Jeremiah 15:19

15:19 Because of this, the Lord said,42

“You must repent of such words and thoughts!

If you do, I will restore you to the privilege of serving me.43

If you say what is worthwhile instead of what is worthless,

I will again allow you to be my spokesman.44

They must become as you have been.

You must not become like them.45

42	tn Heb “So the Lord said thus.”
43	tn Heb “If you return [ = repent], I will restore [more literally, ‘cause you to return’] that you may stand before me.” For the idiom of “standing before” in the sense of serving see BDB 764 s.v. עָמַד Qal.1.e and compare the usage in 1 Kgs 10:8; 12:8; 17:1; Deut 10:8.
44	tn Heb “you shall be as my mouth.” sn For the classic statement of the prophet as God’s “mouth/mouthpiece,” = “spokesman,” see Exod 4:15–16; 7:1–2.
45	tn Heb “They must turn/return to you and you must not turn/return to them.” sn Once again the root “return” (שׁוּב, shuv) is being played on as in 3:1–4:4. See the threefold call to repentance in 3:12, 14, 22. The verb is used here four times “repent,” “restore,” and “become” twice. He is to serve as a model of repentance, not an imitator of their apostasy. In accusing God of being unreliable he was coming dangerously close to their kind of behavior.