The parashah sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex. Jeremiah 15 is a part of the Sixth prophecy in the section of Prophecies of Destruction . : open parashah; : closed parashah.
No future, yet a future (15:1–4)
Verses 1–4, starting a passage that continues to Jeremiah 16:21, parallels Jeremiah 14:11—12 in the rejection of Jeremiah's intercession, as no mediation would work to prevent the impending disaster, not even by Moses or Samuel. In chapters 2–10 the enemy comes from the north to Jerusalem, whereas in chapters 11–20 the enemy appears only in 13:20, but 'the modes of tragedy' become more detailed: 'pestilence and sword, famine and captivity', as well as 'unburied bodies', that birds that scavenge. The former King Manasseh is held responsible here, not the people.
Verse 1
"Moses and Samuel": both persons were 'well-known for their successful intercession on behalf of Israel', but here the Lord rejects Jeremiah's intercession.
"My heart would not be with": lit. in Hebrew: "my soul was not toward".
"Cast": is from the same Hebrew verb used in , so it could be an 'intentional play' on the Exodus text but here with the 'ominous meaning'.
Verse 2
Anticipating the people's question, the Lord prepares a harsh answer by leaving their predicament to death, sword, starvation and captivity, which usually accompany the 'horrors of warfare'.
YHWH is lamenting because he is reluctant to destroy the city, using 'a poignant rhetorical question' to display 'divine anguish' and to portray Jerusalem's pitiful isolation, but as the female Jerusalem rejected YHWH, so YHWH destroyed her, after YHWH alone puts effort into the relationship and is 'weary of relenting' , so they cannot yet be reconciled. However, the poem also invites pity for her.
Jeremiah's Lament (15:10–21)
Jeremiah's second confession can be compared with YHWH's lament over Jerusalem in some points:
YHWH doomed the mothers to childlessness, whereas Jeremiah's mother doomed him to a life of suffering by giving him birth
Divine weariness has become prophetic anguish.
This confession is an act of protest in which Jeremiah embodies the questions of the exiles while he complains about his people. His hope is that if he repents, he will be delivered from 'the hand of the wicked'.
Verse 10
The King James Version refers to lending "on usury". Lending money and charging interest to a fellow-Israelite would have been contrary to. Biblical commentator A. W. Streane describes verses 10-21, Jeremiah's dejection and God's reply, as "one of the most eloquent and pathetic in the Book".
Verse 11
The Septuagint wording continues Jeremiah's expression of despair from the previous verse, which the Jerusalem Bible describes as "a spiritual crisis of the prophet halfway through his ministry". Streane suggests that "the whole is best taken as Jeremiah’s utterance", although some Hebrew texts and many English translations based on the Hebrew begin this statement with "The Lord said …", thus: New King James Version:
Verse 18
A deceitfulbrook flows like a torrent in winter, but presents as a dried-up watercoursein the summer, which "belies the anticipations of the thirsty traveller".
