The intensity of his despair overflows in a very bold accusation that comes in the form of a question, Will you be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?
In Jeremiah 2:13, the prophet had been sure that the Lord was a fountain of living water, unlike the false gods. But now he questions that. Will the Lord show himself to also be unreliable, like a brook that promises cool, life-giving water, but is dry when you need it most? Jeremiah perceives the delay in judgment, especially of those who persecute him as the Lord’s prophet, as a possible failure of the Lord to be faithful to him.
18 Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?