Jeremiah 8

This chapter is one of the prophecies of judgment against Judah in the early part of the book of Jeremiah. Verses 1–3 continue the pronouncement of judgment on the Valley of Hinnom at the end of Jeremiah 7, and a new section begins at verse 4.

Outline

• Verses 1–3 The bones of the kings of Judah, its princes, priests, and prophets, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem are brought out of their graves and spread before the sun, the moon, and the stars they had served. Those who survive will choose death rather than life.
• Verses 4–7 It is natural for those who fall to rise again and for those who turn away to return, yet the people refuse to return. Even the stork, the turtledove, the crane, and the swallow know their appointed times, but the people do not know the judgment of the LORD.
• Verses 8–12 The people boast of their wisdom and of the law, but the lying pen of the scribes has made the law false. Prophets and priests proclaim a false peace and are not even ashamed. Verses 10b–12 are nearly identical to Jeremiah 6:13–15.
• Verses 13–17 There will be no grapes on the vine and no figs on the fig tree. The people urge one another to flee into the fortified cities, and the snorting of the enemy's horses is heard from Dan in the north.
• Verses 18–22 The speaker grieves over the people's wound and asks whether there is no balm in Gilead and no physician there.

Key Verses

• Jeremiah 8:11 "Peace, peace; when there is no peace" — an indictment of the false leaders who treated the people's wound lightly.
• Jeremiah 8:20 "The harvest is past, the summer is ended" — expresses the despair of a people who have let the opportunity for salvation pass them by.
• Jeremiah 8:22 "Is there no balm in Gilead" — a lament over a people who remain unhealed even though a remedy is at hand.

People and Places

• Jeremiah: the prophet who delivers this message.
• Priests, prophets, and scribes: indicted as leaders who practiced falsehood.
• Jerusalem and Zion: the center of Judah under judgment.
• Dan: a place marking the northern extremity of the land of Israel.
• Gilead: a region east of the Jordan River, known as a source of balm.

Points for Reflection

• Interpreters differ on whether the lament in verses 18–22 is spoken by Jeremiah or by God. Some commentators see the two voices as overlapping.
• The bird names in verse 7 are rendered differently across translations.
• The worship of the sun, moon, and stars in verse 2 is often read alongside the account of Josiah's reforms in 2 Kings 23.
• Verse 13 is sometimes read in connection with the cursing of the fig tree, and verse 11 with the warning against false peace in 1 Thessalonians 5:1–11.

In the Korean Church

Verse 11 is frequently cited in sermons warning against false peace, and verse 22 in sermons on spiritual healing.