God’s Word Translation
Jeremiah 8:4
4“Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: When someone falls, he gets back up. When someone turns away from me, he returns.
Jeremiah 8:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?
- New International Version (NIV)“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?
- English Standard Version (ESV)"You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord: When men fall, do they not rise again? If one turns away, does he not return?
- New King James Version (NKJV)“Moreover you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Will they fall and not rise? Will one turn away and not return?
Context of Jeremiah 8:4
2They will be spread out and exposed to the sun, the moon, and all the stars in the sky. These are the things that they had loved, served, gone after, sought, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered or buried, but they will become manure on the ground. 3“Then the few who remain from these wicked people will want to die rather than live where I will scatter them,” declares the Lord of Armies. “Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: When someone falls, he gets back up. When someone turns away from me, he returns. 5The people of Jerusalem turned away from me without ever returning. They still cling to deceit. They refuse to return. 6I have paid attention and listened, but they weren’t honest. They don’t turn away from their wickedness and ask, “What have we done?” They go their own ways like horses charging into battle.
Read all of Jeremiah 8Jeremiah 8:4 word by word
וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֲלֵיהֶ֗ם כֹּ֚ה אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֔ה הֲיִפְּל֖וּ וְלֹ֣א יָק֑וּמוּ אִם־יָשׁ֖וּב וְלֹ֥א יָשֽׁוּב׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Jeremiah 8:4
- Proverbs 24:16A righteous person may fall seven times, but he gets up again. However, in a disaster wicked people fall.
- Hosea 14:1Israel, return to the Lord your God. You have stumbled because of your sins.
- Amos 5:2The people of Israel have fallen, never to rise again. They lie abandoned in their own land. There is no one to help them.
- Micah 7:8Don’t laugh at me, my enemies. Although I’ve fallen, I will get up. Although I sit in the dark, the Lord is my light.
- Jeremiah 3:1A saying: If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, her first husband shouldn’t go back to her again. The land would become thoroughly polluted. “You have acted like a prostitute who has many lovers. And now you want to come back to me!” declares the Lord.
- Jeremiah 4:1The Lord declares, “If you come back, Israel, if you come back to me, if you take your disgusting idols out of my sight and you don’t wander away from me,
- Jeremiah 23:14“⌞Say this⌟ about the prophets of Jerusalem: I see something horrible. The prophets of Jerusalem commit adultery and live a lie. They support those who do evil so that no one turns back from his wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me, and those who live in Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.”
- Jeremiah 36:3Maybe the nation of Judah will hear about all the disasters that I plan to bring on them, and they will turn from their wicked ways. Then I will forgive their wickedness and their sins.”
- 1 Kings 8:38⌞hear⌟ every prayer for mercy, made by one person or by all the people in Israel, whose consciences bother them, who stretch out their hands toward this temple.
- Isaiah 44:22I made your rebellious acts disappear like a thick cloud and your sins like the morning mist. Come back to me, because I have reclaimed you.
- Isaiah 55:7Let wicked people abandon their ways. Let evil people abandon their thoughts. Let them return to the Lord, and he will show compassion to them. Let them return to our God, because he will freely forgive them.
- Ezekiel 18:23I don’t want wicked people to die.” declares the Almighty Lord. “I want them to turn from their evil ways and live.
- Hosea 6:1Let’s return to the Lord. Even though he has torn us to pieces, he will heal us. Even though he has wounded us, he will bandage our wounds.
- Hosea 7:10Israel, your arrogance testifies against you, but even after all this, you don’t turn to the Lord your God or look to him for help.
Commentaries on Jeremiah 8:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4Moreover thou shalt say - Dr. Blayney very properly observes, "In that part of the prophecy which follows next, the difference of speakers requires to be attended to; the transition being quick and sudden, but full of life and energy. The prophet at first, in the name of God, reproves the people's incorrigibility; he charges their wise ones with folly, and threatens them with grievous calamities, Jeremiah 8:4-13. In the three next verses he seems to…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4The prophet here resumes from Jeremiah 7:28 the main subject of his prophecy. He again invites the Jews to repentance. Shall they fall? - The argument is that when men fall, they do not lie upon the ground, but endeavor to get up again: and when a man loses his way, he does not persist in going on, but turns round, and retraces his steps. Israel then will be only following the dictates of comnon sense in desisting from that which she now knows to be her…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 4-13Verses 4-13 What brought this ruin? 1. The people would not attend to reason; they would not act in the affairs of their souls with common prudence. Sin is backsliding; it is going back from the way that leads to life, to that which leads to destruction. 2. They would not attend to the warning of conscience. They did not take the first step towards repentance: true repentance begins in serious inquiry as to what we have done, from conviction that we have…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4-7These verses list the evidence of Judah's sins. The people engaged in ritual sex related to idol worship. They followed idol worship practices. They stayed in their delusions because lies trapped their minds and hearts. The term "lies" often refers to idols (Jeremiah 5:3, 6; 7:24; 9:6; Proverbs 24:16; Isaiah 44:20; Amos 5:2; Micah 7:8).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. "Is it not a natural instinct, that if one falls, he rises again; if one turns away (that is, wanders from the way), he will return to the point from which he wandered? Why then does not Jerusalem do so?" He plays on the double sense of return; literal and metaphorical (Jr 3:12; 4:1).Read the comment
Topics related to Jeremiah 8:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Jeremiah 8
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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