God’s Word Translation
Jeremiah 15:18
18Why is my pain unending and my wound incurable, refusing to heal? Will you disappoint me like a stream that dries up in summertime?
Jeremiah 15:18 in other versions
- King James Version (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?
- New International Version (NIV)Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable? You are to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?
- New King James Version (NKJV)Why is my pain perpetual And my wound incurable, Which refuses to be healed? Will You surely be to me like an unreliable stream, As waters that fail?
Context of Jeremiah 15:18
16Your words were found, and I devoured them. Your words are my joy and my heart’s delight, because I am called by your name, O Lord God of Armies. 17I didn’t keep company with those who laugh and have fun. I sat alone because your hand was on me. You filled me with outrage. Why is my pain unending and my wound incurable, refusing to heal? Will you disappoint me like a stream that dries up in summertime? 19This is what the Lord says: If you will return, I will take you back. If you will speak what is worthwhile and not what is worthless, you will stand in my presence. The people will return to you, but you will not return to them. 20I will make you like a solid bronze wall in front of these people. They will fight you, but they will not defeat you. I am with you, and I will save you and rescue you, declares the Lord.
Read all of Jeremiah 15Jeremiah 15:18 word by word
לָ֣מָּה הָיָ֤ה כְאֵבִי֙ נֶ֔צַח וּמַכָּתִ֖י אֲנוּשָׁ֑ה֙ מֵֽאֲנָה֙ הֵֽרָפֵ֔א הָי֨וֹ תִֽהְיֶ֥ה לִי֙ כְּמ֣וֹ אַכְזָ֔ב מַ֖יִם לֹ֥א נֶאֱמָֽנוּ׃ סRead the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Why is my painכְּאֵבke'êb · painH3511
- perpetualנֵ֫צַחnetsach nêtsach · perpetuityH5331
- and my woundמַכָּהmakkâh makkeh · woundH4347
- incurableאָנַשׁ'ânash · be incurableH605
- refusethמָאֵןmâ'ên · to refuseH3985
- to be healedרָפָאrâphâ' râphâh · to healH7495
- wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liarאַכְזָב'akzâb · deceptiveH391
- watersמַיmayim · waterH4325
- failאָמַן'âman · be faithfulH539
Cross-references for Jeremiah 15:18
- Jeremiah 14:19Have you completely rejected Judah? Do you despise Zion? Why have you struck us so hard that we cannot heal? We hope for peace, but no good comes from it. We hope for a time of healing, but there’s only terror.
- Psalms 6:3My soul has been deeply shaken with terror. But you, O Lord, how long … ?
- Psalms 13:1How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
- Lamentations 3:1“I am the man who has experienced suffering under the rod of God’s fury.
- Jeremiah 30:12“This is what the Lord says: Your wound is incurable. Your injury is beyond healing.
- Job 34:6I’m considered a liar in spite of my rights. I’ve been wounded by a deadly arrow, though I haven’t been disobedient.’
- Micah 1:9Samaria’s wounds are incurable. ⌞The news about Samaria⌟ will come to Judah. It will reach the gates of my people in Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 1:18Today I have made you like a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall. You will be able to stand up to the whole land. You will be able to stand up to Judah’s kings, its officials, its priests, and ⌞all⌟ the common people.
- Jeremiah 20:7O Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived. You overpowered me and won. I’ve been made fun of all day long. Everyone mocks me.
- Jeremiah 14:3Important people send their assistants out for water. They go to the cisterns, but they don’t find any water. They come back with their containers empty. They cover their heads, because they are ashamed and disgraced.
- Job 6:15My brothers have been as deceptive as seasonal rivers, like the seasonal riverbeds that flood.
Commentaries on Jeremiah 15:18
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 18Wilt thou be altogether unto me as - waters that fail? - Leaning either springs, which in the height of summer grow dry; or, like that phenomenon in the sandy desert, where, by a peculiar action of the air on the rising vapors, the resemblance of water is produced, so that the traveler, deceived, rejoices that he is come, in the sandy desert, to the verge of a beautiful lake; but the farther he travels, it is still at the same distance, and at last…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 15-18Verses 15-18 This is the prayer of a man in bitter grief, whose human nature cannot at present submit to the divine will. God‘s long-suffering toward the wicked seemed to the prophet to be the abandonment of himself to death; justice itself required that one who was suffering contumely for God‘s sake should be delivered. Rebuke - i. e., reproach, contumely. Jeremiah 15:16 Thy words were found - Jeremiah‘s summons to the prophetic office had not been…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 15-21Verses 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…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 18Jeremiah asked two rhetorical questions that suggest he should not have to suffer.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1818. (Jr 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 Jr 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, Psa 77:10) here; as before he spoke under the higher spiritual nature given him. as a liar, and as--rather, "as a deceiving (river)…Read the comment
Topics related to Jeremiah 15:18
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Jeremiah 15
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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