Yeremia 15:16

15:16 As your words came to me I drank them in, ¹ 

and they filled my heart with joy and happiness

because I belong to you. ² 

Yehezkiel 2:8--3:3

2:8 As for you, son of man, listen to what I am saying to you: Do not rebel like that rebellious house! Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.”

2:9 Then I looked and realized a hand was stretched out to me, and in it was a written scroll. 2:10 He unrolled it before me, and it had writing on the front ³  and back; ⁴  written on it were laments, mourning, and woe.

3:1 He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you see in front of you ⁵  – eat this scroll – and then go and speak to the house of Israel.” 3:2 So I opened my mouth and he fed me the scroll.

3:3 He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving to you.” So I ate it, ⁶  and it was sweet like honey in my mouth.

[15:16]  ¹ sn Heb “Your words were found and I ate them.” This along with Ezek 2:8–3:3 is a poetic picture of inspiration. The prophet accepted them, assimilated them, and made them such a part of himself that he spoke with complete assurance what he knew were God’s words.

[15:16]  ² tn Heb “Your name is called upon me.”

[15:16]  sn See Jer 14:9 where this idiom is applied to Israel as a whole and Jer 7:10 where it is applied to the temple. For discussion cf. notes on 7:10.

[2:10]  ³ tn Heb “on the face.”

[2:10]  ⁴ sn Written on the front and back. While it was common for papyrus scrolls to have writing on both sides the same was not true for leather scrolls.

[3:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “eat what you find.”

[3:3]  ⁶ tc Heb “I ate,” a first common singular preterite plus paragogic he (ה). The ancient versions read “I ate it,” which is certainly the meaning in the context, and indicates they read the he as a third feminine singular pronominal suffix. The Masoretes typically wrote a mappiq in the he for the pronominal suffix but apparently missed this one.

[3:3]  sn I ate it. A similar idea of consuming God’s word is found in Jer 15:16 and Rev 10:10, where it is also compared to honey and may be specifically reminiscent of this text.