Jeremiah 8:7

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

stork: Proverbs 6:6-8, Isaiah 1:3

turtle: Song of Solomon 2:12

people: Jeremiah 5:4, Isaiah 1:3, Isaiah 5:12

know: Jeremiah 5:4, Jeremiah 5:5

Reciprocal: Genesis 7:9 - General Numbers 22:23 - the ass turned Job 12:7 - But ask Job 39:13 - wings and feathers unto the Job 39:26 - stretch Psalms 32:9 - no Psalms 104:17 - as for Proverbs 1:17 - in vain Proverbs 13:23 - destroyed Isaiah 5:13 - because Isaiah 27:11 - for it is Isaiah 29:14 - for the wisdom Jeremiah 4:22 - For my Jeremiah 5:21 - O foolish Hosea 4:6 - My people Matthew 21:27 - We cannot tell Mark 11:33 - We Mark 12:24 - Do Luke 20:7 - that

Cross-References

Leviticus 11:15
every crow according to its kind,

1 Kings 17:4
It shall be that you shall drink from the wadi, and I have commanded the crows to sustain you there."

1 Kings 17:6
The crows were bringing bread and meat in the morning for him and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the wadi.

Job 38:41
Who prepares for the crow its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and they wander around for lack of food?

Psalms 147:9
He gives to the animal its food, and to the young ravens that cry.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times,.... Of going and returning; for this is a bird of passage, as Pliny d and other naturalists observe; which goes away as winter approaches, and returns when that is over. The temperature of the air, as to heat and cold, and the natural propensity of such birds of passage to breed their young, are thought to be the incentives to change their habitation; and wonderful thing it is in nature, that they should know the proper time of their passage, what places to go to, and how to steer their course thither; and, as the above naturalist observes, they go and come in the night:

and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their coming: for these also are birds of passage; the turtle is absent in the winter, and its coming is a sign of spring, Song of Solomon 2:11, the crane, according to Aelianus e, goes away with the stork, and returns when winter is over; and the same is observable of the swallow; hence the common saying, one swallow does not make spring; so Horace f uses "hirundine prima" for the beginning of spring. Where these birds retire to is not known; some think the swallows fly into Egypt and Ethiopia; but Olaus Magnus g says they lurk in holes, and even under water, where they hang together, and are sometimes drawn out in clusters, and being brought to the fire, and thawed, will revive and fly about.

But my people know not the judgment of the Lord; meaning not the unsearchable judgments of God, or those providential dispensations of God which are a great deep, and are not clearly discerned and known by the best of men; but either his own judgments, which are inflicted upon wicked men as punishments for sin, which yet are not taken notice of, and duly attended to, as they should be; or rather the law of God, and his revealed word, which is the rule of judgment and justice, and a declaration of righteousness, showing what is just and good, and ought to be done, which they were willingly ignorant of; or else the final and future judgment of God after death, to which all men must come, and into which every thought, word, and work, will be brought, and which day wicked men put far from them; see Isaiah 1:3.

d Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 23. e De Animal. l. 3. c. 23. f Ep. l. 1. Ep. 7. g De Ritu Gent. Septent. l. 19. c. 11.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Jeremiah appeals to the obedience which migratory birds render to the law of their natures. The “stork” arrives in Palestine about March 21, and after a six weeks’ halt departs for the north of Europe. It takes its flight by day, at a vast height in the air (“in the heaven”). The appearance of the “turtle-dove” is one of the pleasant signs of the approach of spring.

The crane and the swallow - Rather, “the swift and the crane.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 8:7. The stork in the heaven — The birds of passage know the times of their going and return, and punctually observe them; they obey the dictates of nature, but my people do not obey my law.