THEY LIVE IN DECEPTION

Jeremiah 8:4-9:6 / Keywords 8:9

The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, what kind of wisdom do they have?

 

Sin and Punishment

8:4 “Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says:

“‘When people fall down, do they not get up?

    When someone turns away, do they not return?

5 Why then have these people turned away?

    Why does Jerusalem always turn away?

They cling to deceit;

    they refuse to return.

6 I have listened attentively,

    but they do not say what is right.

None of them repent of their wickedness,

    saying, “What have I done?”

Each pursues their own course

    like a horse charging into battle.

7 Even the stork in the sky

    knows her appointed seasons,

and the dove, the swift and the thrush

    observe the time of their migration.

But my people do not know

    the requirements of the Lord.

8 “‘How can you say, “We are wise,

    for we have the law of the Lord,”

when actually the lying pen of the scribes

    has handled it falsely?

9 The wise will be put to shame;

    they will be dismayed and trapped.

Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,

    what kind of wisdom do they have?

10 Therefore I will give their wives to other men

    and their fields to new owners.

From the least to the greatest,

    all are greedy for gain;

prophets and priests alike,

    all practice deceit.

11 They dress the wound of my people

    as though it were not serious.

“Peace, peace,” they say,

    when there is no peace.

12 Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?

    No, they have no shame at all;

    they do not even know how to blush.

So they will fall among the fallen;

    they will be brought down when they are punished,

says the Lord.

13 “‘I will take away their harvest,

declares the Lord.

    There will be no grapes on the vine.

There will be no figs on the tree,

    and their leaves will wither.

What I have given them

    will be taken from them.[a]’”

14 Why are we sitting here?

    Gather together!

Let us flee to the fortified cities

    and perish there!

For the Lord our God has doomed us to perish

    and given us poisoned water to drink,

    because we have sinned against him.

15 We hoped for peace

    but no good has come,

for a time of healing

    but there is only terror.

16 The snorting of the enemy’s horses

    is heard from Dan;

at the neighing of their stallions

    the whole land trembles.

They have come to devour

    the land and everything in it,

    the city and all who live there.

17 “See, I will send venomous snakes among you,

    vipers that cannot be charmed,

    and they will bite you,”

declares the Lord.

18 You who are my Comforter[b] in sorrow,

    my heart is faint within me.

19 Listen to the cry of my people

    from a land far away:

“Is the Lord not in Zion?

    Is her King no longer there?”

“Why have they aroused my anger with their images,

    with their worthless foreign idols?”

20 “The harvest is past,

    the summer has ended,

    and we are not saved.”

21 Since my people are crushed, I am crushed;

    I mourn, and horror grips me.

22 Is there no balm in Gilead?

    Is there no physician there?

Why then is there no healing

    for the wound of my people?

9 [c]:1 Oh, that my head were a spring of water

    and my eyes a fountain of tears!

I would weep day and night

    for the slain of my people.

2 Oh, that I had in the desert

    a lodging place for travelers,

so that I might leave my people

    and go away from them;

for they are all adulterers,

    a crowd of unfaithful people.

3 “They make ready their tongue

    like a bow, to shoot lies;

it is not by truth

    that they triumph[d] in the land.

They go from one sin to another;

    they do not acknowledge me,”

declares the Lord.

4 “Beware of your friends;

    do not trust anyone in your clan.

For every one of them is a deceiver,[e]

    and every friend a slanderer.

5 Friend deceives friend,

    and no one speaks the truth.

They have taught their tongues to lie;

    they weary themselves with sinning.

6 You[f] live in the midst of deception;

    in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,”

declares the Lord.

Footnotes

a. Jeremiah 8:13 The meaning of the Hebrew for this sentence is uncertain.

b. Jeremiah 8:18 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.

c. Jeremiah 9:1 In Hebrew texts 9:1 is numbered 8:23, and 9:2-26 is numbered 9:1-25.

d. Jeremiah 9:3 Or lies; / they are not valiant for truth

e. Jeremiah 9:4 Or a deceiving Jacob

f. Jeremiah 9:6 That is, Jeremiah (the Hebrew is singular)

1. God asks rhetorical questions to his people so they would realize the foolishness of their unrepentant hearts. They were like ones who made a wrong turn and refused to return to the right path. They clung to deceit and acted as if nothing was wrong (4-6). They wanted to think they were wise with the law of the Lord, yet they refused to live by it and ended up being more foolish than the beasts who knew the seasons and their place (7,8). As a result, they would understand that their seasons of blessings are gone only when it is too late (20).

 

2. Jeremiah was grieved to see their deceitfulness and insincerity, knowing the judgment coming their way (21,22). In chapter 9, he further expresses his distress and sorrow. He was so disappointed in them and wanted to drive them away (2), yet he shed a fountain of tears for the suffering they would go through (1). Jeremiah’s shepherd's heart represents that of our Father God. As a loving Father, his heart is grieved to see his children stubbornly insist on living the way of sin and deception that would lead them to destruction. Have you stepped away from the right path? Would you get up and turn to the right path accepting the Father’s word today?

 

Prayer Father, thank you for giving me the desire to live by your word. Please help me not to cling to my idea and humbly accept your correction.

One Word Come out of deception