Jeremiah 15:18 BSB — MannaFest

Jeremiah 15:18

Why is my pain unending, and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? You have indeed become like a mirage to me—water that is not there.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou indeed be unto me as a deceitful brook, as waters that fail?

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?

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Commentary

4 voices

Athanasius of Alexandria

296–373

Discourses Against the Arians 2.14.10 (373)

Now the so-called gods of the Greeks, unworthy of the name, are faithful neither in their essence nor in their promises, because they are not everywhere. The local deities amount to nothing over the course of time and undergo a natural extinction. For these reasons, the Word cries out against them, that "faith is not strong in them," that they are "waters that fail" and "there is no faith in them." But the God of all, who is indeed truly faithful, who is ever the same, says, "See now that I, even I am he," and "I change not."

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

Jerome

Commentary on Jeremiah (420)

(Verse 17, 18.) I did not sit in the council of the jesters, and I boasted (or feared) from the face of your hand: I sat alone, for you filled me with bitterness ((Vulgate: threat)). Why has my pain become perpetual (or why do those who distress me, find comfort) and my incurable wound refuse to be healed (or my strong wound, from where shall I be cured)? It has become to me like the falsehood of unfaithful waters (or like water that deceives and lacks faith).

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

Wilt 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 vanishes; and he finds the whole was an illusion, for the waters have failed.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

16 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
לָ֣מָּה	La.mah	<to> why?	H4100 →
הָיָ֤ה	ha.Yah	is it	H1961 →
כְאֵבִי֙	khe.'e.Vi	pain my	H3511 →
נֶ֔צַח	Ne.tzach	perpetuity	H5331 →
וּמַכָּתִ֖י	u.ma.ka.Ti	and wound my	H4347 →
אֲנוּשָׁ֑ה֙	'a.nu.Shah	incurable	H605 →
מֵֽאֲנָה֙	me.'a.Nah	it has refused	H3985 →
הֵֽרָפֵ֔א	he.ra.Fe'	to be healed	H7495 →
הָי֨וֹ	ha.Yo	certainly <to being>	H1961 →
תִֽהְיֶ֥ה	tih.Yeh	you are	H1961 →
לִי֙	li	to <the> me
כְּמ֣וֹ	ke.Mo	like	H3644 →
אַכְזָ֔ב	'akh.Zav	a deceitful thing	H391 →
מַ֖יִם	Ma.yim	waters	H4325 →
לֹ֥א	lo'	[which] not	H3808 →
נֶאֱמָֽנוּ׃ ס	ne.'e.Ma.nu	they are reliable	H539 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Jeremiah 14:3
The nobles send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns, but find no water; their jars return empty. They are ashamed and humiliated; they cover their heads.
leads to
- 2 Samuel 15:30
  But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went up. His head was covered, and he was walking barefoot. And all the people with him covered their heads and went up,…
- Jeremiah 2:13
  “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
- 2 Kings 18:31
  Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine…
Through
Job 34:6
Would I lie about my case? My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’
leads to
- Job 6:4
  For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
Through
Jeremiah 14:19
Have You rejected Judah completely? Do You despise Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We hoped for peace, but no good has come, and for the time of…
leads to
- Jeremiah 8:15
  We hoped for peace, but no good has come, for a time of healing, but there was only terror.
- Lamentations 5:22
  unless You have utterly rejected us and remain angry with us beyond measure.
- Jeremiah 6:30
  They are called rejected silver, because the LORD has rejected them.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:3
  While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

About Jeremiah

The Prophet Jeremiah — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Jeremiah: the study guide →Read chapter 15 →The featured study →

Continue: Jeremiah 15 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

06About Jeremiah

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

About Jeremiah