Jeremiah 8:1-10

1 The LORD declares, "At that time the bones of the kings and the leaders of Judah, the bones of the priests and the prophets, and the bones of the others who lived in Jerusalem will be taken out of their graves.

2 They will be spread out and exposed to the sun, the moon, and all the stars in the sky. These are the things that they had loved, served, gone after, sought, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered or buried, but they will become manure on the ground.

3 "Then the few who remain from these wicked people will want to die rather than live where I will scatter them," declares the LORD of Armies.

4 "Say to them, 'This is what the LORD says: When someone falls, he gets back up. When someone turns away from me, he returns.

5 The people of Jerusalem turned away from me without ever returning. They still cling to deceit. They refuse to return.

6 I have paid attention and listened, but they weren't honest. They don't turn away from their wickedness and ask, "What have we done?" They go their own ways like horses charging into battle.

7 Even storks know when it's time to return. Mourning doves, swallows, and cranes know when it's time to migrate. But my people don't know that I, the LORD, am urging them to return.

8 "'How can you say that you are wise and that you have the LORD's teachings? The scribes have used their pens to turn these teachings into lies.

9 Wise people are put to shame, confused, and trapped. They have rejected the word of the LORD. They don't really have any wisdom.

10 That is why I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. All of them, from the least important to the most important, are eager to make money dishonestly. All of them, from prophets to priests, act deceitfully.

Jeremiah 8:1-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 8

In this chapter the prophet goes on to denounce grievous calamities upon the people of the Jews; such as would make death more eligible than life; and that because of their idolatry, Jer 8:1-3 and also because of their heinous backslidings in other respects, and continuance in them, Jer 8:4,5 likewise their impenitence and stupidity, Jer 8:6,7 their vain conceit of themselves and their own wisdom; their false interpretation of Scripture, and their rejection of the word of God, Jer 8:8,9 their covetousness, for which it is said their wives and fields should be given to others, Jer 8:10, their flattery of the people, and their impudence, on account of which, ruin and consumption, and a blast on their vines and fig trees, are threatened, Jer 8:11-13, their consternation is described, by their fleeing to their defenced cities; by their sad disappointment in the expectation of peace and prosperity; and the near approach of their enemies; devouring their land, and all in it; who are compared to serpents and cockatrices that cannot be charmed, Jer 8:14-17 and the chapter is closed with the prophet's expressions of sorrow and concern for his people, because of their distress their idolatry had brought upon them; and because of their hopeless, and seemingly irrecoverable, state and condition, Jer 8:18-22.