Jeremiah 15:16

Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became my joy and my heart’s delight. For I bear Your name, O LORD God of Hosts.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Jeremiah speaks to the LORD from a position of isolation and ongoing reproach (vv. 15, 17), affirming that the word itself is his sustenance and the ground of his identity.

The words — אֹכְלֵם (ʾokhélēm) is the first-person singular of אָכַל (H398), plain physical eating: "I ate them." The verb carries no metaphorical softening in the Hebrew; the word is consumed as food.

The thread — The eating-the-scroll motif recurs in Ezekiel 3:1 and Revelation 10:9, where the commanded act produces both internal filling and external cost.

Why it lands — The verse claims that God's word is not a message received but a substance taken in, and that this act of consumption is what makes the speaker a bearer of the Name even when every other claim on him fails.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

נִמְצְא֤וּnim.tze.'Uthey were found דְבָרֶ֙יךָ֙de.va.Rei./khawords/ your וָאֹ֣כְלֵ֔םva./'O.khe.Le/mand/ I ate/ them וַיְהִ֤יva/y.Hiand/ it became דְבָֽרְךָ֙de.va.rei./khaword/ yourלִ֔יL/ito <the>/ meלְשָׂשׂ֖וֹןle./sa.Son<into>/ a joy וּלְשִׂמְחַ֣תu./le./sim.Chatand/ <into>/ [the] delight of לְבָבִ֑יle.va.V/iheart/ my כִּֽי־ki-for נִקְרָ֤אnik.Ra'it is called שִׁמְךָ֙shim./Khaname/ your עָלַ֔י'a.La/ion/ me יְהוָ֖הYah.wehO Yahweh אֱלֹהֵ֥י'e.lo.Hei[the] God of צְבָאֽוֹת׃ סtze.va.'othosts

King James Version

Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.

Cross-references

Revelation 10:9 And I went to the angel and said, “Give me the small scroll.” “Take it and eat it,” he said. “It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.”
Ezekiel 3:1 “Son of man,” He said to me, “eat what you find here. Eat this scroll, then go and speak to the house of Israel.”
Psalms 119:101 I have kept my feet from every evil path, that I may keep Your word.
Job 23:12 I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread.
Psalms 19:10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.
Psalms 119:111 Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.
Psalms 119:97 Oh, how I love Your law! All day long it is my meditation.
Psalms 119:72 The law from Your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.
Jeremiah 14:9 Why are You like a man taken by surprise, like a warrior powerless to save? Yet You are among us, O LORD, and we are called by Your name. Do not forsake us!