Jeremiah 8:22
in Jeremiah 8Is there no balm in Gilead? Is no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
KJV
Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
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This verse in Jeremiah 8
Commentary
6 notes on this verse(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. And now we wonder, why have the wounds of Jerusalem not been healed, and why have they not yet covered their skin with scars? This is because there are no prophets or priests to administer the healing balm.
This site's exposition
When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me
on Jeremiah 8:18-22
When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me opens the chapter's turn from third-person indictment to the prophet's own grief, Jeremiah heard weeping inside his own oracle rather than merely delivering it. The exiles' own bewildered question, is not the Lord in Zion, is not her king in her, is answered only by the silence of verse 20, the harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved, opportunity named as having simply run out. Is there no balm in Gilead, is there no physician there, closes the unit as the book's most quoted line of grief, Gilead's balm a real regional export named for its medicinal trade, asked here as a question with no answer supplied in the text itself.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Is there no balm in Gilead?.... Which was famous for it; see Gen 37:25, or rather turpentine or rosin, a gum which drops from pine trees and the like; since balm or balsam grew on this side Jordan, near Jericho and Engedi, and not beyond Jordan, in the land of Gilead; and rosin is good for healing.
on Jeremiah 8:18-22
Death shall not now be, as it always used to be--the repose of the dead. When Job makes his court to the grave it is in hope of this, that there he shall rest with kings and counsellors of the earth; but now the ashes of the dead, even of kings and princes, shall be disturbed, and their bones scattered at the grave's mouth, Ps. cxli.
The physician and physic were both ready, but the patient was wilful and irregular, would not be tied to rules, but must be humoured. Note, If sinners die of their wounds, their blood is upon their own heads. The blood of Christ is balm in Gilead, his Spirit is the physician there, both sufficient, all-sufficient, so that they might have been healed, but would not.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The opobalsamum of PLINY; or else [BOCHART] the resin drawn from the terebinth. It abounded in Gilead, east of Jordan, where, in consequence, many "physicians" established themselves (Jer 46:11; 43:11). health . . . recovered--The Hebrew is literally, "lengthening out . . . gone up"; hence, the long bandage applied to bind up a wound.
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הַצֳרִי֙ | hatzori | ¿ balm | H6875 → | 6 times |
| אֵ֣ין | ʾein | [is] there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| בְּגִלְעָ֔ד | begilad | in Gilead | H1568 → | 134 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | or? | H518 → | 1069 times |
| רֹפֵ֖א | rofe' | a physician | H7495 → | 67 times |
| אֵ֣ין | ʾein | [is] there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| שָׁ֑ם | sham | there | H8033 → | 834 times |
| כִּ֗י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| מַדּ֙וּעַ֙ | madua' | why? | H4069 → | 72 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| עָֽלְתָ֔ה | ʾaltah | has it come up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| אֲרֻכַ֖ת | ʾarukhat | [the] healing of | H724 → | 6 times |
| בַּת־ | bat- | [the] daughter of | H1323 → | 588 times |
| עַמִּֽי׃ | ʾami | people my | H5971 → | 1873 times |
הַצֳרִי֙¿ balm
hatzoriH6875 →6 times
אֵ֣ין[is] there not
ʾeinH369 →789 times
בְּגִלְעָ֔דin Gilead
begiladH1568 →134 times
אִם־or?
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
רֹפֵ֖אa physician
rofe'H7495 →67 times
אֵ֣ין[is] there not
ʾeinH369 →789 times
שָׁ֑םthere
shamH8033 →834 times
כִּ֗יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
מַדּ֙וּעַ֙why?
madua'H4069 →72 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
עָֽלְתָ֔הhas it come up
ʾaltahH5927 →890 times
אֲרֻכַ֖ת[the] healing of
ʾarukhatH724 →6 times
בַּת־[the] daughter of
bat-H1323 →588 times
עַמִּֽי׃people my
ʾamiH5971 →1873 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Luke 8:43including a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. She had spent all her money on physicians, but no one was able to heal her.
it leads to
- Mark 5:25–26
And a woman was there who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years.
- Matthew 9:20–22
Suddenly a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak.
- Leviticus 15:25–33
When a woman has a discharge of her blood for many days at a time other than her menstrual period, or if it continues beyond her period, she will be unclean all the days…
- Luke 13:16
Then should not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be released from her bondage on the Sabbath day?”
- Mark 5:25–26
Through
Jeremiah 51:8Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered. Wail for her; get her balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 46:11
Go up to Gilead for balm, O Virgin Daughter of Egypt! In vain you try many remedies, but for you there is no healing.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 21:9
Look, here come the riders, horsemen in pairs.” And one answered, saying: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon! All the images of her gods lie shattered on the ground!”
- Jeremiah 46:11
Through
Genesis 37:25And as they sat down to eat a meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh on their way down to…
it leads to
- Genesis 43:11
Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your packs and carry them down as a gift…
- Genesis 37:28
So when the Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
- Genesis 43:11
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Calvin, Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.