Yeremia 15:19

15:19 Because of this, the Lord said, ¹ 

“You must repent of such words and thoughts!

If you do, I will restore you to the privilege of serving me. ² 

If you say what is worthwhile instead of what is worthless,

I will again allow you to be my spokesman. ³ 

They must become as you have been.

You must not become like them. ⁴ 

Yeremia 18:11

18:11 So now, tell the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem ⁵  this: The Lord says, ‘I am preparing to bring disaster on you! I am making plans to punish you. ⁶  So, every one of you, stop the evil things you have been doing. ⁷  Correct the way you have been living and do what is right.’ ⁸ 

[15:19]  ¹ tn Heb “So the Lord said thus.”

[15:19]  ² tn Heb “If you return [ = repent], I will restore [more literally, ‘cause you to return’] that you may stand before me.” For the idiom of “standing before” in the sense of serving see BDB 764 s.v. עָמַד Qal.1.e and compare the usage in 1 Kgs 10:8; 12:8; 17:1; Deut 10:8.

[15:19]  ³ tn Heb “you shall be as my mouth.”

[15:19]  sn For the classic statement of the prophet as God’s “mouth/mouthpiece,” = “spokesman,” see Exod 4:15-16; 7:1-2.

[15:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “They must turn/return to you and you must not turn/return to them.”

[15:19]  sn Once again the root “return” (שׁוּב, shuv) is being played on as in 3:1–4:4. See the threefold call to repentance in 3:12, 14, 22. The verb is used here four times “repent,” “restore,” and “become” twice. He is to serve as a model of repentance, not an imitator of their apostasy. In accusing God of being unreliable he was coming dangerously close to their kind of behavior.

[18:11]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[18:11]  ⁶ sn Heb “I am forming disaster and making plans against you.” The word translated “forming” is the same as that for “potter,” so there is a wordplay taking the reader back to v. 5. They are in his hands like the clay in the hands of the potter. Since they have not been pliable he forms new plans. He still offers them opportunity to repent; but their response is predictable.

[18:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “Turn, each one from his wicked way.” See v. 8.

[18:11]  ⁸ tn Or “Make good your ways and your actions.” See the same expression in 7:3, 5.