6 I have given attention, yea, I hearken, They do not speak right, No man hath repented of his wickedness, Saying, What have I done? Every one hath turned to his courses, As a horse is rushing into battle.
Jehovah from the heavens Hath looked on the sons of men, To see if there is a wise one -- seeking God.
the Lord is not slow in regard to the promise, as certain count slowness, but is long-suffering to us, not counselling any to be lost but all to pass on to reformation,
Perished hath the kind out of the land, And upright among men -- there are none, All of them for blood lie in wait, Each his brother they hunt `with' a net.
And I seek of them a man making a fence, And standing in the breach before Me, In behalf of the land -- not to destroy it, And I have not found.
Dost thou give to the horse might? Dost thou clothe his neck `with' a mane? Dost thou cause him to rush as a locust? The majesty of his snorting `is' terrible. They dig in a valley, and he rejoiceth in power, He goeth forth to meet the armour. He laugheth at fear, and is not affrighted, And he turneth not back from the face of the sword. Against him rattle doth quiver, The flame of a spear, and a halbert. With trembling and rage he swalloweth the ground, And remaineth not stedfast Because of the sound of a trumpet. Among the trumpets he saith, Aha, And from afar he doth smell battle, Roaring of princes and shouting.
Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Set your heart to your ways.
and the rest of men, who were not killed in these plagues, neither did reform from the works of their hands, that they may not bow before the demons, and idols, those of gold, and those of silver, and those of brass, and those of stone, and those of wood, that are neither able to see, nor to hear, nor to walk,
`And having come to himself, he said, How many hirelings of my father have a superabundance of bread, and I here with hunger am perishing! having risen, I will go on unto my father, and will say to him, Father, I did sin -- to the heaven, and before thee, and no more am I worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hirelings.
I say unto God, `Do not condemn me, Let me know why Thou dost strive `with' me.
And now, thus said Jehovah of Hosts, Set your heart to your ways.
Go to and fro in streets of Jerusalem, And see, I pray you, and know, And seek in her broad places, if ye find a man, If there be one doing judgment, seeking stedfastness -- Then am I propitious to her.
A wild ass accustomed to a wilderness, In the desire of her soul she hath swallowed up wind, Her meeting -- who doth turn her back? None seeking her do weary themselves, In her month they find her. Withhold thy foot from being unshod, And thy throat from thirst, And thou sayest, `It is incurable, No, for I have loved strangers, and after them I go.'
And therefore doth wait Jehovah to favour you, And therefore He is exalted to pity you, For a God of judgment `is' Jehovah, O the blessedness of all waiting for Him.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 8
Commentary on Jeremiah 8 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 8
The prophet proceeds, in this chapter, both to magnify and to justify the destruction that God was bringing upon this people, to show how grievous it would be and yet how righteous.
Jer 8:1-3
These verses might fitly have been joined to the close of the foregoing chapter, as giving a further description of the dreadful desolation which the army of the Chaldeans should make in the land. It shall strangely alter the property of death itself, and for the worse too.
Jer 8:4-12
The prophet here is instructed to set before this people the folly of their impenitence, which was it that brought this ruin upon them. They are here represented as the most stupid senseless people in the world, that would not be made wise by all the methods that Infinite Wisdom took to bring them to themselves and their right mind, and so to prevent the ruin that was coming upon them.
Jer 8:13-22
In these verses we have,