Another complaint by Jeremiah, and Yahweh’s reply

15 Then I said, “Yahweh, you know what is happening to me.

Please come and ◄help me/take care of me►.

Punish those who are ◄persecuting me/causing me to suffer►.

Please do not continue to be patient with them

and do not allow me to die now.

It is ◄for your sake/because I serve you► that I am suffering.

16 Yahweh my God, you are the Commander of the armies of angels;

and when you spoke to me,

I was delighted with your message; it caused me to be joyful,

and I eagerly accepted [MET] what you said

because I belong to you. [IDM, MTY]

17 When the people were carousing together,

I never joined them;

I sat alone, because you [MTY] are the one who controls what I do.

I was very angry with those people because of their sins.

18 So, ◄why do you allow me to continue to suffer?/I do not understand why you allow me to continue to suffer.► [RHQ]

It seems that [RHQ] my wounds cannot be healed.

Sometimes you help me, sometimes you do not help me.

It seems that you are as undependable as a brook that has water in it only during certain seasons;

you are like a spring that has dried up.”

19 Then Yahweh replied,

“If you begin again to trust in me,

I will restore you,

in order that you can continue to serve me.

If you proclaim good/valuable messages and not worthless ones,

you will continue to be the one who speaks what I tell you to say.

You must cause the people to pay attention to what you say;

you must not pay attention to what they say.

20 They will fight against you,

but I will protect you, like [SIM] people are protected from their enemies by a bronze wall.

They will not defeat you,

because I will be with you,

and I will protect and rescue [DOU] you.

21 Truly, I will keep you safe from those wicked people,

I will rescue you when you are seized by cruel people.

That will happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.”