Jeremiah 8:4-13

Depth of Judah’s wrongdoing

4 Say to them, The LORD proclaims: When people fall down, don't they get up? When they turn aside, don't they turn back?

5 Why then does this people, rebellious Jerusalem, persistently turn away from me? They cling to deceit and refuse to return.

6 I have listened carefully but haven't heard a word of truth from them. No one regrets their wrongdoing; no one says, "What have I done?" Everyone turns to their own course, like a stallion dashing into the thick of battle.

7 Even the stork in the sky knows the seasons, and the dove, swallow, and crane return in due time. But my people don't know the LORD's ways.

8 How can you say, "We are wise; we possess the LORD's Instruction," when the lying pen of the scribes has surely distorted it?

9 The wise will be shamed and shocked when they are caught. Look, they have rejected the LORD's word; what kind of wisdom is that?

10 Therefore, I will give their wives to others and their fields to their captors. From the least to the greatest, all are eager to profit. From prophet to priest, all trade in falsehood.

11 They treat the wound of my people as if it were nothing: "All is well, all is well," they insist, when in fact nothing is well.

12 They should be ashamed of their detestable practices, but they have no shame; they don't even blush! Therefore, they will fall among the fallen and stumble when disaster arrives, declares the LORD.

13 I will put an end to them, declares the LORD; there are no grapes on the vine, no figs on the tree, only withered leaves. They have squandered what I have given them!

Jeremiah 8:4-13 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Heb uncertain
• [b]. Heb uncertain
• [c]. Heb uncertain
• [d]. Heb uncertain