Jeremiah 17:14-18

Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.

Prayer of the prophet for deliverance from the enemies whom he excited by his faithful denunciations.

Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved - not only make me whole (as to the evils of soul as well as body which I am exposed to by contact with ungodly foes, and which to the eye of man, seem "incurable," and "refusing to be healed," ), but keep me so.

Thou art my praise - He whom I have to praise for past favours, and therefore to whom alone I look for the time to come.

Verse 15. They say ... Where is the word of the Lord? - (, "They say (in taunting mockery), Let him make speed, and hasten His work, that we may see it," etc.; ). Where is the fulfillment of the threats which thou didst utter as from God? A characteristic of the last stage of apostasy (, "Saying, Where is the promise of his coming?")

Verse 16. I have not hastened from being a pastor - I have not refused thy call of me to be a prophet (), however painful to me it was to utter what would be sure to irritate the hearers (; , etc.); therefore thou shouldest not forsake me, (, etc.) to follow thee-literally after thee; as an under-pastor following thee, "the Chief Shepherd" (; ).

Neither have I desired the woeful day - I have not wished for the day of calamity, though I foretell it as about to come on my countrymen; therefore they have no reason for persecuting me.

Thou knowest - I appeal to thee for the truth of what I assert.

That which came out of my lips - my words (), a phrase which implies the duty of "setting a watch before the mouth, and keeping the door of the lips" ().

Right before thee - rather, 'was before thee;' was known to thee ().

Verse 17. Be not a terror unto me - namely, by deserting me; all I fear is thine abandoning me: if thou art with me I have no fear of evil from enemies.

Verse 18. Destroy them with double destruction - `break them with a double breach,' Hebrew (cf. ). On "double," i:e., overwhelming, see note, .