Jeremiah 15:1
in Jeremiah 15Then the LORD said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel should stand before Me, My heart would not go out to this people. Send them from My presence, and let them go.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Then said Jehovah unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.
KJV
Then said the Lord unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.
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This verse in Jeremiah 15
Commentary
5 notes on this verse(Chapter 15, Verse 1) And the Lord said to me: If Moses and Samuel stood before me (or against me), my soul would not be for this people. For we read that these men resisted the anger of the Lord for the people and turned away the impending judgment. Although, he says, if they were to stand, either in my presence or against me, to whom God said: Let me alone, and I will destroy this people (Exodus 32:10): yet I will not listen, because the sins of the guilty people have been completed.
This site's exposition
Though Moses and Samuel stood before me
on Jeremiah 15:1-4
The chapter answers 14:19-22 directly: even Moses and Samuel, the two intercessors Scripture remembers as most effective in turning judgment aside, could not move the Lord's mind toward this people now. Henry reads the naming of these two men as deliberate, since both had once stood in the breach for Israel and been heard, which makes the refusal here heavier than a plain no. The four kinds appointed, sword, dogs, fowls, and beasts, and the charge laid on Manasseh son of Hezekiah name a specific reign the book holds responsible, the sins 2 Kings 21 records still bearing fruit generations later.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Then said the Lord unto me,.... In answer to his expostulations and entreaties, Jer 14:19, though Moses and Samuel stood before me; to pray before me, as the Targum; to make intercession for the people. Standing is a prayer gesture. The Jews say there is no standing but prayer, or that is meant when it is mentioned; See Gill on Mat 6:5. Moses and Samuel were named, because they were eminent for prayer, and had success in it, for the people of Israel. Of Moses, see Exo 32:11 and of Samuel, see 1Sa 7:9 and of both, Psa 99:
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. He condemns them all to one destroying judgment or other.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Cast them out of my sight - Rather, “send them out of My presence, and let them go away.” The prophet is to dismiss them, because their mediators, Moses and Samuel, whose intercession had been accepted in old times (marginal references), would intercede now in vain.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Moses and Samuel Both were needed to beg mercy for Israel, but first they induced them to repent, and afterwards they prayed on their behalf, but they had no idea of turning away My wrath until they had induced them to repent.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
17 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֤אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָה֙ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֵלַ֔י | ʾelai | to me | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| יַעֲמֹ֨ד | yaamod | he will stand | H5975 → | 521 times |
| מֹשֶׁ֤ה | mosheh | Moses | H4872 → | |
| וּשְׁמוּאֵל֙ | ushemuel | and Samuel | H8050 → | |
| לְפָנַ֔י | lefanai | <to> before me | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| אֵ֥ין | ʾein | not | H369 → | 789 times |
| נַפְשִׁ֖י | nafshi | soul my | H5315 → | 754 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | [will be] to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הָעָ֣ם | haam | the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| הַזֶּ֑ה | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| שַׁלַּ֥ח | shalach | send [them] away | H7971 → | 845 times |
| מֵֽעַל־ | meal- | from on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| פָּנַ֖י | panai | face my | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| וְיֵצֵֽאוּ׃ | veyetzeu | so they may go out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
וַיֹּ֤אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
יְהוָה֙Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֵלַ֔יto me
ʾelaiH413 →5510 times
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
יַעֲמֹ֨דhe will stand
yaamodH5975 →521 times
מֹשֶׁ֤הMoses
moshehH4872 →
וּשְׁמוּאֵל֙and Samuel
ushemuelH8050 →
לְפָנַ֔י<to> before me
lefanaiH6440 →2123 times
אֵ֥יןnot
ʾeinH369 →789 times
נַפְשִׁ֖יsoul my
nafshiH5315 →754 times
אֶל־[will be] to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
הָעָ֣םthe people
haamH5971 →1873 times
הַזֶּ֑ה<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
שַׁלַּ֥חsend [them] away
shalachH7971 →845 times
מֵֽעַל־from on
meal-H5921 →5755 times
פָּנַ֖יface my
panaiH6440 →2123 times
וְיֵצֵֽאוּ׃so they may go out
veyetzeuH3318 →1067 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 11:14As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for I will not be listening when they call out to Me in…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 7:16
As for you, do not pray for these people, do not offer a plea or petition on their behalf, and do not beg Me, for I will not listen to you.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 32:10
Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 11:11
Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to bring upon them a disaster that they cannot escape. They will cry out to Me, but I will not listen to them.
- 1 John 5:16
If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he should ask God, who will give life to those who commit this kind of sin. There is a sin that leads…
- Jeremiah 14:11
Then the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people.
- Jeremiah 7:16
Through
Ezekiel 14:14then even if these three men—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were in it, their righteousness could deliver only themselves, declares the Lord GOD.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 14:20
then as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they could not deliver their own sons or daughters. Their righteousness could deliver only themselves.
- Ezekiel 28:3
Behold, you are wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you!
- Genesis 7:1
Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.
- Ezekiel 14:20
About Jeremiah
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.