TRV
Study This Verse
Commentary on Jeremiah 15 verses 1–9
We scarcely find any where more pathetic expressions of divine wrath against a provoking people than we have here in these verses. The prophet had prayed earnestly for them, and found some among them to join with him; and yet not so much as a reprieve was gained, nor the least mitigation of the judgment; but this answer is given to the prophet's prayers, that the decree had gone forth, was irreversible, and would shortly be executed. Observe here,
I. What the sin was upon which this severe sentence was grounded. 1. It is in remembrance of a former iniquity; it is because of Manasseh, for that which he did in Jerusalem, Jer 15:4. What that was we are told, and that it was for it that Jerusalem was destroyed, Kg2 24:3, Kg2 24:4. It was for his idolatry, and the innocent blood which he shed, which the Lord would not pardon. He is called the son of Hezekiah because his relation to so good a father was a great aggravation of his sin, so far was it from being an excuse of it. The greatest part of a generation was worn off since Manasseh's time, yet his sin is brought into the account; as in Jerusalem's last ruin God brought upon it all the righteous blood shed on the earth, to show how heavy the guilt of blood will light and lie somewhere, sooner or later, and that reprieves are not pardons. 2. It is in consideration of their present impenitence. See how their sin is described (Jer 15:6): "Thou hast forsaken me, my service and thy duty to me; thou hast gone backward into the ways of contradiction, art become the reverse of what thou shouldst have been and of what God by his law would have led thee forward to." See how the impenitence is described (Jer 15:7): They return not from their ways, the ways of their own hearts, into the ways of God's commandments again. There is mercy for those who have turned aside if they will return; but what favour can those expect that persist in their apostasy?
II. What the sentence is. It is such as denotes no less than an utter ruin.
1.God himself abandons and abhors them: My mind cannot be towards them. How can it be thought that the holy God should have any remaining complacency in those that have such a rooted antipathy to him? It is not in a passion, but with a just and holy indignation, that he says, "Cast them out of my sight, as that which is in the highest degree odious and offensive, and let them go forth, for I will be troubled with them no more."
2.He will not admit any intercession to be made for them (Jer 15:1): "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, by prayer or sacrifice to reconcile me to them, yet I could not be prevailed with to admit them into favour." Moses and Samuel were two as great favourites of Heaven as ever were the blessings of this earth, and were particularly famed for the success of their mediation between God and his offending people; many a time they would have been destroyed if Moses had not stood before him in the breach; and to Samuel's prayers they owed their lives (Sa1 12:19); yet even their intercessions should not prevail, no, not though they were now in a state of perfection, much less Jeremiah's who was now a man subject to like passions as others. The putting of this as a case, Though they should stand before me, supposes that they do not, and is an intimation that saints in heaven are not intercessors for saints on earth. It is the prerogative of the Eternal Word to be the only Mediator in the other world, whatever Moses, and Samuel, and others were in this.
3.He condemns them all to one destroying judgment or other. When God casts them out of his presence, whither shall they go forth? Jer 15:2. Certainly nowhere to be safe or easy, but to be met by one judgment while they are pursued by another, till they find themselves surrounded with mischiefs on all hands, so that they cannot escape; Such as are for death to death. By death here is meant the pestilence (Rev 6:8), for it is death without visible means. Such as are for death to death, or for the sword to the sword; every man shall perish in that way that God has appointed: the law that appoints the malefactor's death determines what death he shall die. Or, He that is by his own choice for this judgment, let him take it, or for that, let him take it, but by the one or the other they shall all fall and none shall escape. It is a choice like that which David was put to, and was thereby put into a great strait, Sa2 24:14. Captivity is mentioned last, some think, because the sorest judgment of all, it being both a complication and continuance of miseries. That of the sword is again repeated (Jer 15:3), and is made the first of another four frightful set of destroyers, which God will appoint over them, as officers over the soldiers, to do what they please with them. As those that escape the sword shall be cut off by pestilence, famine, or captivity, so those that fall by the sword shall be cut off by divine vengeance, which pursues sinners on the other side death; there shall be dogs to tear in the field to devour. And, if there be any that think to outrun justice, they shall be made the most public monuments of it: They shall be removed into all kingdoms of the earth (Jer 15:4), like Cain, who, that he might be made a spectacle of horror to all, became a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth.
