Bible Strands
Jeremiah 15:18
Why is my pain unending, and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? You have indeed become like a mirage to me—water that is not there.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah addresses God directly while sitting alone under divine indignation. He speaks from isolated suffering after refusing to participate in communal revelry and bearing God's heavy hand.
The words — The phrase khe'evi netzach (my pain perpetuity) and the term anuš (incurable) explicitly describe the prophet's affliction as prolonged and resistant to recovery. Me'anah (refusing) grammatically attributes the lack of healing to the wound itself, not to divine withdrawal.
The thread — The incurable wound motif recurs in Jeremiah 30:15, Job 34:6, and Micah 1:9. These passages deploy the same imagery to confront unaddressed judgment or inadequate human comfort.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to voice unvarnished complaint to God rather than mask suffering with piety. It asks the reader to accept that divine presence may feel absent during prolonged trial without abandoning the conversation.
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
King James Version
Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 30:15 Why do you cry out over your wound? Your pain has no cure! Because of your great iniquity and your numerous sins I have done these things to you.
- Job 34:6 Would I lie about my case? My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’
- Micah 1:9 For her wound is incurable; it has reached even Judah; it has approached the gate of my people, as far as Jerusalem itself.
- Job 6:15 But my brothers are as faithless as wadis, as seasonal streams that overflow,
- Psalms 6:3 My soul is deeply distressed. How long, O LORD, how long?
- Psalms 13:1 For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?
- Jeremiah 1:18 Now behold, this day I have made you like a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land.
- Jeremiah 14:3 The nobles send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns, but find no water; their jars return empty. They are ashamed and humiliated; they cover their heads.
- Jeremiah 14:19 Have You rejected Judah completely? Do You despise Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We hoped for peace, but no good has come, and for the time of healing, but there was only terror.
- Jeremiah 20:7 You have deceived me, O LORD, and I was deceived. You have overcome me and prevailed. I am a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.