremiah 14, Ezekiel 14

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book| last = Huey| first = F. B.| title = The New American Commentary - Jeremiah, Lamentations: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture, NIV Text| publisher = B&H Publishing Group | year = 1993| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HBguYZCdAM4C| isbn = 9780805401165}}
• {{cite book|last=O'Connor | first= Kathleen M. | chapter = 23. Jeremiah | title=The Oxford Bible Commentary | editor-first1=John| editor-last1=Barton |editor1-link = John Barton (theologian) | editor-first2=John| editor-last2= Muddiman |editor2-link = John Muddiman | publisher = Oxford University Press |edition= first (paperback) | date = 2007 | pages = 487–533 | isbn = 978-0199277186 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZJdVkgEACAAJ| access-date=February 6, 2019}}
• {{cite book | last = Würthwein | first = Ernst | author-link = Ernst Würthwein | title = The Text of the Old Testament | publisher = Wm. B. Eerdmans |location = Grand Rapids, MI | year= 1995 | translator-first1 = Erroll F.| translator-last1 = Rhodes |isbn = 0-8028-0788-7 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FSNKSBObCYwC | access-date= January 26, 2019}}

• [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt1115.htm Jeremiah 15 Hebrew with Parallel English]
• [http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16012 Jeremiah 15 Hebrew with Rashi's Commentary]

• [http://www.latinvulgate.com/lv/verse.aspx?t=0&b=28&c=15 Jeremiah 15 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate]

{{Book of Jeremiah}}

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