Jeremiah 8:1-7

1 At that time, says the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Yehudah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the Kohanim, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, out of their graves;

2 and they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of the sky, which they have loved, and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried, they shall be for dung on the surface of the eretz.

3 Death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them, says the LORD of Hosts.

4 Moreover you shall tell them, Thus says the LORD: Shall men fall, and not rise up again? Shall one turn away, and not return?

5 Why then is this people of Yerushalayim slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.

6 I listened and heard, but they didn't speak aright: no man repents him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? everyone turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.

7 Yes, the khasidah in the sky knows her appointed times; and the turtle-dove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people don't know the law of the LORD.

Jeremiah 8:1-7 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.