Jeremiah 15:15

15 Then I said, “ LORD, you know what’s happening to me. Please step in and help me. Punish my persecutors! Please give me time; don’t let me die young. It’s for your sake that I am suffering.

Jeremiah 15:15 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 15:15

O Lord, thou knowest
All persons and things; he knew the prophet and his heart, and all that was in it; his innocence and integrity; all his afflictions, and what he met with from his enemies; and he knew them, and all their malicious designs against him: remember me;
with the favour which he bore to his own people, his covenant with him, his promises to him, and the word on which he had caused him to hope; because of his trials and troubles, he might seem to be forgotten by him: and visit me;
in mercy for good; and so the Targum adds,

``that thou mayest do well unto me:''

and revenge me of my persecutors;
not so much for his own sake; unless this is to be attributed to his frailty and infirmity, to the warmth of his spirit, being a man of like passions with others; for private revenge ought not to be sought by good men, but for the sake of God and his glory, in whose cause he was engaged, and on whose account he was persecuted: take me not away in thy longsuffering;
while thou art bearing with others, do not take me away by death; or suffer them, whom thou dost forbear, to take me away, or give them an opportunity thereby so to do; or when thy longsuffering is at an end, do not involve me in the same calamity with them. The Targum is,

``do not give delay to my injury;''

or,

``length to my affliction;''

that is, do not delay to take vengeance on my persecutors; and to this sense Jarchi interprets it,

``do not take my cause, and leave it to thy longsuffering, but hasten and avenge me;''

and De Dieu proposes such a rendering of the words, "to thy longsuffering do not bring me" ^F17; and which sense is favoured by the Septuagint version: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke;
let it appear, and that even to mine enemies, that it is for thy sake that all this reproach is cast upon me; and all these afflictions are endured by me, by thy resentment of their carriage to me.

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 (ynxpt Kpa Kral la) "ne ad longanimitatem tuam adduc me", De Dieu; "nec me capias ad dilationem irae tua", Gussetius.

Jeremiah 15:15 In-Context

13 At no cost to them, I will hand over your wealth and treasures as plunder to your enemies, for sin runs rampant in your land.

14 I will tell your enemies to take you as captives to a foreign land. For my anger blazes like a fire that will burn forever. ”

15 Then I said, “ LORD, you know what’s happening to me. Please step in and help me. Punish my persecutors! Please give me time; don’t let me die young. It’s for your sake that I am suffering.

16 When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies.

17 I never joined the people in their merry feasts. I sat alone because your hand was on me. I was filled with indignation at their sins.