Jeremiah 8:4-14

4 "You shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD, "Do men ¹fall and not get up again? Does one turn away and not repent?

5 "Why then has this people, Jerusalem, ²Turned away in continual apostasy? They ³hold fast to deceit, They ⁴refuse to return.

6 "I ⁵have listened and heard, They have spoken what is not right; ⁶No man repented of his wickedness, Saying, 'What have I done?' Everyone turned to his course, Like a ⁷horse charging into the battle.

7 "Even the stork in the sky ⁸Knows her seasons; And the ⁹turtledove and the swift and the thrush Observe the time of their migration; But ¹⁰My people do not know The ordinance of the LORD.

8 "¹¹How can you say, 'We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us'? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes Has made it into a lie.

9 "The wise men are ¹²put to shame, They are dismayed and caught; Behold, they have ¹³rejected the word of the LORD, And what kind of wisdom do they have?

10 "Therefore I will ¹⁴give their wives to others, Their fields to new owners; Because from the least even to the greatest Everyone is ¹⁵greedy for gain; From the prophet even to the priest Everyone practices deceit.

11 "They ¹⁶heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, Saying, 'Peace, peace,' But there is no peace.

12 "Were they ¹⁷ashamed because of the abomination they had done? They certainly were not ashamed, And they did not know how to blush; Therefore they shall ¹⁸fall among those who fall; At the ¹⁹time of their punishment they shall be brought down," Says the LORD.

13 "I will ²⁰surely snatch them away," declares the LORD; "There will be ²¹no grapes on the vine And ²²no figs on the fig tree, And the leaf will wither; And what I have given them will pass away.""'

14 Why * are we sitting still? ²³Assemble yourselves, and let us ²⁴go into the fortified cities And let us perish there, Because the LORD our God has doomed us And given us ²⁵poisoned water to drink, For ²⁶we have sinned against the LORD.

Jeremiah 8:4-14 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

• 1. Proverbs 24:16; Amos 5:2; Micah 7:8
• 2. Jeremiah 5:6; Jeremiah 7:24
• 3. Jeremiah 5:27; Jeremiah 9:6
• 4. Jeremiah 5:3
• 5. Psalms 14:2; Malachi 3:16
• 6. Ezekiel 22:30; Micah 7:2; Revelation 9:20
• 7. Job 39:21-25
• 8. Proverbs 6:6-8; Isaiah 1:3
• 9. Song of Songs 2:12
• 10. Jeremiah 5:4
• 11. Job 5:12, 13; Jeremiah 4:22; Romans 1:22
• 12. Isaiah 19:11; Jeremiah 6:15; 1 Corinthians 1:27
• 13. Jeremiah 6:19
• 14. Deuteronomy 28:30; Jeremiah 6:12, 13; Jeremiah 38:22
• 15. Isaiah 56:11; Isaiah 57:17; Jeremiah 6:13
• 16. Jeremiah 6:14; Jeremiah 14:13, 14; Lamentations 2:14; Ezekiel 13:10
• 17. Psalms 52:1, 7; Isaiah 3:9; Jeremiah 3:3; Jeremiah 6:15; Zephaniah 3:5
• 18. Isaiah 9:14; Jeremiah 6:21; Hosea 4:5
• 19. Deuteronomy 32:35; Jeremiah 10:15
• 20. Jeremiah 14:12; Ezekiel 22:20, 21
• 21. Jeremiah 5:17; Jeremiah 7:20; Joel 1:7
• 22. Matthew 21:19; Luke 13:6
• 23. Jeremiah 4:5
• 24. 2 Samuel 20:6; Jeremiah 35:11
• 25. Deuteronomy 29:18; Psalms 69:21; Jeremiah 9:15; Jeremiah 23:15; Lamentations 3:19; Matthew 27:34
• 26. Jeremiah 3:25; Jeremiah 14:20

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "turn back"
• [b] Lit "coming"
• [c] Lit "possessing ones"