Jeremiah 15 6

Jeremiah 15:6 kjv

Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.

Jeremiah 15:6 nkjv

You have forsaken Me," says the LORD, "You have gone backward. Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; I am weary of relenting!

Jeremiah 15:6 niv

You have rejected me," declares the LORD. "You keep on backsliding. So I will reach out and destroy you; I am tired of holding back.

Jeremiah 15:6 esv

You have rejected me, declares the LORD; you keep going backward, so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you ? I am weary of relenting.

Jeremiah 15:6 nlt

You have abandoned me
and turned your back on me,"
says the LORD.
"Therefore, I will raise my fist to destroy you.
I am tired of always giving you another chance.

Jeremiah 15 verses

Jeremiah 15 6 Meaning

Jeremiah 15:6 profoundly declares God's irrevocable judgment against Judah. The nation's persistent forsaking of God and their continuous backsliding from His covenant have exhausted divine patience. As a result, God announces His active intervention in judgment, having made a firm decision not to withhold the decreed destruction any longer, indicating a point of no return for their apostasy.

Jeremiah 15 6 Context

Jeremiah 15:6 is nestled within a powerful passage of divine judgment (Jer 15:1-9) where God emphatically declares the irreversibility of Judah's coming doom. Chapters 14-15 record Judah's laments and God's unwavering resolve to punish. Immediately preceding verse 6, God dismisses any intercession, even from great figures like Moses and Samuel (Jer 15:1-5), illustrating the depth of Judah's sin and the finality of the decreed judgment. The historical context is the period leading up to the Babylonian exile, when Judah, despite cycles of repentance and reform (like Josiah's), had largely returned to idolatry, injustice, and a superficial religious practice, breaking the Mosaic covenant and forsaking their covenant relationship with Yahweh. This verse highlights the reason for the impending national destruction: their consistent and intentional abandonment of God's ways.

Jeremiah 15 6 Word analysis

• You have forsaken me (אֹתִי נָטַשְׁתְּ - 'oti nātashְt')
  • נָטַשׁ (nātash): To abandon, forsake, leave. This verb implies a willful and complete rejection or letting go. It's a breach of covenant loyalty, suggesting an intentional severing of the relationship with God, who is the true source of life and blessing. Its significance here is paramount; it's the core offense, the act of spiritual treason.
  • Significance: It describes a turning from the intimate and exclusive relationship expected of the covenant people, contrasting sharply with their purpose of being God's chosen.
• declares the Lord (נְאֻם יְהוָה - ne'um YHVH)
  • נְאֻם (ne'um): An oracle, utterance, or declaration, specifically used for divine pronouncements.
  • יְהוָה (YHVH): The personal covenant name of God, often rendered "Lord."
  • Significance: This is a crucial prophetic formula affirming the divine origin and authoritative truth of the preceding statement. It's not Jeremiah's opinion, but God's unassailable verdict.
• you have gone backward (אָחוֹר תֵּלְכוּ - 'achor tēlkū)
  • אָחוֹר ('achor): Backward, behind.
  • תֵּלְכוּ (tēlkū - from הָלַךְ - hālak): To walk, to go.
  • Significance: This imagery paints a vivid picture of spiritual decline and regression. Instead of progressing in faith and obedience on God's path, Judah has actively moved in the opposite direction, signifying a persistent, intentional turning away from righteousness, contrasting with the forward movement expected of a pilgrim people following God. It denotes apostasy.
• So I have stretched out my hand against you (וָאַט אֶת־יָדִי עָלָיִךְ - va'at 'et-yādî 'ālāyikh)
  • אַט (at): To extend, stretch out (related to נָטָה - nātāh). God's hand being "stretched out" can symbolize blessing and provision, but also powerful judgment and chastisement. Here, the preposition "against you" ('ālāyikh) clarifies the destructive intent.
  • יָדִי (yādî): My hand.
  • Significance: This phrase represents God's decisive and active intervention in judgment. It is not passive observation, but an authoritative act of divine wrath, bringing about the threatened consequences.
• and destroyed you (וָאַשְׁחִיתֵךְ - va'ashḥîtēkh)
  • אַשְׁחִיתֵךְ (ashḥîtēkh - from שָׁחַת - shaḥat): To destroy, ruin, corrupt, lay waste. This verb carries a sense of total and pervasive devastation, often used for moral corruption leading to physical ruin.
  • Significance: This signifies the absolute nature of the judgment. God will utterly devastate the nation, a direct consequence of their actions, aligning with the covenant curses.
• I am weary of relenting (נִחַמְתִּי מֵהַנִּחָם - niḥamtî mēhanikhām)
  • נִחַמְתִּי (niḥamtî - from נָחַם - nāḥam): I have repented, I have grieved, I have had compassion, I have relented. This verb is complex; when applied to God, it speaks of a change in His course of action or expression of will concerning declared judgment or blessing, often in response to human actions.
  • מֵהַנִּחָם (mēhanikhām): From relenting (gerundive form, "from the act of relenting"). The construction implies "I am tired of doing the act of relenting."
  • Significance: This anthropomorphic expression portrays God reaching the absolute limit of His patience and compassion in withholding deserved judgment. He had relented many times in the past when the people showed signs of repentance, but their repentance was not lasting. Now, He declares He is "tired" of withdrawing His threatened judgment because their faithlessness persists. This signifies the irrevocability of the present judgment; God will not change His mind again to avert this specific calamity. It's a statement of ultimate resolve, confirming that the "point of no return" has been reached.

Jeremiah 15 6 Bonus section

The Hebrew verb נָחַם (nāḥam) for "relenting" is remarkably rich. While it often implies sorrow, regret, or repentance in humans, when applied to God, it refers to a change in His action or purpose in response to altered circumstances, not a change in His immutable character or righteous decrees. For example, God "relented" from destroying Nineveh when they repented (Jonah 3:10), showing His readiness to alter His decreed judgment based on human response. In Jeremiah 15:6, the declaration that God is "weary of relenting" indicates that Judah's wickedness has surpassed the threshold where His prior inclination to withhold judgment will apply. It implies a moral and covenantal boundary has been irrevocably crossed, leading to the enactment of justice after extraordinary divine forbearance. This reflects the weightiness of persistent disobedience and the profound seriousness of rejecting divine mercy.

Jeremiah 15 6 Commentary

Jeremiah 15:6 articulates the somber reality of God's final decision concerning Judah's persistent sin. The verse lays bare Judah's egregious failures: "forsaking" their covenant Lord and consistently "going backward" in spiritual apostasy. These actions provoked God's judgment, signified by His "stretched out hand" bringing forth destruction. The pivotal and most impactful statement, "I am weary of relenting," reveals a divine patience pushed to its limit. This isn't weariness in a human sense of fatigue, but an expression of profound sorrow and firm resolve from a God whose mercy has been repeatedly spurned. Having often held back promised judgment in the hope of genuine repentance, God now declares that He will no longer deter His announced wrath. It means no further appeal or act of mercy will prevent the impending calamity. This serves as a stark warning about the irreversible consequences of unrepentant, deliberate, and sustained rebellion against a holy and patient God.