Therefore this is what the LORD says: “If you return, I will restore you; you will stand in My presence. And if you speak words that are noble instead of worthless, you will be My spokesman. It is they who must turn to you, but you must not turn to them.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore Yahweh says, “If you return, then I will bring you again, that you may stand before me; and if you take out the precious from the vile, you shall be as my mouth. They shall return to you, but you shall not return to them.
- KJV Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.
- NKJV Therefore thus says the Lord: “If you return, Then I will bring you back; You shall stand before Me; If you take out the precious from the vile, You shall be as My mouth. Let them return to you, But you must not return to them.
- NASB ¶Therefore, this is what the Lord says: “If you return, then I will restore you— You will stand before Me; And if you extract the precious from the worthless, You will become My spokesman. They, for their part, may turn to you, But as for you, you are not to turn to them.
- NLT This is how the Lord responds: “If you return to me, I will restore you so you can continue to serve me. If you speak good words rather than worthless ones, you will be my spokesman. You must influence them; do not let them influence you!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God calls Jeremiah to repent and return so he can again stand as God's mouthpiece, speaking what is precious rather than worthless; the people must come to him, not he to them. God recommissions His servant while calling him to renewed faithfulness.
Overview
Even God's prophet needed correction, called to turn from despair and discouragement back to wholehearted service. Distinguishing the precious from the worthless means speaking God's true word rather than yielding to the people's pressure. This restoration shows God's grace toward His faltering servants and models the firm, faithful proclamation of truth that finds its perfection in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 28
- Zech 3:7“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘If you walk in My ways and keep My instructions, then you will govern My house and will also have charge of My courts; and I will give you a place among these who are standing here.
- Luke 21:15For I will give you speech and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.
- Lev 10:10You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the clean and the unclean,
- Ezek 44:23They are to teach My people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to discern between the clean and the unclean.
- Ezek 22:26Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
- Jude 1:24Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy—
- Gal 1:10Am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
- Heb 5:14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil.
- Exod 4:15–16You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will help both of you to speak, and I will teach you what to do.
- Jer 15:1Then the LORD said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel should stand before Me, My heart would not go out to this people. Send them from My presence, and let them go.
- Luke 10:16Whoever listens to you listens to Me; whoever rejects you rejects Me; and whoever rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.”
- Acts 20:27For I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole will of God.
- Exod 4:12Now go! I will help you as you speak, and I will teach you what to say.”
- Ezek 2:7But speak My words to them, whether they listen or refuse to listen, for they are rebellious.
- Jer 38:20–21“They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the voice of the LORD in what I am telling you, that it may go well with you and you may live.
- Luke 12:12For at that time the Holy Spirit will teach you what you should say.”
- Luke 1:19“I am Gabriel,” replied the angel. “I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.
- Jer 20:9If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of holding it in, and I cannot prevail.
- Ezek 3:10–11“Son of man,” He added, “listen carefully to all the words I speak to you, and take them to heart.
- Gal 2:5We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.
- Luke 21:36So keep watch at all times, and pray that you may have the strength to escape all that is about to happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”
- Prov 22:29Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will be stationed in the presence of kings; he will not stand before obscure men.
- Exod 6:29–30He said to him, “I am the LORD; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I say to you.”
- 1 Kgs 17:1Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD lives—the God of Israel before whom I stand—there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”
- Jer 15:10–18Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife and conflict in all the land. I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me.
- Isa 32:5–6No longer will a fool be called noble, nor a scoundrel be respected.
- 2 Cor 5:16So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.
- Jonah 3:2“Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I give you.”
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 15:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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