Jeremiah 15:19 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Bible Comments

Therefore thus saith the Lord... — The Divine voice within makes answer to the passionate complaint. The prophet also needs, not less than the people, to “return” to his true mind, to repent of his murmurings and distrust. Upon that condition only can he again “stand before” the Lord in the full sense of that word, and minister to Him as a prophet-priest (comp. 1 Kings 17:1; 1 Kings 18:15; 2 Kings 3:14). He has to distinguish between “the precious and the vile,” between the gold and the dross, between a righteous zeal and the despondent bitterness which is its spurious counterfeit, not in the people only to whom he speaks but in himself. Above all he must beware of being tempted by his sense of failure, to return to the people in the temper of one who tunes his voice according to the time. Rather must they “return” to him and rise to his level, both “returning” to Jehovah.

Jeremiah 15:19

19 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.