Jeremiah 15:10

“Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast born me a man of strife, etc.] Not that the prophet was a quarrelsome and contentious man, but others quarrelled and contended with him, and that for no other reason than for his faithful discharge of his office, under which he ought to have been easy; but being a man of like passions with others, wishes he had never been born, than to meet with so much trouble; and seems to blame his mother for bearing him; or however looked upon himself to be a miserable man through his birth, and that he was destined from thence to this sorrow: and a man of contention to the whole earth; or “land”; the land of Judea, the inhabitants of it, as the Targum; for with no…”

“(Jer 20:14; Job 3:1, &c.). Jeremiah seems to have been of a peculiarly sensitive temperament; yet the Holy Spirit enabled him to deliver his message at the certain cost of having his sensitiveness wounded by the enmities of those whom his words offended. man of strife--exposed to strifes on the part of "the whole earth" (Psa 80:6). I have neither lent, &c.--proverbial for, "I have given no cause for strife against me."”

“Jeremiah vents his sorrow at the rejection of his prayer. In reading these and similar expostulations we feel that we have to do with a man who was the reluctant minister of a higher power, from where alone he drew strength to be content to do and suffer. Strife - More exactly, “lawsuit;” the sense is, “I am as a man who has to enter into judgment with and reprove the whole earth.” I have neither lent ... - i. e., I have no personal cause of quarrel with the people, that I should thus be perpetually at strife with them. The relations between the moneylender and the debtor were a fruitful source of lawsuits and quarrelling. return to 'Top of Page'”

“I have not - I have done them no wrong, yet they speak of me all manner of evil. Jeremiah 15:11”

“15:10-21 Jeremiah bared his heart to God over the unjust treatment he was receiving because he was delivering the Lord’s message. In response, the Lord promised to protect and care for his prophet. 15:10 Feelings of grief gripped Jeremiah when people hated and cursed him for no reason.”

“my: Jer 20:14-18; Job 3:1-26 a man: Jer 15:20, Jer 1:18, Jer 1:19, Jer 20:7, Jer 20:8; Kg1 18:17, Kg1 18:18, Kg1 21:20, Kg1 22:8; Psa 120:5, Psa 120:6; Eze 2:6, Eze 2:7; Eze 3:7-9; Mat 10:21-23, Mat 24:9; Luk 2:34; Act 16:20-22, Act 17:6-8; Act 19:8, Act 19:9, Act 19:25-28, Act 28:22; Co1 4:9-13 I have: Exo 22:25; Deu 23:19, Deu 23:20; Neh 5:1-6; Psa 15:5 curse: Psa 109:28; Pro 26:2; Mat 5:44; Luk 6:22 Jeremiah 15:11”

“Complaint of the Prophet, and Soothing Answer of the Lord. - His sorrow at the rejection by God of his petition so overcomes the prophet, that he gives utterance to the wish: he had rather not have been born than live on in the calling in which he must ever foretell misery and ruin to his people, thereby provoking hatred and attacks, while his heart is like to break for grief and fellow-feeling; whereupon the Lord reprovingly replies as in Jer 15:11-14. Jer 15:10 "Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast born me, a man of strive and contention to all the earth! I have not lent out, nor have men lent to me; all curse me. Jer 15:11. Jahveh saith, Verily I strengthen thee to thy good; verily I…”