jeremiah 15 and 16

Read Jeremiah 15 and 16 at Bible Gateway.

Hebrew paragraph divisions:

Jer 15:1-9 {s} YHVH will not relent, but death, sword, famine, captivity will come upon His people
Jer 15:10 {s} Jeremiah’s lamentation: he has not done wickedly, but every man curses him
Jer 15:11-14 {s} YHVH’s assurance to Jeremiah, but His resolution toward Judah + Jerusalem
Jer 15:15-16 {s} Jeremiah’s plea: Remember me, for I have suffered rebuked for Your sake/ Your word my delight
Jer 15:17-18 {s} Jeremiah’s complaint: I have not sat with the wicked, so why is my pain incurable
Jer 15:19-21 {s} YHVH’s answer: Let them return to you, but you must not return to them/ I will be with you
Jer 16:1-2 {s} YHVH’s instruction to Jeremiah: Do not take a wife nor beget children in this place
Jer 16:3-4 {s} The children born in this place + their parents: they shall die gruesome deaths, unlamented
Jer 16:5-8 {p} I have taken away peace, lovingkindness, mercy from this people/ small + great alike shall die
Jer 16:9-13 {p} Voice of mirth shall cease , because fathers + you have forsaken Me + not kept My law
Jer 16:14-15 {p} But I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers
Jer 16:16-18 {p} After they have repaid double for their idolatries, I will send for many fishermen + hunters for them
Jer 16:19-21 {s} Gentiles shall come to YHVH from the ends of the earth/ I will cause them to know My name YHVH

Jer 15:1-16:8 chiastic structure {sx8+p}:

1a) Jer 15:1-9 {s} Destruction appointed over Judah + Jerusalem/ I am weary of relenting;

1a) Jer 15:1-5, Four forms of destruction appointed: death, sword, famine, captivity/ who will bemoan you;”
central axis) Jer 15:6, “You have forsaken Me,” says the Lord, “You have gone backward. Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; I am weary of relenting;”
2a) Jer 15:7-9, I will destroy My people, since they do not return from their ways;

1a) Jer 15:7a, “I will winnow them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land;”
1b) Jer 15:7b, I will bereave them of children;
central axis) Jer 15:7c, “I will destroy My people, since they do not return from their ways;”
2b) Jer 15:8-9a, Their widows will be increased/ she languishes, ashamed + confounded, who has borne seven;
2a) Jer 15:9b {s} “The remnant of them I will deliver to the sword before their enemies;”

central axis) Jer 15:10-21 {sx5} Two part theme repeated twice for emphasis;

1.1) Jer 15:10 {s} Jeremiah: I am called a man of strife + contention/ I have wronged no one, yet they all curse me;

1.2a) Jer 15:11, The Lord: It will be well with your remnant/ I will cause the enemy to intercede in the time of adversity;
1.2b) Jer 15:12-14 {s} Can anyone break iron + bronze/ You will cross over with your enemies into an unknown land;

2.1) Jer 15:15-19, Jeremiah’s persecutors + rebuke/ I did not sit with mockers/ Jeremiah the Lord’s mouth;

1a) Jer 15:15a, O Lord: Remember me + take vengeance on my persecutors + do not take me away;
1b) Jer 15:15b, Know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke;
central axis) Jer 15:16 {s} Your 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;
2b) Jer 15:17-18 {s} I did not sit with the mockers nor rejoice/ my wound incurable + will You fail me?;
2a) Jer 15:19, The Lord: “If you return I will bring you back/ You shall be as My mouth; let them return to you, but you must not return to them;

2.2b) Jer 15:20a, And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall;
2.2a) Jer 15:20b-21 {s} This people shall fight against you but not prevail, for I will save + deliver you;

2a) Jer 16:1-8 {s+p} Parents + children, great + small shall die/ I have taken away My peace + mercy from them;

1.1) Jer 16:1 -4a The Lord: You shall not take a wife nor beget children, for parents + children shall die gruesome deaths;
1.2) Jer 16:4b {s} They shall not be lamented nor buried, but shall be consumed by sword + famine + wild beasts;
1.3) Jer 16:5a, The Lord: Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them;

central axis) Jer 16:5b, “For I have taken away My peace from this people,” says the Lord, “lovingkindness and mercies;”

2.1) Jer 16:6a, Both the great + small shall die in this land;
2.2) Jer 16:6b-7, They shall not be buried; neither shall men lament for them;
2.3) Jer 16:8 {p} Also you shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink.

This very complex structure reveals that the day will come when the people of God, who have refused to repent and return to Him, forsaking their own ways and adopting His ways instead (Jer 15:7c, His ways are defined by commandments in Torah) will face the judgment of destruction. The purpose of the destruction is not just because YHVH wants to vent His anger. But the destruction cleansed the people and the land of idolatry, so that when the remnant was returned (Jer 15:19) at the end of the Babylonian captivity, it was as a purified and holy seed (Isa 6:13). They established the Biblical culture into which Messiah Yeshua was born.

And yet in the midst of the evil doing of the wicked, was Jeremiah, who found YHVH’s word, and ate it, and it became to him joy and the rejoicing of his heart, for he was called by YHVH’s name. He suffered rebuke and cursing from the men who hated hearing YHVH’s word from his mouth. But YHVH promised to save and deliver him through the destruction that was coming (Jer 15:21), and that is what happened. The tables were turned. The men who cursed, who mocked and could not bear the word of YHVH were taken away to the destruction of death, the sword, famine, and captivity, as we shall see, while Jeremiah was saved and delivered. This is history that prophesies!