Jeremiah 8:11
in Jeremiah 8They dress the wound of the daughter of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
KJV
For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
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This verse in Jeremiah 8
Commentary
11 notes on this verseBut what can I do, I who can only wish for peace and have no power to bring it about? Even though the wish may win its reward with God, its futility must still sadden one who cherishes it. When the apostle said, "as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all," he knew quite well that the realization of peace depends on the consent of two parties. The prophet truly cries, "They say Peace, peace: and yet there is no peace." To overthrow peace by actions while professing it in words is not hard.
This site's exposition
I will give their wives to other men
on Jeremiah 8:10-12
The penalty answers in kind, wives and fields given to others because “from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain”. Verse 11 repeats the charge of 6:14, “saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all”, a wound dressed “with very little care”.
This site's exposition
Peace, peace
The healers here are the prophets and priests of verse 10. Jerome applies the verse in a letter to anyone who professes peace in words and overthrows it in deeds. The false word came from those trusted to tell the truth.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
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 the captivity and was [punished] by the people. Hananiah, the son of Azzur, broke the bars of wood for the present but was preparing bars of iron for the future. False prophets always promise pleasant things, and please for a fee. Truth is bitter, however, and those who preach it are filled with bitterness. For with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth the Lord's Passover is kept, and it is eaten with bitter herbs.
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 …
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 preach peace, and they have peace. They are not like those of whom it is said, "Peace, peace, and there is no peace." What's the meaning of "Peace, peace, and there is no peace"? They preach it and do not have it. They praise and do not love it. They say, and they do not do. As for you, though, be sure you accept peace, whether Christ is being proclaimed casually or with sincerity.
(Verses 10, 11.) Therefore I will give their women (or wives) to foreigners: their fields to their heirs. Because from the least to the greatest, all are eager for greed; from prophet to priest, all practice falsehood (or iniquity). And they healed the brokenness of my people lightly, saying: Peace, peace, when there is no peace. They received the wages of their works: those who rejected the word of the Lord were rejected by him. Their wives, he says, and possessions I will hand over to the enemy.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
(2.) They made no conscience of speaking truth, no, not when they spoke as priests and prophets: Every one deals falsely, looks one way and rows another. There is no such thing as sincerity among them. (3.) They flattered people in their sins, and so flattered them into destruction.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people,.... See Gill on Jer 6:14, Jer 6:15.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
THE people among whom Jeremiah dwelt had received a grievous hurt and they felt it, for they were invaded by cruel enemies. Their goods were plundered, their children were slain and their cities burned. Jeremiah, with true love to his nation, warned them that the cause of all their trouble was that they had forsaken their God. They had turned aside from the living God and had made gods of the idols of the nations round about them, and so had provoked Jehovah to jealousy.
THE people among whom Jeremiah dwelt had received a grievous hurt and they felt it, for they were invaded by cruel enemies. Their goods were plundered, their children were slain and their cities burned. Jeremiah, with true love to his nation, warned them that the cause of all their trouble was that they had forsaken their God. They had turned aside from the living God and had made gods of the idols of the nations round about them, and so had provoked Jehovah to jealousy. Therefore He chastened them sorely and plagued them again and again, even as He had threatened them from of old. He took up the quarrel of His Covenant and He made them smart, indeed. Jeremiah tried to show them that the only way to be healed of their hurt was to be healed of their sin—that if they would give up their idolatry and all the infamous wickedness that grew out of it—and turn to the true God and obey His Commandments, then brighter days would come. Their conscience must have told them that all this was true but, alas, Jeremiah preached to them in vain! As the old classic prophetess Cassandra was doomed forever to speak the truth and never to be believed, so was Jeremiah—the people heard him, but they regarded him not. Meanwhile, certain pretenders to prophecy opposed Jeremiah and sought to win the confidence of the nation. They came with, "Thus says the Lord," upon their lips, blasphemously pretending to be speaking in the name of Jehovah when Jehovah had not sent them. Nor did they seek His Glory. These suggested to the people easier remedies than repentance—they should make an alliance with Egypt and in that way beat off the Assyrians. They should send a certain amount of tribute to the great king and thus buy off his armies. They buoyed up the people's hopes with vain confidences and took them away from repenting and returning to God.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
They shall be put to shame Shame and embarrassment shall come upon them.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְרַפּ֞וּ | vayrapu | and they have healed | H7495 → | 67 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| שֶׁ֤בֶר | shever | [the] fracture of | H7667 → | 45 times |
| בַּת־ | bat- | [the] daughter of | H1323 → | 588 times |
| עַמִּי֙ | ʾami | people my | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| נְקַלָּ֔ה | nekalah | a trifling [thing] | H7043 → | 82 times |
| לֵאמֹ֖ר | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
| שָׁל֣וֹם׀ | shalom | peace | H7965 → | 236 times |
| שָׁל֑וֹם | shalom | peace | H7965 → | 236 times |
| וְאֵ֖ין | veein | and there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| שָׁלֽוֹם׃ | shalom | [is] peace | H7965 → | 236 times |
וַיְרַפּ֞וּand they have healed
vayrapuH7495 →67 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
שֶׁ֤בֶר[the] fracture of
sheverH7667 →45 times
בַּת־[the] daughter of
bat-H1323 →588 times
עַמִּי֙people my
ʾamiH5971 →1873 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
נְקַלָּ֔הa trifling [thing]
nekalahH7043 →82 times
לֵאמֹ֖ר<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
שָׁל֣וֹם׀peace
shalomH7965 →236 times
שָׁל֑וֹםpeace
shalomH7965 →236 times
וְאֵ֖יןand there not
veeinH369 →789 times
שָׁלֽוֹם׃[is] peace
shalomH7965 →236 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
Jeremiah 6:14They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 13:10
Because they have led My people astray, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and whitewashing any flimsy wall that is built,
- Jeremiah 23:17
They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD says that you will have peace,’ and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’
- Jeremiah 4:10
Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD, how completely You have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, ‘You will have peace,’ while a sword is at our throats.”
- Lamentations 2:14
The visions of your prophets were empty and deceptive; they did not expose your guilt to ward off your captivity. The burdens they envisioned for you were empty and misleading.
- Jeremiah 14:13
“Ah, Lord GOD!” I replied, “Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this place.’”
- Ezekiel 13:10
Through
1 Kings 22:13Then the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah instructed him, “Behold now, with one accord the words of the prophets are favorable to the king. So please let your words be like theirs,…
it leads to
- Amos 7:13–17
But never prophesy at Bethel again, because it is the sanctuary of the king and the temple of the kingdom.”
- Micah 2:6–7
“Do not preach,” they preach. “Do not preach these things; disgrace will not overtake us.”
- Micah 2:11
If a man of wind were to come and say falsely, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be just the preacher for this people!
- Amos 7:13–17
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Jeremiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 101:11; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1658: “Healed or Deluded? Which?” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Commodian, On Christian Discipline, LXVI; Jerome, LETTER 82.2; Jerome, Against Jovinianus 2.37; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.