TRV
See on the biblical-era map
Study This Verse
Commentary on Jeremiah 8 verses 13–22
In these verses we have,
I. God threatening the destruction of a sinful people. He has borne long with them, but they are still more and more provoking, and therefore now their ruin is resolved on: I will surely consume them (Jer 8:13), consuming I will consume them, not only surely, but utterly, consume them, will follow them with one judgment after another, till they are quite consumed; it is a consumption determined, Isa 10:23. 1. They shall be quite stripped of all their comforts (Jer 8:13): There shall be no grapes on the vine. Some understand this as intimating their sin; God came looking for grapes from this vineyard, seeking fruit upon this fig-tree, but he found none (as Isa 5:2, Luk 13:6); nay, they had not so much as leaves, Mat 21:19. But it is rather to be understood of God's judgments upon them, and may be meant literally - The enemy shall seize the fruits of the earth, shall pluck the grapes and figs for themselves and beat down the very leaves with them; or, rather, figuratively - They shall be deprived of all their comforts and shall have nothing left them wherewith to make glad their hearts. It is expounded in the last clause: The things that I have given them shall pass away from them. Note, God's gifts are upon condition, and revocable upon non-performance of the condition. Mercies abused are forfeited, and it is just with God to take the forfeiture. 2. They shall be set upon by all manner of grievances, and surrounded with calamities (Jer 8:17): I will send serpents among you, the Chaldean army, fiery serpents, flying serpents, cockatrices; these shall bite them with their venomous teeth, give them wounds that shall be mortal; and they shall not be charmed, as some serpents used to be, with music. These are serpents of another nature, that are not so wrought upon, or they are as the deaf adder, that stops her ear, and will not hear the voice of the charmer. The enemies are so intent upon making slaughter that it will be to no purpose to accost them gently, or offer any thing to pacify them, or mollify them, or to bring them to a better temper. No peace with God, therefore none with them.
II. The people sinking into despair under the pressure of those calamities. Those that were void of fear (when the trouble was at a distance) and set it at defiance, are void of hope now that it breaks in upon them, and have no heart either to make head against it or to bear up under it, Jer 8:14. They cannot think themselves safe in the open villages: Why do we sit still here? Let us assemble, and go into a body into the defenced cities. Though they could expect no other than to be surely cut off there at last, yet not so soon as in the country, and therefore, "Let us go, and be silent there; let us attempt nothing, nor so much as make a complaint; for to what purpose?" It is not a submissive, but a sullen silence, that they here condemn themselves to. Those that are most jovial in their prosperity commonly despond most, and are most melancholy, in trouble. Now observe what it is that sinks them.
1.They are sensible that God is angry with them: "'The Lord our God has put us to silence, has struck us with astonishment, and given us water of gall to drink, which is both bitter and stupifying, or intoxicating. Psa 60:3, Thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment. We had better sit still than rise up and fall; better say nothing than say nothing to the purpose. To what purpose is it to contend with our fate when God himself has become our enemy and fights against us? Because we have sinned against the Lord, therefore we are brought to the plunge." This may be taken as the language, (1.) Of their indignation. They seem to quarrel with God as if he had dealt hardly with them in putting them to silence, not permitting them to speak for themselves, and then telling them that it was because they had sinned against him. Thus men's foolishness perverts their way, and then their hearts fret against the Lord. Or rather, (2.) Of their convictions. At length they begin to see the hand of God lifted up against them, and stretched out in the calamities under which they are now groaning, and to own that they have provoked him to contend with them. Note, Sooner or later God will bring the most obstinate to acknowledge both his providence and his justice in all the troubles they are brought into, to see and say both that it is his hand and that he is righteous.