4.They shall fall without being relieved. Who can do any thing to help them? for (1.) God, even their own God (so he had been) appears against them: I will stretch out my hand against thee, which denotes a deliberate determined stroke, which will reach far and wound deeply. I am weary with repenting (Jer 15:6); it is a strange expression; they had behaved so provokingly, especially by their treacherous professions of repentance, that they had put even infinite patience itself to the stretch. God had often turned away his wrath when it was ready to break forth against them; but now he will grant no more reprieves. Miserable is the case of those who have sinned so long against God's mercy that at length they have sinned it away. (2.) Their own country expels them, and is ready to spue them out, as it had done the Canaanites that were before them; for so it was threatened (Lev 18:28): I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land, in their own gates, through which they shall be scattered, or into the gates of the earth, into the cities of all the nations about them, Jer 15:7. (3.) Their own children, that should assist them when they speak with the enemy in the gate, shall be cut off from them: I will bereave them of children, so that they shall have little hopes that the next generation will retrieve their affairs, for I will destroy my people; and, when the inhabitants are slain, the land will soon be desolate. This melancholy article is enlarged upon, Jer 15:8, Jer 15:9, where we have, [1.] The destroyer brought upon them. When God has bloody work to do he will find out bloody instruments to do it with. Nebuchadnezzar is here called a spoiler at noon-day, not a thief in the night, that is afraid of being discovered, but one that without fear shall break through and destroy all the fences of rights and properties, and this in the face of the sun and in defiance of its light: I have brought against the mother a young man, a spoiler (so some read it); for Nebuchadnezzar, when he first invaded Judah, was but a young man, in the first year of his reign. We read it, I have brought upon them, even against the mother of the young men, a spoiler, that is, against Jerusalem, a mother city, that had a very numerous family of young men: or that invasion was in a particular manner terrible to those mothers who had many sons fit for war, who must now hazard their lives in the high places of the field, and, being an unequal match for the enemy, would be likely to fall there, to the inexpressible grief of their poor mothers, who had nursed them up with a great deal of tenderness. The same God that brought the spoiler upon them caused him to fall upon it, that is, upon the spoil delivered to him, suddenly and by surprise; and then terrors came upon the city. the original is very abrupt - the city and terrors. O the city! what a consternation will it then be in! O the terrors that shall then seize it! Then the city and terrors shall be brought together, that seemed at a distance from each other. I will cause to fall suddenly upon her (upon Jerusalem) a watcher and terrors; so Mr. Gataker reads it, for the word is used for a watcher (Dan 4:13, Dan 4:23), and the Chaldean soldiers were called watchers, Jer 4:16. [2.] The destruction made by this destroyer. A dreadful slaughter is here described. First, The wives are deprived of their husbands: Their widows are increased above the sand of the seas, so numerous have they now grown. It was promised that the men of Israel (for those only were numbered) should be as the sand of the sea for multitude; but now they shall be all cut off, and their widows shall be so. But observe, God says, They are increased to me. Though the husbands were cut off by the sword of his justice, their poor widows were gathered in the arms of his mercy, who has taken it among the titles of his honour to be the God of the widows. Widows are said to be taken into the number, the number of those whom God has a particular compassion and concern for. Secondly, The parents are deprived of their children: She that has borne seven sons, whom she expected to be the support and joy of her age, now languishes, when she has seen them all cut off by the sword in one day, who had been many years her burden and care. She that had many children has waxed feeble, Sa1 2:5. See what uncertain comforts children are; and let us therefore rejoice in them as though we rejoiced not. When the children are slain the mother gives up the ghost, for her life was bound up in theirs: Her sun has gone down while it was yet day; she is bereaved of all her comforts just when she thought herself in the midst of the enjoyment of them. She is now ashamed and confounded to think how proud she was of her sons, how fond of them, and how much she promised herself from them. Some understand, by this languishing mother, Jerusalem lamenting the death of her inhabitants as passionately as ever poor mother bewailed her children. Many are cut off already, and the residue of them, who have yet escaped, and, as was hoped, were reserved to be the seed of another generation, even these will I deliver to the sword before their enemies (as the condemned malefactor is delivered to the sheriff to be executed), saith the Lord, the Judge of heaven and earth, who, we are sure, herein judges according to truth, though the judgment seem severe.
5.They shall fall without being pitied (Jer 15:5): "For who shall have pity on thee, O Jerusalem? When thy God has cast thee out of his sight, and his compassions fail and are shut up from thee, neither thy enemies nor thy friends shall have any compassion for thee. They shall have no sympathy with thee; they shall not bemoan thee nor be sorry for thee; they shall have no concern for thee, shall not go a step out of their way to ask how thou dost." For, (1.) Their friends, who were expected to do these friendly offices, were all involved with them in the calamities, and had enough to do to bemoan themselves. (2.) It was plain to all their neighbours that they had brought all this misery upon themselves by their obstinacy in sin, and that they might easily have prevented it by repentance and reformation, which they were often in vain called to; and therefore who can pity them? O Israel! thou hast destroyed thyself. Those will perish for ever unpitied that might have been saved upon such easy terms and would not. (3.) God will thus complete their misery. He will set their acquaintance, as he did Job's at a distance from them; and his hand, his righteous hand, is to be acknowledged in all the unkindnesses of our friends, as well as in all the injuries done us by our foes.
