Jeremiah 8:5
in Jeremiah 8Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
KJV
Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
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This verse in Jeremiah 8
Commentary
4 notes on this verse(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. For they have strongly grasped falsehood, whether idols or every corrupt thing that is contrary to truth and justice, and they did not want to return. It is not said: they were not able; but they have eagerly followed unjust things.
This site's exposition
Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?
on Jeremiah 8:4-7
Shall they fall, and not arise, shall he turn away, and not return, describes the ordinary law of gravity and repentance that Judah alone seems to have suspended, a perpetual backsliding that holds fast deceit and refuses to return. The stork, turtle, crane and swallow keep their appointed migrations by instinct while my people know not the judgment of the Lord, an argument from creation's obedience against the one creature made to know better, which the older writers read as the sharpest of the book's nature comparisons. No man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done, pictures a nation that has stopped even asking the question.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Sin is a great cheat, and they hold it fast; they love it dearly, and resolve to stick to it, and baffle all the methods God takes to separate between them and their sins. The excuses they make for their sins are deceits, and so are all their hopes of impunity; yet they hold fast these, and will not be undeceived, and therefore they refuse to return.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
When men act as in Jer 8:4, why is God’s own people alone an exception? Slidden back ... backsliding - The same words as “turn” and “return” in Jer 8:4. They should be rendered, “Why doth this people of Jerusalem turn away with a perpetual turning?” Deceit - i. e., idolatry; because men worship in it that which is false, and it is false to the worshippers. Refuse - From a feeling of dislike.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מַדּ֨וּעַ | madua' | why? | H4069 → | 72 times |
| שׁוֹבְבָ֜ה | shovah | has it turned away | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| הָעָ֥ם | haam | the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| הַזֶּ֛ה | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| יְרוּשָׁלִַ֖ם | yerushalim | Jerusalem | H3389 → | 643 times |
| מְשֻׁבָ֣ה | meshuvah | apostasy | H4878 → | 12 times |
| נִצַּ֑חַת | nitzachat | enduring | H5329 → | |
| הֶחֱזִ֙יקוּ֙ | hecheziku | they have kept hold | H2388 → | 291 times |
| בַּתַּרְמִ֔ית | batarmit | on <the> deceitfulness | H8649 → | 6 times |
| מֵאֲנ֖וּ | meanu | they have refused | H3985 → | 41 times |
| לָשֽׁוּב׃ | lashuv | to return | H7725 → | 1056 times |
מַדּ֨וּעַwhy?
madua'H4069 →72 times
שׁוֹבְבָ֜הhas it turned away
shovahH7725 →1056 times
הָעָ֥םthe people
haamH5971 →1873 times
הַזֶּ֛ה<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
יְרוּשָׁלִַ֖םJerusalem
yerushalimH3389 →643 times
מְשֻׁבָ֣הapostasy
meshuvahH4878 →12 times
נִצַּ֑חַתenduring
nitzachatH5329 →
הֶחֱזִ֙יקוּ֙they have kept hold
hechezikuH2388 →291 times
בַּתַּרְמִ֔יתon <the> deceitfulness
batarmitH8649 →6 times
מֵאֲנ֖וּthey have refused
meanuH3985 →41 times
לָשֽׁוּב׃to return
lashuvH7725 →1056 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
Zechariah 7:11But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.
it leads to
- Nehemiah 9:29
You admonished them to turn back to Your law, but they were arrogant and disobeyed Your commandments. They sinned against Your ordinances, by which a man will live if he practices them. They stubbornly…
- Nehemiah 9:29
Through
Hebrews 12:25See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if the people did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if…
it leads to
- Hebrews 8:5
The place where they serve is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you…
- Hebrews 2:1–3
We must pay closer attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.
- Deuteronomy 30:17
But if your heart turns away and you do not listen, but are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them,
- Hebrews 11:7
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes…
- Proverbs 13:18
Poverty and shame come to him who ignores discipline, but whoever heeds correction is honored.
- Hebrews 8:5
Through
Jeremiah 9:6You dwell in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares the LORD.
it leads to
- Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget…
- Jeremiah 13:10
These evil people, who refuse to listen to My words, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts, and who go after other gods to serve and worship them, they will be like this…
- Hosea 4:6
About Jeremiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.