Lectionary Calendar
Monday, May 5th, 2025
the Third Week after Easter
Attention!
Take your personal ministry to the Next Level by helping StudyLight build churches and supporting pastors in Uganda.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

Jeremiah 15:18

This verse is not available in the MSG!

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Doubting;   Wells;   Scofield Reference Index - Remnant;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Deserts;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Parched Ground;   River;   Water;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Baruch;   River;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Jeremiah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Achzib;   Jeremiah;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Wound;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Pain;   Perpetual;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Why has my pain become unending,my wound incurable,refusing to be healed?You truly have become like a mirage to me—water that is not reliable.
Hebrew Names Version
Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? will you indeed be to me as a deceitful [brook], as waters that fail?
King James Version
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?
English Standard Version
Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?
New American Standard Bible
Why has my pain been endless And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream With water that is unreliable?
New Century Version
I don't understand why my pain has no end. I don't understand why my injury is not cured or healed. Will you be like a brook that goes dry? Will you be like a spring that stops flowing?
Amplified Bible
Why has my pain been perpetual And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you indeed be to me like a deceptive brook With water that is unreliable?
World English Bible
Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? will you indeed be to me as a deceitful [brook], as waters that fail?
Geneva Bible (1587)
Why is mine heauines continuall? and my plague desperate and cannot be healed? why art thou vnto me as a lyar, and as waters that faile?
Legacy Standard Bible
Why has my pain been perpetualAnd my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive streamWith water that is unreliable?
Berean Standard Bible
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.
Contemporary English Version
I am badly injured and in constant pain. Are you going to disappoint me, like a stream that goes dry in the heat of summer?
Complete Jewish Bible
Why is my pain unending, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you be for me like a deceptive vadi, which is only sometimes filled with water?
Darby Translation
Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable? It refuseth to be healed. Wilt thou be altogether unto me as a treacherous [spring], [as] waters that fail?
Easy-to-Read Version
I don't understand why I still hurt. I don't understand why my wound is not cured and cannot be healed. I think you have changed. You are like a spring of water that became dry. You are like a spring whose water has stopped flowing.
George Lamsa Translation
Why is my pain so grievous and my wound so severe that it refuses to be healed? Wilt thou be to me as a mirage that cannot be believed?
Good News Translation
Why do I keep on suffering? Why are my wounds incurable? Why won't they heal? Do you intend to disappoint me like a stream that goes dry in the summer?"
Lexham English Bible
Why is my pain endless, and my wound incurable? It refuses to become healed. Truly you are to me like a deceitful brook, waters that are not trustworthy.
Literal Translation
Why has my pain been without end and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? You surely are to me like deceitful waters which cannot be trusted.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Shall my heuynes endure for euer? Are my plages then so greate, yt they maye neuer be healed? Wilt thou be as a water, that falleth, and can not contynue?
American Standard Version
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?
Bible in Basic English
Why is my pain unending and my wound without hope of being made well? Sorrow is mine, for you are to me as a stream offering false hope and as waters which are not certain.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, so that it refuseth to be healed? Wilt Thou indeed be unto me as a deceitful brook, as waters that fail?
King James Version (1611)
Why is my paine perpetuall? and my wound incurable which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether vnto me as a lyar, and as waters that faile?
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Shall my heauinesse endure for euer? Are my plagues then so great that they may neuer be healed? Wylt thou be as one that is false, and as a water that falleth, and can not continue?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Why do they that grieve me prevail against me? my wound is severe; whence shall I be healed? it is indeed become to me as deceitful water, that has no faithfulness.
English Revised Version
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?
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whi is my sorewe maad euerlastinge, and my wounde dispeirid forsook to be curid? it is maad to me, as a leesyng of vnfeithful watris.
Update Bible Version
Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? will you indeed be to me as a deceitful [brook], as waters that fail?
Webster's Bible Translation
Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, [which] refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether to me as a liar, [and as] waters [that] fail?
New English Translation
Why must I continually suffer such painful anguish? Why must I endure the sting of their insults like an incurable wound? Will you let me down when I need you like a brook one goes to for water, but that cannot be relied on?"
New King James Version
Why is my pain perpetual And my wound incurable, Which refuses to be healed? Will You surely be to me like an unreliable stream, As waters that fail?
New Living Translation
Why then does my suffering continue? Why is my wound so incurable? Your help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook, like a spring that has gone dry."
New Life Bible
Why is there no end to my pain? And why will my hurt not be healed? Will You be to me like a river that flows with water some of the time and is dry at other times?
New Revised Standard
Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Truly, you are to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Wherefore hath my pain become perpetual? And my wound, incurable? Refuseth to be healed? Wilt thou, indeed be, to me As a brook that disappointeth, Waters that cannot be trusted?
Douay-Rheims Bible
Why is my sorrow become perpetual, and my wound desperate so as to refuse to be healed? it is become to me as the falsehood of deceitful waters that cannot be trusted.
Revised Standard Version
Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Wilt thou be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?
Young's Literal Translation
Why hath my pain been perpetual? And my wound incurable? It hath refused to be healed, Thou art surely to me as a failing stream, Waters not stedfast.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Why has my pain been perpetual And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream With water that is unreliable?

