Jeremiah 15:19

Because of this, the Lord said, ¹  “You must repent of such words and thoughts! If you do, I will restore you to the privilege of serving me. ²  If you say what is worthwhile instead of what is worthless, I will again allow you to be my spokesman. ³  They must become as you have been. You must not become like them. ⁴ 

Ex 4:12,15,16; Ex 6:29,30; Le 10:10; 1Ki 17:1; Pr 22:29; Isa 32:5,6; Jer 15:1; Jer 15:10-18; Jer 20:9; Jer 38:20,21; Eze 2:7; Eze 3:10,11; Eze 22:26; Eze 44:23; Jon 3:2; Zec 3:7; Lu 1:19; Lu 10:16; Lu 12:12; Lu 21:15; Lu 21:36; Ac 20:27; 2Co 5:16; Ga 1:10; Ga 2:5; Heb 5:14; Jude 1:24

¹ tn Heb “So the Lord said thus.”

² 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.

³ 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.

⁴ 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.