2.They are sensible that the enemy is likely to be too hard for them, Jer 8:16. They are soon apprehensive that it is to no purpose to make head against such a mighty force; they and their people are quite dispirited; and, when the courage of a nation is gone, their numbers will stand them in little stead. The snorting of the horses was heard from Dan, that is, the report of the formidable strength of their cavalry was soon carried all the nation over and every body trembled at the sound of the neighing of his steeds; for they have devoured the land and all that is in the city; both town and country are laid waste before them, not only the wealth, but the inhabitants, of both, those that dwell therein. Note, When God appears against us, every thing else that is against us appears very formidable; whereas, if he be for us, every thing appears very despicable, Rom 8:31.
3.They are disappointed in their expectations of deliverance out of their troubles, as they had been surprised when their troubles came upon them; and this double disappointment very much aggravated their calamity. (1.) The trouble came when they little expected it (Jer 8:15): We looked for peace, the continuance of our peace, but no good came, no good news from abroad; we looked for a time of health and prosperity to our nation, but, behold, trouble, the alarms of war; for, as it follows (Jer 8:16), the noise of the enemies' horses was heard from Dan. Their false prophets had cried Peace, peace, to them, which made it the more terrible when the scene of war opened on a sudden. This complaint will occur again, ch. 14:19. (2.) The deliverance did not come when they had long expected it (Jer 8:20): The harvest is past, the summer is ended; that is, there is a great deal of time gone. Harvest and summer are parts of the year, and when they are gone the year draws towards a conclusion; so the meaning is, "One year passes after another, one campaign after another, and yet our affairs are in as bad a posture as ever they were; no relief comes, nor is any thing done towards it: We are not saved." Nay, there is a great deal of opportunity lost, the season of action is over and slipped, the summer and harvest are gone, and a cold and melancholy winter succeeds. Note, The salvation of God's church and people often goes on very slowly, and God keeps his people long in the expectation of it, for wise and holy ends. Nay, they stand in their own light, and put a bar in their own door, and are not saved because they are not ready for salvation.
4.They are deceived in those things which were their confidence and which they thought would have secured their peace to them (Jer 8:19): The daughter of my people cries, cries aloud, because of those that dwell in a far country, because of the foreign enemy that invades them, that comes from a far country to take possession of ours; this occasions the cry; and what is the cry? It is this: Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her king in her? These were the two things that they had all along buoyed up themselves with and depended upon, (1.) That they had among them the temple of God, and the tokens of his special presence with them. The common cant was, "Is not the Lord in Zion? What danger then need we fear?" And they held by this when the trouble was breaking in upon them. "Surely we shall do well enough, for have we not God among us?" But, when it grew to an extremity, it was an aggravation of their misery that they had thus flattered themselves. (2.) That they had the throne of the house of David. As they had a temple, so they had a monarchy, jure divino - by divine right: Is not Zion's king in her? And will not Zion's God protect Zion's king and his kingdom? Surely he will; but why does he not? "What" (say they) "has Zion neither a God nor a king to stand by her and help her, that she is thus run down and likely to be ruined?" This outcry of theirs reflects upon God, as if his power and promise were broken or weakened; and therefore he returns an answer to it immediately: Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images? They quarrel with God as if he had dealt unkindly by them in forsaking them, whereas they by their idolatry had driven him from them; they have withdrawn from their allegiance to him, and so have thrown themselves out of this protection. They fret themselves, and curse their king and their God (Isa 8:21), when it is their own sin that separates between them and God (Isa 59:2); they feared not the Lord, and then what can a king do for them? Hos 10:3.
