Jeremiah 8:9

9 Those who think they are wise will be put to shame. They will become terrified. They will be trapped. They have not accepted my message. So what kind of wisdom do they have?

Jeremiah 8:9 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 8:9

The wise men are ashamed
Of the wisdom of which they boasted, when it would appear to be folly, and unprofitable to them: they are dismayed and taken;
frightened at the calamities coming upon them, and taken as in a snare, as the wise sometimes are in their own craftiness, ( Job 5:13 ) . Lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord;
sent by the prophets, which urged obedience to the law, and is the best explanation of it; but this they despised, and refused it: and what wisdom is in them?
to contemn that, which, if attended to, would have been profitable to them, and the means of making them wise unto salvation; let them therefore boast of their wisdom ever so much, it is certain there can be none in persons of such a spirit and conduct.

Jeremiah 8:9 In-Context

7 Storks know when to fly south. So do doves, swifts and thrushes. But my people do not know what I require them to do.

8 " ' "How can you people say, 'We are wise. We have the law of the Lord'? Actually, the teachers of the law have told lies about it. Their pens have not written what is true.

9 Those who think they are wise will be put to shame. They will become terrified. They will be trapped. They have not accepted my message. So what kind of wisdom do they have?

10 I will give their wives to other men. I will give their fields to new owners. Everyone wants to get richer and richer, from the least important of them to the most important. Prophets and priests alike try to fool everyone they can.

11 They bandage the wounds of my people as if they were not very deep. 'Peace, peace,' they say. But there isn't any peace.