Jeremiah 8:1-9

1 And when the time comes" - God's Decree! - "I'll see to it that they dig up the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of the princes and priests and prophets, and yes, even the bones of the common people.

2 They'll dig them up and spread them out like a congregation at worship before sun, moon, and stars, all those sky gods they've been so infatuated with all these years, following their 'lucky stars' in doglike devotion. The bones will be left scattered and exposed, to reenter the soil as fertilizer, like manure.

3 "Everyone left - all from this evil generation unlucky enough to still be alive in whatever godforsaken place I will have driven them to - will wish they were dead." Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies. To Know Everything but God's Word

4 "Tell them this, God's Message: "'Do people fall down and not get up? Or take the wrong road and then just keep going?

5 So why does this people go backwards, and just keep on going - backwards! They stubbornly hold on to their illusions, refuse to change direction.

6 I listened carefully but heard not so much as a whisper. No one expressed one word of regret. Not a single "I'm sorry" did I hear. They just kept at it, blindly and stupidly banging their heads against a brick wall.

7 Cranes know when it's time to move south for winter. And robins, warblers, and bluebirds know when it's time to come back again. But my people? My people know nothing, not the first thing of God and his rule.

8 "'How can you say, "We know the score. We're the proud owners of God's revelation"? Look where it's gotten you - stuck in illusion. Your religion experts have taken you for a ride!

9 Your know-it-alls will be unmasked, caught and shown up for what they are. Look at them! They know everything but God's Word. Do you call that "knowing"?

Jeremiah 8:1-9 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.