Jeremiah 8:13-17

13 “ ‘I will take away their harvest, declares the LORD. There will be no grapes on the vine. There will be no figs on the tree, and their leaves will wither. What I have given them will be taken from them.[a] ’ ”
14 Why are we sitting here? Gather together! Let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there! For the LORD our God has doomed us to perish and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against him.
15 We hoped for peace but no good has come, for a time of healing but there is only terror.
16 The snorting of the enemy’s horses is heard from Dan; at the neighing of their stallions the whole land trembles. They have come to devour the land and everything in it, the city and all who live there.
17 “See, I will send venomous snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 8:13-17 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.

Cross References 15

  • 1. Hosea 2:12; Joel 1:7
  • 2. Luke 13:6
  • 3. Matthew 21:19
  • 4. S Jeremiah 5:17
  • 5. S Joshua 10:20; Jeremiah 4:5; Jeremiah 35:11
  • 6. S Deuteronomy 29:18; Jeremiah 9:15; Jeremiah 23:15
  • 7. Jeremiah 14:7,20; Daniel 9:5
  • 8. S ver 11
  • 9. S Job 19:8; Jeremiah 14:19
  • 10. S Jeremiah 4:29
  • 11. S Genesis 30:6; Jeremiah 4:15
  • 12. Jeremiah 51:29
  • 13. S Jeremiah 5:17
  • 14. Numbers 21:6; S Deuteronomy 32:24
  • 15. S Psalms 58:5; S Isaiah 3:3

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. The meaning of the Hebrew for this sentence is uncertain.
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