Jeremiah 8 · The Lantern

Judah’s Sin and Punishment

At that time — the utterance of the LORD — they will bring out the bones of the kings of Judah and the bones of its princes and the bones of the priests and the bones of the prophets and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves,

and spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of the heavens, which they loved and which they served and after which they walked and which they sought and to which they bowed down. They will not be gathered and will not be buried; they will be dung on the face of the ground.

And death will be chosen over life by all the remnant remaining of this evil family, in all the remaining places where I have driven them — the utterance of the LORD of hosts.

And you will say to them: Thus says the LORD: Do they fall and not rise? Does one turn back and not return?

And pray ye without ceasing in behalf of other men; for there is hope of the repentance, that they may attain to God. For "cannot he that falls arise again, and he that goes astray return?" Permit them, then, to be instructed by you. Be ye therefore the ministers of God, and the mouth of Christ.

Now then is it not strange that, whilst others do not even now despair of thy salvation, but are continually praying that they may have their member restored to them, thou thyself, having once fallen, art unwilling to get up again, and remainest prostrate, all but crying aloud to the enemy: "Slay me, smite me, spare not?" "Does he who falls not rise up again?" speaks the divine…

It is worth our while observing, in what way his sin was forgiven, and how he put away his fault. The event may prove of no slight benefit to us. He did not then defer his repentance. Nor was he careless about it, for as rapid as was his decent into sin, so quick were his tears because of it. Nor did he merely weep, but he wept bitterly.

Why has this people, Jerusalem, turned away with a lasting turning? They have held fast to deception, they have refused to return.

(Verse 5) Therefore, why is this people in Jerusalem turned away with contentious turning away? They have grasped falsehood and did not want to return. As much as I have provoked them to repentance, they have turned away from me, not so much out of a desire to sin, but to overcome me.

Those then who perish, perish against his will. This he testifies against each one of them day by day: "Turn from your evil ways. Why will you die, O house of Israel?" And again: "How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you would not." And: "Why has this people in Jerusalem turned away with a stubborn revolting?

Just as there is no illness that is incurable for our physician, so the heavenly medicine cannot be powerless in any wound or for any length of time. Therefore, the physician testifies that he is always able to restore health to the one converted.

I listened and heard: they do not speak rightly. There is no man who relents of his evil, saying, What have I done? All of them turn to their own course, like a horse rushing into the battle.

Jeremiah also says, in like manner: "The turtle and the swallow have known her time, and the sparrows of the field have observed the times of their coming, but my people have not known the judgment of the Lord. How do you say, We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? The meting out is in vain. The scribes are deceived and confounded.

Wherefore it were meet exceedingly to admire the consideration of our Lawgiver, in that, when He might bring forward His illustration from among men, and when He might have spoken of Moses and Elias and John, and others like them, who took no thought; that He might touch them more to the quick, He made mention of the irrational beings.

(Verse 6.) I listened and heard: no one speaks what is good. There is no one who repents for his sin, saying: what have I done? All have turned to their own course, like a horse rushing into battle.

Even the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times, and the turtledove and the swift and the crane keep the time of their coming; but my people do not know the judgment of the LORD.

How can you say: We are wise, and the instruction of the LORD is with us? Surely, see, for falsehood it has worked — the lying pen of the scribes.

The wise are put to shame, they are shattered and caught. See, they have rejected the word of the LORD — and what wisdom is theirs?

Therefore I will give their wives to others, their fields to dispossessors; for from the least to the greatest, all of them are cutting unjust gain; from prophet to priest, all of them are doing falsehood.

And they have healed the breaking of the daughter of my people lightly, saying: Peace, peace — and there is no peace.

The arranged time comes to our people; there is peace in the world; and, at the same time, ruin is weighing us down from the enticement of the world, (the destruction) of the reckless people whom you have rent into schism. Either obey the law of the city, or depart from it. You behold the mote sticking in our eyes, and will not see the beam in your own.

Do not believe the false prophets who say, "Peace, peace, and there is no peace"; who are always repeating, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord." "Your prophets have seen for you false and foolish things; they have not laid bare your iniquity that they might call you to repentance—those who devour God's people like bread have not called on God." Jeremiah announced t…

Such, then, should Christ's apostles be preachers of the gospel and not ones who greet on the road. That is, not ones who look for something else, but those who proclaim the gospel out of genuine brotherly love. Let them come to the house and say, "Peace be to this house." They do not only say it with their lips, but they pour out what they are full of.

They were put to shame, for they did an abomination; yet ashamed they were not at all ashamed, and to be humiliated they did not know. Therefore they will fall among the fallen; at the time of their attending they will stumble, says the LORD.

I will surely gather them in — the utterance of the LORD. There are no grapes on the vine and no figs on the fig tree, and the leaf is withered; and what I gave them passes away from them.

The People Respond

For what are we sitting still? Gather, and let us go into the fortified cities and be silent there; for the LORD our God has silenced us and given us poisoned water to drink, for we have sinned against the LORD.

Hope for peace — and there is no good; for a time of healing — and see, panic!

From Dan is heard the snorting of his horses; at the sound of the neighing of his stallions the whole land quakes. And they come and devour the land and its fullness, the city and those dwelling in it.

For see, I am sending among you serpents, adders that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you — the utterance of the LORD.

Jeremiah Weeps for His People

My comfort against sorrow — my heart within me is faint.

See, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a far land: Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her king not in her? Why have they provoked me with their carved images, with foreign breaths?

The harvest has passed, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

For the breaking of the daughter of my people I am broken; I go black; horror has seized me.

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no healer there? Why then has the recovery of the daughter of my people not come up?

Let no one, then, run down the law, as if, on account of the penalty, it were not beautiful and good. Shouldn't he who drives away bodily disease appear as a benefactor? Shouldn't he who attempts to deliver the soul from iniquity even more appear as a friend since the soul is a more precious thing than the body?

"Shall not he that falls rise again, and he that is turned away, shall he not turn again?" Why, then, is the virgin "turned away with a stubborn revolting," even though she heard Christ, her spouse, saying through Jeremiah: "And when she had committed all these fornications, I said: Return to me, and she did not return?" "Is there no balm in Gilead?

(Ver. 22.) Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people? Not only in this place, but also in many other passages of the Scriptures, we find the balm of Gilead being used as a symbol of repentance and healing.

Jeremiah8

Judah’s Sin and Punishment

The People Respond

Jeremiah Weeps for His People