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
10 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
Do men fall and not get up again
on Jeremiah 8:4-7
The LORD asks whether men “fall and not get up again”, the ordinary law of falling and rising that Judah alone has suspended. The stork, the turtledove, the swift and the thrush keep their seasons, “but My people do not know the requirements of the LORD”.
This site's exposition
They cling to deceit
Barnes renders the question as a people turning away with a perpetual turning, the same root as the turn and return of verse 4. He takes deceit to mean idolatry, false in what it worships and false to those who worship. Jerome stresses that they refused.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
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. He …
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? They have hardened their faces and refused to return." The grace of the Christ then is at hand every day. For it "wills all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." It calls all without any exception, saying, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you."
They have all abandoned him. There is no one who speaks well and does penance for his sins. They follow their own wills like a horse ready for battle. They bend their tongue as a bow. They invent everything, and there is no truth in them.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
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.
Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding?....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
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.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
slidden . . . backsliding--rather, as the Hebrew is the same as in Jer 8:4, to which this verse refers, "turned away with a perpetual turning away." perpetual--in contrast to the "arise" ("rise again," Jer 8:4). refuse to return--in contrast to, "shall he . . . not return" (Jer 8:4;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
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
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Jeremiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
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; Fulgentius of Ruspe, LETTER 7:12; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; Jerome, Against the Pelagians 2.26; John Cassian, CONFERENCE 2:13.7; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.