Jeremiah 8:4-12

The Jews Persist in Wickedness

v. 4. Moreover, thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord, Shall they fall and not arise? Shall he turn away and not return? or, "Shall a man fall and not get up again? Shall one wander off and not return to the right path?" It is a natural instinct and inclination of men to get up after a fall, to search for the right path if one has lost his way.

v. 5. Why, then, is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? Why do they persist so obstinately in their perverse ways? They hold fast deceit, clinging to their hypocritical behavior, they refuse to return, they stubbornly cling to the error of their ways.

v. 6. I hearkened and heard, listening carefully for some evidence of repentance, but they spake not aright, they were far from confessing any wrong on their part; no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? aghast at the evidences of his guilt. Every one turned to his course, to his own wicked ways, as the horse rusheth into the battle, with a mad impetuousness which cannot be restrained.

v. 7. Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times, the regular migration seasons; and the turtle, that is, the turtle-dove, and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming, returning with unfailing certainty from their winter quarters to their summer homes; but My people, those whom the Lord had originally chosen to be His children, know not the judgment of the Lord, thus showing less understanding than the irrational birds. Cf Isaiah 1:3.

v. 8. How do ye say, We are wise, and the Law of the Lord is with us? They prided themselves upon their possessing the Law, Romans 2:17; but this fact alone served rather to emphasize their dead orthodoxy, since they ignored the very teachings which they so emphatically proclaimed. Lo, certainly in vain made He it; the pen of the scribes is in vain, the false teachers, who spread their lies with word of mouth and pen, were spreading falsehood, even while they professed to be zealous for the truth. Their false pen converted the Law of God into a lie, just as the false teachers of all times have done.

v. 9. The wise men are ashamed, put to shame and reproach, they are dismayed, confounded, and taken. Lo, they have rejected the Word of the Lord, and what wisdom is in them? Having despised and set aside the only norm of doctrine and life, the only source of true wisdom, they could not lay claim to any kind of knowledge and understanding any more, they were fools in the sight of God.

v. 10. Therefore, on account of the wickedness thus shown by the false teachers, 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.

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

v. 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. Jeremiah 6:12-Ezra :. The punishment of the Lord will ever strike the false teachers, if not here in time, then at the Last Judgment.