Contextual Overview

15You know where I am, God ! Remember what I'm doing here! Take my side against my detractors. Don't stand back while they ruin me. Just look at the abuse I'm taking! When your words showed up, I ate them— swallowed them whole. What a feast! What delight I took in being yours, O God, God -of-the-Angel-Armies! I never joined the party crowd in their laughter and their fun. Led by you, I went off by myself. You'd filled me with indignation. Their sin had me seething. But why, why this chronic pain, this ever worsening wound and no healing in sight? You're nothing, God , but a mirage, a lovely oasis in the distance—and then nothing! 19This is how God answered me: "Take back those words, and I'll take you back. Then you'll stand tall before me. Use words truly and well. Don't stoop to cheap whining. Then, but only then, you'll speak for me. Let your words change them. Don't change your words to suit them. I'll turn you into a steel wall, a thick steel wall, impregnable. They'll attack you but won't put a dent in you because I'm at your side, defending and delivering." God 's Decree. "I'll deliver you from the grip of the wicked. I'll get you out of the clutch of the ruthless."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

my pain: Jeremiah 14:19, Psalms 6:3, Psalms 13:1-3, Lamentations 3:1-18

my wound: Jeremiah 30:12, Jeremiah 30:15, Job 34:6, Micah 1:9

as a: Jeremiah 1:18, Jeremiah 1:19, Jeremiah 20:7

and as: Jeremiah 14:3, Job 6:15-20

fail: Heb. be not sure

Reciprocal: Numbers 11:11 - Wherefore hast thou Numbers 11:15 - let me not 2 Chronicles 28:9 - because the Lord God Job 14:11 - the flood Job 30:26 - When I looked Psalms 13:2 - take Psalms 73:14 - For all Psalms 77:8 - doth Jeremiah 4:31 - Woe Daniel 7:15 - was grieved 1 John 5:10 - hath made