(Verse 6.) You have forsaken me, says the Lord: you have gone backward. The reason is given why no one has pity on Jerusalem, nor is she grieved for; nor is she beseeched for the sake of her peace: which, according to the Apostle (Philippians 3), should forget the things that are behind and extend oneself to the things that are before, is on the contrary turned backward, and desires the fleshpots of Egypt.
And I will stretch out my hand over you, and I will kill you: I have labored when asked (or asking): for which the Seventy translated: I will by no means let them go any further. The outstretched hand is a sign of striking: the killing of sinners signifies complete anger. But what it brings: I have labored when asked, or asking, has a double meaning, that God may now have failed, frequently forgiving them, and may always be weary, provoking them to salvation.
Continue studying Jeremiah 15:6 across the web’s major study libraries — every link below opens this exact verse, chapter, or book on the destination site.
Read & Compare
BibleGatewayThis verse in more than 200 translations and 70 languages.
Bible.comThe YouVersion reader — hundreds of translations, reading plans, and highlights.
ESV.orgCrossway's official English Standard Version reader.
NET BibleThe NET translation with 60,000+ translators' notes on every rendering decision.
STEP BibleTyndale House's free study tool — original text, vocabulary, and scholarly resources.
BibliaLogos Bible Software's free web reader.
USCCBThe New American Bible (Revised Edition) with the U.S. bishops' study notes.
Commentaries
BibleHub CommentariesDozens of classic commentaries on this verse, gathered on one page.
StudyLightMore than 100 commentary sets — the largest collection on the web.
BibleRefPlain-English commentary on what this verse means, verse by verse.
Enduring WordDavid Guzik's free commentary on this chapter, widely used by Bible teachers.
Bible Study ToolsVerse commentary alongside Greek and Hebrew study aids.
Original Language & Research
- BibleHub InterlinearThe verse word by word — original language, transliteration, and English.
- BibleHub LexiconEvery word's original-language definition and Strong's entry.
Blue Letter BibleDeep-study tools — Strong's numbers, concordance, and word studies.
SefariaThe Hebrew text with Rashi and centuries of Jewish commentary.
Sermons, Hymns & Audio
TrulyRandomVerse is not affiliated with these sites and doesn’t control their content. They’re linked because they’re genuinely useful.
SUMMARY
Jeremiah 15:6 delivers a profound and definitive declaration from the LORD to Judah, marking a critical turning point where divine patience with persistent rebellion reaches its absolute limit. This verse encapsulates God's deep disappointment with His covenant people, who have repeatedly abandoned Him and regressed spiritually, culminating in an irreversible decree of judgment. It powerfully underscores the severe consequences of chronic unfaithfulness and the ultimate exhaustion of God's long-suffering mercy, signifying that the time for warnings has passed and the season for divine retribution has arrived.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Jeremiah 15:6 employs several powerful literary devices to convey its stark and unyielding message. The most prominent is Anthropomorphism, particularly in the phrase "I am weary with repenting." While God is immutable, transcendent, and incapable of physical exhaustion or regret, this human-like expression of weariness conveys the profound depth of His emotional response to Judah's persistent sin and His exasperation with their unyielding rebellion. It allows human readers to grasp the immense gravity of God's patience being pushed to its absolute limit. The imagery of God saying "Thou hast forsaken me" and "thou art gone backward" utilizes Personification to describe Judah's collective actions as a deliberate, personal affront and betrayal against God, profoundly emphasizing the relational breach and the covenant infidelity. Furthermore, the declaration "therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee" employs Metonymy, where "hand" represents God's active power and intervention, specifically in the context of judgment. The entire verse functions as a powerful Divine Judgment Oracle, a common prophetic form where God Himself speaks directly to declare His verdict and the impending, inevitable consequences of unrepentant sin. The stark contrast between God's past, extensive patience and His present, unwavering resolve also highlights a form of Dramatic Irony, as Judah's continued and deliberate sin has led them directly to the very destruction God had sought to avert through centuries of warnings and forbearance.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Jeremiah 15:6 stands as a profound theological statement on the immutable nature of God, the gravity of persistent sin, and the inevitable consequences of unrepentant rebellion. It reveals that while God is indeed "slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love" (Psalm 103:8), His patience is not infinite in the face of deliberate and prolonged rejection of His covenant. The divine "weariness with repenting" does not imply a change in God's character but rather a righteous resolve to uphold His justice when mercy has been consistently spurned and grace abused. It underscores the biblical principle that divine forbearance is intended to lead to genuine repentance (Romans 2:4), and when that gracious purpose is thwarted by hardened hearts and unyielding defiance, judgment becomes a necessary, just, and unavoidable outcome. This verse serves as a stark reminder that a covenant relationship with God demands faithfulness and a responsive heart, and persistent backsliding inevitably leads to severe divine discipline.