Jeremiah 8:18-22--Jeremiah Grieves for His People

Jeremiah 8:18-22
English Standard Version

Jeremiah Grieves for His People
18 My joy is gone; grief is upon me;
    my heart is sick within me.
19 Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people
    from the length and breadth of the land:
“Is the LORD not in Zion?
    Is her King not in her?”
“Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images
    and with their foreign idols?”
20 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
    and we are not saved.”
21 For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded;
    I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.

22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
    Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of the daughter of my people
    not been restored?

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This passage will spill over into the next chapter, which I will cover in future articles.  Jeremiah starts his lamentation for his people.  Jeremiah is grieved that the people called by the LORD's Name are choosing to no longer be His people.  They fail to serve the LORD as their King.  They refuse to obey His commandments or worship Him.  They have provoked the LORD to anger by worshiping all kind of idols.  The LORD has been gracious in giving them time to repent, but they have not done so.

They have wounded the LORD's heart, and Jeremiah feels a bit of that pain as the Spirit within him is grieved.  There is no medicine, no balm, and no healer that can heal this pain.  There must be repentance to precede the people's healing and they refuse to repent.