Jeremiah 8:10-20

10 Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them. For every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightingly, saying "Peace, peace," when there is no peace.

12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore shall they fall among them that fall; in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.

13 "`I will surely consume them, saith the LORD. There shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.'"

14 Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there. For the LORD our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.

15 We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold, trouble!

16 The snorting of His horses was heard from Dan; the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of His strong ones. For they have come and have devoured the land and all that is in it, the city and those that dwell therein.

17 "For behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you," saith the LORD.

18 When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint within me.

19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people, because of them that dwell in a far country: "Is not the LORD in Zion? Is not her King in her?" "Why have they provoked Me to anger with their graven images and with strange vanities?"

20 "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved!"

Jeremiah 8:10-20 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.