Jeremiah 8:5

5 Then why have the people of Jerusalem turned away from me? Why do they always turn away? They keep on telling lies. They refuse to come back to me.

Jeremiah 8:5 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 8:5

Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a
perpetual backsliding?
&c.] These people fill into sin, and rise not again by repentance; they turn out of the good ways of God and religion, and return not again; they backslide and revolt from the Lord, and they continue in their revolt and rebellion; their backsliding is an everlasting one; there is no hope of their repentance and recovery: it is a vehement and passionate expostulation about the people of the Jews, founded upon the former general observation, showing them to be the worst of all people: it is a common saying, "it is a long lane that has no turning"; but these people, having departed from the Lord, return no more. A very learned man renders the words, "why does Jerusalem turn away this people with an obstinate aversion?" F2 that is, the rulers and governors of Jerusalem, as in ( Matthew 23:37 ) or rather thus, "why does a stubborn aversion turn away this people, O Jerusalem?" and so they are an address to the magistrates and inhabitants of Jerusalem. They hold fast deceit;
practise it, and continue in the practice of it, both with God and man: they refuse to return:
to the Lord, to his worship, and to the right ways of holiness and truth, from whence they had erred; see ( Jeremiah 5:3 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F2 (txun hbvm Mlvwry hzh Meh hbbwv ewdm) "quare avertit hunc populum Hierosolyma aversione pertinaci? [vel] quare avertit populum hunc", O Jerusalem, "aversio pertinax?" De Dieu.

Jeremiah 8:5 In-Context

3 "Everyone who is left alive in this evil nation will want to die rather than live. That is what they will long for in the lands where I force them to go," announces the LORD who rules over all.
4 "Jeremiah, tell them, 'The LORD says, " ' "When people fall down, don't they get up again? When someone turns away, doesn't he come back?
5 Then why have the people of Jerusalem turned away from me? Why do they always turn away? They keep on telling lies. They refuse to come back to me.
6 I have listened carefully. But they do not say what is right. They refuse to turn away from their sins. No one says, 'What have I done?' All of them go their own way. They are like horses charging into battle.
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.
Holy Bible, New International Reader's Version® Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by Biblica.   All rights reserved worldwide.