New King James Version
Jeremiah 15:18
18Why 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?
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 Living Translation (NLT)Why then does my suffering continue? Why is my wound so incurable? Your help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook, like a spring that has gone dry.”
Context of Jeremiah 15:18
16Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts. 17I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, Nor did I rejoice; I sat alone because of Your hand, For You have filled me with indignation. 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? 19Therefore thus says the Lord: “If you return, Then I will bring you back; You shall stand before Me; If you take out the precious from the vile, You shall be as My mouth. Let them return to you, But you must not return to them. 20And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall; And they will fight against you, But they shall not prevail against you; For I am with you to save you And deliver you,” says 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 utterly rejected Judah? Has Your soul loathed Zion? Why have You stricken us so that there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but there was no good; And for the time of healing, and there was trouble.
- Psalms 6:3My soul also is greatly troubled; 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 3:1I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
- Jeremiah 30:12“For thus says the Lord: ‘Your affliction is incurable, Your wound is severe.
- Job 34:6Should I lie concerning my right? My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’
- Micah 1:9For her wounds are incurable. For it has come to Judah; It has come to the gate of My people— To Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 1:18For behold, I have made you this day A fortified city and an iron pillar, And bronze walls against the whole land— Against the kings of Judah, Against its princes, Against its priests, And against the people of the land.
- Jeremiah 20:7O Lord, You induced me, and I was persuaded; You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I am in derision daily; Everyone mocks me.
- Jeremiah 14:3Their nobles have sent their lads for water; They went to the cisterns and found no water. They returned with their vessels empty; They were ashamed and confounded And covered their heads.
- Job 6:15My brothers have dealt deceitfully like a brook, Like the streams of the brooks that pass away,
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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries