Yeremia 15:18

15:18 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?” ¹ 

Yeremia 46:11

46:11 Go up to Gilead and get medicinal ointment, ² 

you dear poor people of Egypt. ³ 

But it will prove useless no matter how much medicine you use; ⁴ 

there will be no healing for you.

[15:18]  ¹ tn Heb “Will you be to me like a deceptive (brook), like waters which do not last [or are not reliable].”

[15:18]  sn Jeremiah is speaking of the stream beds or wadis which fill with water after the spring rains but often dry up in the summer time. A fuller picture is painted in Job 6:14-21. This contrasts with the earlier metaphor that God had used of himself in Jer 2:13.

[46:11]  ² tn Heb “balm.” See 8:22 and the notes on this phrase there.

[46:11]  ³ sn Heb “Virgin Daughter of Egypt.” See the study note on Jer 14:17 for the significance of the use of this figure. The use of the figure here perhaps refers to the fact that Egypt’s geographical isolation allowed her safety and protection that a virgin living at home would enjoy under her father’s protection (so F. B. Huey, Jeremiah, Lamentations [NAC], 379). By her involvement in the politics of Palestine she had forfeited that safety and protection and was now suffering for it.

[46:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “In vain you multiply [= make use of many] medicines.”