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Jeremiah 15:6 delivers a profoundly sobering message that transcends its specific historical context, offering timeless and critical truths for individuals and communities of faith today. It compels us to confront the seriousness of our own spiritual walk and the profound implications of our choices before a holy God. The "weariness with repenting" of the LORD serves as a powerful and urgent warning against spiritual complacency, presuming upon God's boundless grace, or repeatedly turning away from His revealed will. It reminds us that while God's love and mercy are indeed infinite and foundational to His character, His justice and righteousness are equally immutable. We are therefore called to diligently examine our hearts for any areas where we might be "forsaking" Him or "going backward" in our faith, whether through neglect of His Word, the pursuit of modern idols (such as materialism, self-reliance, or worldly approval), or persistent, unconfessed sin. This verse underscores the absolute urgency of genuine, heartfelt repentance—not merely a superficial acknowledgment of wrongdoing, but a radical turning away from sin and a turning back to God with sincere devotion and renewed obedience. It challenges us to live in an active, dynamic, and obedient relationship with the LORD, recognizing that His patience, though vast, is not an invitation to spiritual negligence but a gracious and precious opportunity for profound transformation and a deeper walk with Him.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Does God actually get "weary" or "repent" in the human sense?
Answer: No, God does not experience weariness or repentance in the human sense of physical exhaustion, emotional fatigue, or regret over His own actions or character. The phrase "I am weary with repenting" (from H3811, lâʼâh' for weary; and H5162, nâcham' for repenting/relenting) is a profound anthropomorphism, a literary device where human characteristics are attributed to God to help us, as finite beings, comprehend His divine emotions and actions. In this context, "weary" expresses God's profound exasperation, righteous indignation, and deep disgust with Judah's persistent rebellion and their failure to respond to His repeated acts of relenting from deserved judgment. "Repenting" or "relenting" here refers to God's repeated decisions to withhold or defer the deserved punishment, or to change His mind about bringing calamity, in response to a people who consistently failed to offer genuine, lasting repentance. It signifies that God's long-suffering patience has reached its righteous limit, not that He is literally tired or regretting His divine nature. This understanding is consistent with God's unchanging character as revealed throughout Scripture, for example, in Malachi 3:6 and Numbers 23:19.
What does it mean for God to "stretch out His hand" in judgment?
Answer: The imagery of God "stretching out His hand" is a powerful and frequently used biblical idiom that consistently signifies the active, forceful, and decisive exercise of divine power. While often employed to describe acts of miraculous deliverance and mighty intervention (as seen in the exodus from Egypt, Exodus 7:5), in Jeremiah 15:6, it is explicitly for judgment and destruction. It means that God is actively and decisively intervening to bring about the decreed consequences for Judah's unfaithfulness. This is not a passive withdrawal or a mere allowance of natural consequences, but a direct, powerful, and intentional act of divine retribution, demonstrating God's sovereign authority and His unwavering commitment to upholding justice when His covenant has been repeatedly and defiantly violated.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Jeremiah 15:6, with its stark declaration of God's "weariness with repenting" and His decree of judgment against an unfaithful people, finds its ultimate and profound fulfillment in the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Humanity, in its fallen state, has universally "forsaken" God and "gone backward" into sin, incurring the righteous wrath of a holy God. The curse of the law and the inevitability of divine judgment for sin are universal realities that condemn all people (Romans 3:23). However, God's "weariness with repenting" for a rebellious people in the Old Testament gives way to His ultimate act of both mercy and justice in the New. Instead of stretching out His hand to destroy all humanity, God, in His infinite love, stretched out His hand to offer salvation through His Son. Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, bore the full weight of God's righteous judgment on the cross, becoming sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Through His perfect sacrifice, the divine wrath that humanity deserved was fully satisfied, and the cycle of threatened judgment and deferred punishment was definitively broken for all who believe. Now, God's patience is extended through the gospel, inviting all to come to Christ and find true rest for their souls (Matthew 11:28-30), where genuine repentance is made possible by the indwelling Holy Spirit, leading to a new covenant of grace and an eternal, restored relationship with God.