The Lord now responds in Jeremiah 15:11–14 to Jeremiah’s brief complaint in Jeremiah 15:10. He almost seems to interrupt Jeremiah’s complaint before it goes too far in its bitterness.1
The meaning of the Hebrew text in Jeremiah 15:11–12 is difficult to understand and these verses have been interpreted in a number of ways by commentators.2 However, the essential meaning seems to be that the Lord responds to Jeremiah’s complaint by reminding him that the Lord has promised to be with Jeremiah when he is opposed by his enemies in his ministry as a prophet. The Lord does not promise Jeremiah the absence of hardship, but in the end the Lord will use all of this suffering for the good of both Jeremiah and the Lord’s people.
11 The LORD said, “Have I not set you free for their good? Have I not pleaded for you before the enemy in the time of trouble and in the time of distress?