Jeremiah 30:15

Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(15) Why criest thou . . .?—The personification of the previous verse is continued. The prophet looks on Judah—as in Lamentations 1:1-2—as on some forlorn and desperate castaway smitten with pestilence, crying in the agony of her hopelessness; and he reminds her that she is but bearing the righteous punishment of her iniquities. In accepting the law of retribution, as seen in her own sufferings, she might find hope for the future. Her oppressors also would come under that law. The wheel would come full circle, and the devourers would be themselves devoured.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

30:12-17 When God is against a people, who will be for them? Who can be for them, so as to do them any kindness? Incurable griefs are owing to incurable lusts. Yet, though the captives suffered justly, and could not help themselves, the Lord intended to appear for them, and to punish their oppressors; and he will still do so. But every effort to heal ourselves must prove fruitless, so long as we neglect the heavenly Advocate and sanctifying Spirit. The dealings of His grace with every true convert, and every returning backslider, are the same in effect as his proceedings to the Jews.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Translate it:

Why criest thou because of thy breaking?

Because thy pain is grievous?

Because of the multitude of thine iniquity,

Because thy sins are strong,

I have done these things unto thee.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

15. Why criest thou—as if God's severity was excessive. Thou hast no reason to complain, for thine affliction is just. Thy cry is too late, for the time of repentance and mercy is past [Calvin].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable:

Why complainest thou of my dealings with thee? or, as Jeremiah 15:18, the cause of thy sorrow is incurable: or, as others, Why complainest thou that thy sorrow is incurable? Though it be so, yet thou hast no reason to complain of my dealings, for thy destruction is of thyself; I am just in what I have done, for I have but given thee that death which is the wages of thy work of sin; nor was I suddenly provoked, it is for the multitude of thine iniquities, and in that case the living man hath no just reason to complain, Lamentations 3:39.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Why criest thou for thine affliction?.... Or complainest of the hardness, and heaviness, and continuance of it, when there was such a just cause for it? when men have sinned at a high rate, they have no reason to complain of the punishment of their sins, Lamentations 3:39;

thy sorrow is incurable, for the multitude of thine iniquity; such were the number of their iniquities, that they brought them into such a sorrowful and wretched estate and condition that there was no recovery of them, nor hope of recovery of them, by their own power, or by the help and assistance of others:

because thy sins were increased I have done these things unto thee; which shows the justice of God, and is a vindication of it under all the seeming severity of it. The Jews (x) acknowledge, that under the second temple there was a great increase of capital crimes, such as murders, adulteries, &c. for which, and other sins, wrath came upon them to the uttermost by the Romans; and they still continue under the visible marks of the divine displeasure.

(x) Misna Sota, c. 9. sect. 9.

Geneva Study Bible

Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Jeremiah 30:15

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Because Israel has been severely chastised for his sins, the Lord will now punish his enemies, and heal Israel. - Jeremiah 30:12. "For thus saith Jahveh: It is ill with thy bruise, thy wound is painful. Jeremiah 30:13. There is none to judge thy cause; for a sore, healing-plaster there is none for thee. Jeremiah 30:14. All thy lovers have forgotten thee, thee they seek not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, the chastisement of a cruel one, because of the multitude of thine iniquity, [because] thy sins were numerous. Jeremiah 30:15. Why criest thou over thy bruise - [because] thy wound is bad? Because of the multitude of thine iniquity, [because] thy sins were numerous, have I done these things to thee. Jeremiah 30:16. Therefore all those who devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine oppressors, they shall all go into captivity; and they who spoiled thee shall become a spoil, and those that plundered thee I will give up for plunder. Jeremiah 30:17. For I will put a plaster on thee, and will heal thee of thy wounds, saith Jahveh; for they call thee an outcast, [and say], Zion is she [whom] none seeketh after."

This strophe is only a fuller expression of the idea set forth in Jeremiah 30:11, that the Lord certainly chastises Israel, but will not make an end of him. The chastisement has commenced. From the wounds and blows which Israel has received, he lies motionless and helpless, getting neither sympathy nor aid from his lovers. The feminine suffix and the mention of lovers show that the address turns to the daughter of Zion. On the expression אנוּשׁ , "it is ill with thy bruise," cf. Jeremiah 15:18. נחלה מכּה, "bad, incurable is the stroke which thou hast received," as in Jeremiah 10:19; Jeremiah 14:17. דּוּן דּין, "to execute justice;" cf. Jeremiah 5:28; Jeremiah 22:16. Hitzig well explains the meaning: "thy claims against thy heathen oppressors." למזור, although connected by the accents with what precedes, does not agree well with דּן דּינך; for מזור has not the meaning which has been attributed to it, of a "bandage," but, as derived from the verb זוּר, "to press a wound," signifies the wound that has been pressed together; see on Hosea 5:13. Neither does the figure of the wound agree with the expression, "there is none to judge thy cause," so that we might, with Umbreit, render the passage, "No one gives thee thy due, in pressing thy wounds;" while, as Graf says, " רפאות dissociated from למזור forms a useless synonym with תּעלה," and in Jeremiah 46:11, where the thought is repeated, it is separated from the latter word. Accordingly, with Hitzig and Graf, we connect למזור into one clause: "for the wound, there is no healing (or medicine)-no plaster." תּעלה is what is laid upon the wound, a plaster. "All thy lovers," i.e., the nations which were once allied with thee (cf. Jeremiah 22:20, Jeremiah 22:22), do not trouble themselves about thee, because I have smitten thee so heavily on account of the multitude of thy transgressions; cf. Jeremiah 5:6; Jeremiah 13:22. עצמוּ still depends on the preposition על, which continues its force, but as a conjunction. The idea that the Israelites have richly deserved their sufferings is still more plainly presented in Jeremiah 30:15 : "Why criest thou, because thou hast brought this suffering on thee through thy sins?" אנוּשׁ also depends on על, which continues to exert its power in the sentence as a conjunction.