(15) O Lord, thou knowest . . .--The prophet continues in the bitterness of his spirit the complaint that had begun in Jeremiah 15:10. The words remind us of the imprecations of the so-called vindictive psalms (such, e.g., as Psalms 69, 109), and may help us to understand the genesis of the emotions which they express. Not even the promise of Jeremiah 15:11 has given rest to his soul. He craves to see the righteous retribution for the sufferings which men have wrongfully inflicted on him.

Verse 15. - O Lord, thou knowest, etc. The prophet renews his complaints. God's omniscience is the thought which comforts him (comp. Jeremiah 17:6; Jeremiah 18:23; Psalm 69:19). But he desires some visible proof of God's continued care for his servant. Visit me, equivalent to "be attentive to my wants "-an anthropomorphic expression for the operation of Providence. Take me not away in thy long-suffering; i.e. "suffer not my persecutors to destroy me through the long-suffering which thou displayest towards them." "Take away," viz. my life (comp. Ezekiel 33:4, "If the sword come and take him away"). Rebuke; rather, reproach; cutup. Psalm 69:7 (Psalm 69. is in the style of Jeremiah, and, as Delitzsch remarks, suits his circumstances better than those of David).

15:15-21 It is matter of comfort that we have a God, to whose knowledge of all things we may appeal. Jeremiah pleads with God for mercy and relief against his enemies, persecutors, and slanderers. It will be a comfort to God's ministers, when men despise them, if they have the testimony of their own consciences. But he complains, that he found little pleasure in his work. Some good people lose much of the pleasantness of religion by the fretfulness and uneasiness of their natural temper, which they indulge. The Lord called the prophet to cease from his distrust, and to return to his work. If he attended thereto, he might be assured the Lord would deliver him from his enemies. Those who are with God, and faithful to him, he will deliver from trouble or carry through it. Many things appear frightful, which do not at all hurt a real believer in Christ.O Lord, thou knowest,.... All persons and things; he knew the prophet and his heart, and all that was in it; his innocence and integrity; all his afflictions, and what he met with from his enemies; and he knew them, and all their malicious designs against him:

remember me; with the favour which he bore to his own people, his covenant with him, his promises to him, and the word on which he had caused him to hope; because of his trials and troubles, he might seem to be forgotten by him:

and visit me; in mercy for good; and so the Targum adds,

"that thou mayest do well unto me:''

and revenge me of my persecutors; not so much for his own sake; unless this is to be attributed to his frailty and infirmity, to the warmth of his spirit, being a man of like passions with others; for private revenge ought not to be sought by good men, but for the sake of God and his glory, in whose cause he was engaged, and on whose account he was persecuted:

take me not away in thy longsuffering; while thou art bearing with others, do not take me away by death; or suffer them, whom thou dost forbear, to take me away, or give them an opportunity thereby so to do; or when thy longsuffering is at an end, do not involve me in the same calamity with them. The Targum is,

"do not give delay to my injury;''

or,

"length to my affliction;''

that is, do not delay to take vengeance on my persecutors; and to this sense Jarchi interprets it,

"do not take my cause, and leave it to thy longsuffering, but hasten and avenge me;''

and De Dieu proposes such a rendering of the words, "to thy longsuffering do not bring me" (q); and which sense is favoured by the Septuagint version:

know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke; let it appear, and that even to mine enemies, that it is for thy sake that all this reproach is cast upon me; and all these afflictions are endured by me, by thy resentment of their carriage to me.

(q) "ne ad longanimitatem tuam adduc me", De Dieu; "nec me capias ad dilationem irae tua", Gussetius.