Cross-References

Genesis 12:7
God appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your children." Abram built an altar at the place God had appeared to him.
Genesis 15:1
After all these things, this word of God came to Abram in a vision: "Don't be afraid, Abram. I'm your shield. Your reward will be grand!"
Genesis 15:2
Abram said, " God , Master, what use are your gifts as long as I'm childless and Eliezer of Damascus is going to inherit everything?" Abram continued, "See, you've given me no children, and now a mere house servant is going to get it all."
Genesis 15:4
Then God 's Message came: "Don't worry, he won't be your heir; a son from your body will be your heir."
Genesis 15:7
God continued, "I'm the same God who brought you from Ur of the Chaldees and gave you this land to own."
Genesis 15:8
Abram said, "Master God , how am I to know this, that it will all be mine?"
Genesis 15:13
God said to Abram, "Know this: your descendants will live as outsiders in a land not theirs; they'll be enslaved and beaten down for 400 years. Then I'll punish their slave masters; your offspring will march out of there loaded with plunder. But not you; you'll have a long and full life and die a good and peaceful death. Not until the fourth generation will your descendants return here; sin is still a thriving business among the Amorites."
Genesis 15:17
When the sun was down and it was dark, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch moved between the split carcasses. That's when God made a covenant with Abram: "I'm giving this land to your children, from the Nile River in Egypt to the River Euphrates in Assyria—the country of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites."
Genesis 50:24
At the end, Joseph said to his brothers, "I am ready to die. God will most certainly pay you a visit and take you out of this land and back to the land he so solemnly promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
Deuteronomy 7:1
When God , your God, brings you into the country that you are about to enter and take over, he will clear out the superpowers that were there before you: the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Those seven nations are all bigger and stronger than you are. God , your God, will turn them over to you and you will conquer them. You must completely destroy them, offering them up as a holy destruction to God . Don't make a treaty with them. Don't let them off in any way.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Why is my pain perpetual,.... The pain of his mind; his uneasiness for the good of his people, which was likely to last, having no hope of a change for the better: or it may design the pain which they gave him by their reproaches and persecutions of him, which seemed as if they would have no end:

and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? the same thing is meant as before. The allusion is to an old ulcer, or obstinate wound, which no medicine can affect, is desperate and deadly; and such the prophet reckoned his case to be, or however deprecates it, and expostulates with God why it should be so:

wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail? such God cannot be, nor did the prophet think he was; he knew that he was God that could not lie, and that he was faithful to his promises, and would not disappoint the faith, hope, and expectations of his people; but he feared he would be thought to be so by others, by his enemies, who would triumph over him, and say, where is thy God? did he not promise to make thee a defenced city, an iron pillar, and brasen walls? is he as good as his word? is he not like a dry brook, whose waters fail? are not thy hope and expectation in vain, who hast been trusting to him, and depending on him? and it is as if the prophet should say, Lord, let them have no occasion to speak after this manner; nor suffer my faith in thy promises to fail; show thyself to be as thou art, a covenant keeping God, and whose faithfulness never fails: to which an answer is returned in the following verses.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This is the prayer of a man in bitter grief, whose human nature cannot at present submit to the divine will. God’s long-suffering toward the wicked seemed to the prophet to be the abandonment of himself to death; justice itself required that one who was suffering contumely for God’s sake should be delivered.

Rebuke - i. e., reproach, contumely.

Jeremiah 15:16

Thy words were found - Jeremiah’s summons to the prophetic office had not been expected or sought for by him.

I did eat them - i. e., I received them with joy. This eating of the divine words expresses also the close union between that which came from God and the prophet’s own being.

I am called by thy name - i. e., I am consecrated to Thy service, am ordained to be Thy prophet.

Jeremiah 15:17

Rather, “I sat not in the assembly of the laughers, and was merry.” From the time God’s words came to Jeremiah he abstained from things innocent, and a gravity came over him beyond his years.

I sat alone because of thy hand - As a person consecrated to God he would also be “separated.” See Jeremiah 1:5; compare Acts 13:2.

With indignation - The prophet thus taught of God sees the sins of the people as offences against God, and as involving the ruin of His Church.

Jeremiah 15:18

Why is my pain perpetual - i. e., Are all my labors to be in vain?

As a liar ... - Really, “as a deceitful brook,” a brook which flows only in the winter, the opposite of the “perennial stream” of Amos 5:24. Jeremiah had expected that there would be a perpetual interference of Providence in his behalf, instead whereof things seemed to take only their natural course.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 15:18. Wilt thou be altogether unto me as - waters that fail? — Meaning 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 vapours, the resemblance of water is produced, so that the traveller, 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. Nothing can exceed the disappointment of the farmer whose subsistence absolutely depends on the periodical rains, when these fail, or fall short of their usual quantity. Some times the rice is sown and springs up in the most promising manner; but the latter rains fail, and whole fields of young rice wither and perish.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile