Jeremiah 8:5

Lexham English Bible

Contextual Overview

⁴ "And you shall say to them, ‘Thus asks Yahweh: "Do men fall and not stand up? If one turns away does he not return? ⁵ Why has this people, Jerusalem, turned away in enduring apostasy? They have kept hold of deceit, they have refused to return. ⁶ I have listened attentively, and I have listened. They do not speak honestly, there is no man who regrets his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?' All of them are turning to their ways of running, like a horse plunging into battle. ⁷ Even the stork in heaven knows its appointed time, and the turtledove, and the swallow, and the song bird, they observe the time of their coming. But my people do not know the ordinance of Yahweh. ⁸ How can you say, ‘We are wise and the law of Yahweh is with us'? Look, surely the lying stylus of the scribes has made it a lie. ⁹ The wise will be put to shame, they will be dismayed, and they will get taken. Look, they have rejected the word of Yahweh, and what is wisdom to them? ¹⁰ Therefore I will give their wives to others, their fields to conquerors, because from the smallest to the greatest, all of them make profit for unlawful gain, from prophet to priest, all of them practice deceit. ¹¹ And they have treated the wound of the daughter of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,' but there is no peace. ¹² Were they ashamed, for they had committed a detestable thing? What's worse, they were not ashamed at all, and they did not know to feel humiliated. Therefore they will fall among those who fall; at the time of their punishment they will stumble," says Yahweh.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

slidden: Jeremiah 2:32, Jeremiah 3:11-14, Jeremiah 7:24-26, Hosea 4:16, Hosea 11:7

they hold: Jeremiah 9:6, Proverbs 4:13, Isaiah 30:10, Isaiah 44:20, 1 Thessalonians 5:21, 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12, Revelation 2:25

they refuse: Jeremiah 5:3, Isaiah 1:20, Zechariah 7:11, John 5:40, Hebrews 12:25

Reciprocal: Exodus 7:14 - he refuseth Psalms 53:3 - Every Proverbs 14:14 - backslider Isaiah 5:18 - draw Jeremiah 2:19 - and thy Jeremiah 8:19 - Why Jeremiah 13:10 - evil Jeremiah 14:10 - have they Jeremiah 15:6 - thou art Jeremiah 15:7 - since Ezekiel 5:6 - for they Ezekiel 14:6 - Repent Daniel 9:11 - all Hosea 7:10 - and they Amos 4:6 - yet

Cross-References

Genesis 7:11
In the six hundredth year of the life of Noah, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month—on that day all the springs of the great deep were split open, and the windows of heaven were opened.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding?.... 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?" b 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.

b מדוע שובבה העם הזה ירושלם משבה נצחת "quare avertit hunc populum Hierosolyma aversione pertinaci? [vel] quare avertit populum hunc", O Jerusalem, "aversio pertinax?" De Dieu.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

When men act as in Jeremiah 8:4, why is God’s own people alone an exception?

Slidden back ... backsliding - The same words as “turn” and “return” in Jeremiah 8:4. They should be rendered, “Why doth this people of Jerusalem turn away with a perpetual turning?”

Deceit - i. e., idolatry; because men worship in it that which is false, and it is false to the worshippers.

Refuse - From a feeling of dislike.