Jeremiah 15:10 Meaning and Explanation
“Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Anyone who has done a hard right thing and found themselves disliked for it will recognize this outburst. Jeremiah speaks to a woman who is probably not in the room, and he speaks in the language of grief rather than of theology. Scripture keeps his complaint on the page, which tells us something about how honest prayer is allowed to sound.
Jeremiah cries out to his mother, wishing he had never been born into a life of constant conflict. He has given no one financial cause for grievance, and still everyone curses him.
The Context of Jeremiah 15:10
The speaker changes here. Verses 1 through 9 were the LORD's words about Judah; verse 10 is Jeremiah answering out of his own exhaustion. This passage belongs to the group often called his confessions, personal laments scattered through the book. Lending on usury was a common source of village quarrels, so Jeremiah names it to show he has given no ordinary reason for the hostility. Verse 11 brings the LORD's reply about the remnant, and verses 15 through 18 continue the prophet's protest, which the LORD answers directly in verse 19.
What Does Jeremiah 15:10 Mean?
The cry opens with an address to his mother, which places the complaint at the very beginning of his existence. He calls himself a man of strife and a man of contention, using two legal-sounding words for quarrel and dispute, and he extends the reach to the whole earth. Then comes the defense. Money lending was the usual engine of small-town resentment, and Jeremiah clears himself of it in both directions, as lender and as borrower. Nothing in his dealings explains the hatred. The verse ends with the flat fact he cannot get past: every one of them curses him.
The placement matters. Jeremiah has just delivered a message about mothers losing children, and now he wishes his own mother had never borne him. His grief and the nation's grief run into each other, which is characteristic of true prophetic ministry. Job voices a similar wish, and later in this book Jeremiah returns to it at greater length. Scripture keeps these protests without correcting them on the spot, and the LORD's reply in verse 11 addresses the man rather than the argument. Faithful service and deep discouragement are shown here occupying the same life at the same time.
Jesus stood in the same position and named it. He told His followers that a servant is treated as his master was, and that the world's hatred of Him would reach them too. He also faced hostility that no honest accounting could explain, and He asked from the cross that His enemies be forgiven. Jeremiah's complaint anticipates that pattern, where faithfulness to God's word produces conflict rather than welcome. The comfort held out to both is the same: the LORD who sent the messenger stays with him, which is exactly what verses 20 and 21 will promise.
Jeremiah 15:10 in the Original Language
rib (רִיב), 'strife' -- a quarrel or legal dispute, the word used for a case brought against someone. Jeremiah calls himself a man of rib because his message put him permanently on the wrong side of every argument in Judah.
Bible Verses Related to Jeremiah 15:10
“Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.”
- Jeremiah 20:14
“Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.”
- Job 3:3
“If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.”
- Exodus 22:25
“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”
- John 15:18
Where Jeremiah 15:10 Echoes in Scripture
Jeremiah 20:14 carries this cry further, where the prophet curses the day he was born and the man who brought his father the news. The seed planted in 15:10 grows into a full lament there, and the book preserves both without embarrassment. Job 3:3 makes the same wish from a different life. Taken together, these passages show Scripture giving room to servants of God whose faithfulness has cost them more than they know how to bear.
How to Apply Jeremiah 15:10 Today
Doing right can make us unpopular, and this verse gives permission to say so out loud. Jeremiah brings his complaint to God rather than to a crowd, which is a useful pattern when we are worn down by conflict we did not start. It is also worth taking his inventory: he checked whether he had given anyone a legitimate grievance. That question is healthy for us too, since some opposition we face is earned and some is not, and the two need different responses. Where the opposition is genuinely for the truth's sake, saying so honestly to God is prayer.
Reflection & Prayer
When conflict finds us, do we take it first to God or first to other people? A prayer: Lord, You have heard harder words than ours and kept listening. Receive our complaints without turning away, show us where we have caused offense needlessly, and steady us where we are hated for telling the truth. Amen.