5 Why has this people aslidden back, Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding? bThey hold fast to deceit, cThey refuse to return.
6aI listened and heard, But they do not speak aright. bNo man repented of his wickedness, Saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turned to his own course, As the horse rushes into the battle.
7 “Even athe stork in the heavens Knows her appointed times; And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow Observe the time of their coming. But bMy people do not know the judgment of the Lord.
8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise, aAnd the law of the Lordis with us’? Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood.
9aThe wise men are ashamed, They are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord; So bwhat wisdom do they have?
10 Therefore aI will give their wives to others, And their fields to those who will inherit them; Because from the least even to the greatest Everyone is given to bcovetousness; From the prophet even to the priest Everyone deals falsely.
11 For they have ahealed the hurt of the daughter of My people1 slightly, Saying, b‘Peace, peace!’ When thereis no peace.
12 Were they aashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed, Nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; In the time of their punishment They shall be cast down,” says the Lord.
13 “I will surely1 consume them,” says the Lord. “No grapes shallbeaon the vine, Nor figs on the bfig tree, And the leaf shall fade; And thethings I have given them shall cpass away from them.” ’ ”
14 “Why do we sit still? aAssemble yourselves, And let us enter the fortified cities, And let us be silent there. For the Lord our God has put us to silence And given us bwater of gall to drink, Because we have sinned against the Lord.
Jeremiah appeals to the obedience which migratory birds render to the law of their natures. The "stork" arrives in Palestine about March 21, and after a six weeks' halt departs for the north of Europe. It takes its flight by day, at a vast height in the air ("in the heaven" ). The appearance of the "turtle-dove" is one of the pleasant signs of the approach of spring.
The crane and the swallow - Rather, "the swift and the crane."
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Jeremiah 8:7:
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