Bible Strands
Jeremiah 15:6
You have forsaken Me, declares the LORD. You have turned your back. So I will stretch out My hand against you and I will destroy you; I am weary of showing compassion.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks through Jeremiah directly to Jerusalem, pronouncing judgment immediately after asking who will pity or mourn for the city. This declaration follows a covenant warning sequence where persistent rebellion triggers divine withdrawal.
The words — The Hebrew נָטַ֥שְׁתְּ (na.Tasht) literally means "you abandoned," while אָח֣וֹר תֵּלֵ֑כִי (a.Chor te.Le.khi) translates to "you go backwards" or "you turn your back." These terms establish the active rejection that directly prompts the divine response.
The thread — This theme of God stretching out His hand against Jerusalem appears in Zephaniah 1:4 and echoes the accusation of forsaking God in Isaiah 1:4. The pattern of stubborn refusal to listen is also recorded in Jeremiah 7:24.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment that persistent rejection of divine authority exhausts patience and invites irreversible judgment. It requires the reader to confront the direct causal link between human abandonment of God and the withdrawal of His compassion.
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
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.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 7:24 Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but they followed the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.
- Zephaniah 1:4 “I will stretch out My hand against Judah and against all who dwell in Jerusalem. I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal, the names of the idolatrous and pagan priests—
- Isaiah 1:4 Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who act corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him.
- Hosea 11:7 My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they call to the Most High, He will by no means exalt them.
- Zechariah 7:11 But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.
- Jeremiah 1:16 I will pronounce My judgments against them for all their wickedness, because they have forsaken Me, and they have burned incense to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.
- Jeremiah 2:17 Have you not brought this on yourself by forsaking the LORD your God when He led you in the way?
- 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 6:19 Hear, O earth! I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their own schemes, because they have paid no attention to My word and have rejected My instruction.
- Ezekiel 25:7 therefore I will indeed stretch out My hand against you and give you as plunder to the nations. I will cut you off from the peoples and exterminate you from the countries. I will destroy you, and you will know that I am the LORD.’