18 [a]My (A)sorrow is beyond healing,
My (B)heart is faint within me!
19 Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a (C)distant land:
“Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not within her?”
“Why have they (D)provoked Me with their carved images, with foreign [b](E)idols?”
20 “Harvest is past, summer is over,
And we are not saved.”
21 I am broken over the (F)brokenness of the daughter of my people.
I (G)mourn, dismay has taken hold of me.
22 Is there no (H)balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
(I)Why then has not the [c]health of the daughter of my people [d]been restored?

Grief over Zion

[e](J)Oh, that my head were waters
And my eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night
For those slain of the (K)daughter of my people!
[f](L)Oh that I had in the desert
A travelers’ lodging place;
So that I might leave my people
And go away from them!
For all of them are (M)adulterers,
An assembly of (N)treacherous people.

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 8:18 As in LXX and ancient versions
  2. Jeremiah 8:19 Lit futilities
  3. Jeremiah 8:22 Or healing
  4. Jeremiah 8:22 Lit gone up
  5. Jeremiah 9:1 Ch 8:23 in Heb
  6. Jeremiah 9:2 Ch 9:1 in Heb

Jeremiah Mourns for His People

18 Incurable sorrow has overwhelmed me,
    my heart is sick within me.
19 Listen! My people[a] cry
    from a distant land:
“Is the Lord no longer in Zion?
    Is her king no longer there?”

The Lord Speaks

“Why did they provoke me to anger with their images,
    with their worthless foreign gods?”

The People Speak

20 The harvest is past,
    the summer has ended,
        and we haven’t been delivered.

The Prophet Mourns

21 Because my people[b] are crushed, I’m crushed.
    I mourn, and dismay overwhelms me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
    Is there no physician there?
        So why is there no healing for my people?[c]

The Lord’s Sorrow for His People

[d]“Oh, that my head were a spring of water,[e]
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
for then I would cry day and night for those
    of my people[f] who have been killed.
Oh, that I had a lodging place for travelers in the desert,
    so that I could leave my people
        and go away from them.
For all of them are adulterers,
    a band of traitors.

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 8:19 Lit. the daughter of my people
  2. Jeremiah 8:21 Lit. the daughter of my people
  3. Jeremiah 8:22 Lit. daughter of my people
  4. Jeremiah 9:1 Because this verse is 8:23 in MT, there is a one verse discrepancy between MT and the ISV throughout this chapter.
  5. Jeremiah 9:1 Lit. were waters
  6. Jeremiah 9:1 Lit. for the daughter of my people