Jeremiah 8:19-22

8:19 I hear my dear people ¹  crying out ² 

throughout the length and breadth of the land. ³ 

They are crying, ‘Is the Lord no longer in Zion?

Is her divine King ⁴  no longer there?’”

The Lord answers, ⁵ 

“Why then do they provoke me to anger with their images,

with their worthless foreign idols?” ⁶ 

8:20 “They cry, ⁷  ‘Harvest time has come and gone, and the summer is over, ⁸ 

and still we have not been delivered.’

8:21 My heart is crushed because my dear people ⁹  are being crushed. ¹⁰ 

I go about crying and grieving. I am overwhelmed with dismay. ¹¹ 

8:22 There is still medicinal ointment ¹²  available in Gilead!

There is still a physician there! ¹³ 

Why then have my dear people ¹⁴ 

not been restored to health? ¹⁵ 

[8:19]  ¹ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

[8:19]  ² tn Heb “Behold the voice of the crying of the daughter of my people.”

[8:19]  ³ tn Heb “Land of distances, i.e., of wide extent.” For parallel usage cf. Isa 33:17.

[8:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “her King” but this might be misunderstood by some to refer to the Davidic ruler even with the capitalization.

[8:19]  ⁵ tn The words, “The Lord would answer” are not in the text but are implicit from the words that follow. They are supplied in the translation for clarity. Another option would be to add “And I can just hear the Lord reply.”

[8:19]  ⁶ sn The people’s cry and the Lord’s interruption reflect the same argument that was set forth in the preceding chapter. They have misguided confidence that the Lord is with them regardless of their actions and he responds that their actions have provoked him to the point of judging them. See especially 7:4 and 7:30.

[8:20]  ⁷ tn The words “They say” are not in the text; they are supplied in the translation to make clear that the lament of the people begun in v. 19b is continued here after the interruption of the Lord’s words in v. 19c.

[8:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “Harvest time has passed, the summer is over.”

[8:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

[8:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Because of the crushing of the daughter of my people I am crushed.”

[8:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I go about in black [i.e., mourning clothes]. Dismay has seized me.”

[8:22]  ¹² tn Heb “balm.” The more familiar “ointment” has been used in the translation, supplemented with the adjective “medicinal.”

[8:22]  ¹³ tn Heb “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?” In this context the questions are rhetorical and expect a positive answer, which is made explicit in the translation.

[8:22]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

[8:22]  ¹⁵ tn Or more clearly, “restored to spiritual health”; Heb “Why then has healing not come to my dear people?”