Jeremiah 15:17

I never sat with the band of revelers, nor did I celebrate with them. Because Your hand was on me, I sat alone, for You have filled me with indignation.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Jeremiah addresses Yahweh directly as a prophet describing his forced isolation following his reception of divine words. He speaks in the immediate aftermath of identifying God’s message as his joy, now contrasting it with his current state of unending pain.

The words — The Hebrew בָּדָד (ba.Dad) translates literally to "alone," marking physical and social separation. The phrase מִ/פְּנֵ֤י יָֽדְ/ךָ֙ (mi./pe.Nei ya.de./Kha) means "because of your hand," indicating that the prophet’s solitude results from divine compulsion rather than personal choice.

The thread — The pattern of avoiding communal revelry appears in Psalm 1:1 and Psalm 26:4, where sitting apart from the wicked is presented as a mark of righteous conduct. Jeremiah 15:17 shifts this motif to describe prophetic isolation, paralleling the commanded silence in Lamentations 3:28 where the LORD lays a burden upon the individual.

Why it lands — The text requires the reader to recognize that divine calling can sever ordinary social bonds through direct imposition. It demands an honest accounting of how spiritual authority produces isolation and indignation rather than voluntary religious discipline.

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

לֹֽא־lo'-not יָשַׁ֥בְתִּיya.Shav.tiI sat בְסוֹד־ve./sod-in/ [the] assembly of מְשַׂחֲקִ֖יםme.sa.cha.Kimmerry makers וָֽאֶעְלֹ֑זva./'e'.Lozand/ I rejoiced מִפְּנֵ֤יmi./pe.Nei<from>/ because of יָֽדְךָ֙ya.de./Khahand/ your בָּדָ֣דba.Dadalone יָשַׁ֔בְתִּיya.Shav.tiI sat כִּֽי־ki-for זַ֖עַםZa.'amindignation מִלֵּאתָֽנִי׃ סmi.le.Ta./niyou filled/ me

King James Version

I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation.

Cross-references

Psalms 1:1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.
Lamentations 3:28 Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it upon him.
Psalms 26:4 I do not sit with deceitful men, nor keep company with hypocrites.
Ezekiel 3:24 Then the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet. He spoke with me and said, “Go, shut yourself inside your house.
Psalms 102:7 I lie awake; I am like a lone bird on a housetop.
Jeremiah 6:11 But I am full of the LORD’s wrath; I am tired of holding it back. “Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the young men gathered together. For both husband and wife will be captured, the old and the very old alike.
Jeremiah 13:17 But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.
2 Corinthians 6:17 “Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
Jeremiah 1:10 See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and plant.”
Jeremiah 16:8 You must not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down with them to eat and drink.