III. We have here the prophet himself bewailing the calamity and ruin of his people; for there were more of the lamentations of Jeremiah than those we find in the book that bears that title. Observe here, 1. How great his griefs were. He was an eyewitness of the desolations of his country, and saw those things which by the spirit of prophecy he had foreseen. In the foresight, much more in the sight, of them, he cries out, "My heart is faint in me, I sink, I die away at the consideration of it, Jer 8:18. When I would comfort myself against my sorrow, I do but labour in vain; nay, every attempt to alleviate the grief does but aggravate it." It is our wisdom and duty, under mournful events, to do what we can to comfort ourselves against our sorrow, by suggesting to ourselves such considerations as are proper to allay the grief and balance the grievance. But sometimes the sorrow is such that the more it is repressed the more strongly it recoils. This may sometimes be the case of very good men, as of the prophet here, whose soul refused to be comforted and fainted at the cordial, Psa 77:2, Psa 77:3. He tells us (Jer 8:21) what was the matter: "It is for the hurt of the daughter of my people that I am thus hurt; it is for their sin, and the miseries they have brought upon themselves by it; it is for this that I am black, that I look black, that I go in black as mourners do, and that astonishment has taken hold on me, so that I know not what to do nor which way to turn." Note, The miseries of our country ought to be very much the grief of our souls. A gracious spirit will be a public spirit, a tender spirit, a mourning spirit. It becomes us to lament the miseries of our fellow-creatures, much more to lay to heart the calamities of our country, and especially of the church of God, to grieve for the affliction of Joseph. Jeremiah had prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem, and, though the truth of his prophecy was questioned, yet he did not rejoice in the proof of the truth of his prophecy was questioned, yet he did not rejoice in the proof of the truth of it by the accomplishment of it, preferring the welfare of his country before his own reputation. If Jerusalem had repented and been spared, he would have been far from fretting as Jonah did. Jeremiah had many enemies in Judah and Jerusalem, that hated, and reproached, and persecuted him; and in the judgments brought upon them God reckoned with them for it and pleaded his prophet's cause; yet he was far from rejoicing in it, so truly did he forgive his enemies and desire that God would forgive them. 2. How small his hopes were (Jer 8:22): "Is there no balm in Gilead - no medicine proper for a sick and dying kingdom? Is there no physician there - no skilful faithful hand to apply the medicine?" He looks upon the case to be deplorable and past relief. There is no balm in Gilead that can cure the disease of sin, no physician there that can restore the health of a nation quite overrun by such a foreign army as that of the Chaldeans. The desolations made are irreparable, and the disease has presently come to such a height that there is no checking it. Or this verse may be understood as laying all the blame of the incurableness of their disease upon themselves; and so the question must be answered affirmatively: Is there no balm in Gilead - no physician there? Yes, certainly there is; God is able to help and heal them, there is a sufficiency in him to redress all their grievances. Gilead was a place in their own land, not far off. They had among themselves God's law and his prophets, with the help of which they might have been brought to repentance, and their ruin might have been prevented. They had princes and priests, whose business it was to reform the nation and redress their grievances. What could have been done more than had been done for their recovery? Why then was not their health restored? Certainly it was not owing to God, but to themselves; it was not for want of balm and a physician, but because they would not admit the application nor submit to the methods of cure. The physician and physic were both ready, but the patient was wilful and irregular, would not be tied to rules, but must be humoured. Note, If sinners die of their wounds, their blood is upon their own heads. The blood of Christ is balm in Gilead, his Spirit is the physician there, both sufficient, all-sufficient, so that they might have been healed, but would not.
(Verse 17) Behold, I will send you serpents, rulers (or as the Septuagint translated, deadly ones) with whom there is no enchantment. And they will bite you, says the Lord, incurably, and you will fail with the pain of your heart. Those who come from Dan, whose noise has been heard and who have turned the whole land into a wilderness, are the same ones that the prophetic word indicates under a different figure, calling them deadly serpents or rulers as the Hebrew word Saphphonim (). I do not understand why the second edition of his work, as he says, was intended for spies, unless perhaps because of the similarity of words. To them, he says, there is no enchantment. For they pour out prayers in vain to God against the ancient serpent, the twisted serpent, who have despised the commandments of God. Let us use this passage against those who, by disregarding the words of the Savior, are delivered to hostile powers.
You should know that the disease of envy is harder to cure than any other. I would say that someone tainted by its poison is almost beyond healing. This is the plague described figuratively by the prophet: “See, I will send you serpents against which there are no incantations, and they will bite you.” The bites of envy are quite rightly compared by the prophet with the lethal poison of the basilisk.
Continue studying Jeremiah 8:17 across the web’s major study libraries — every link below opens this exact verse, chapter, or book on the destination site.
Read & Compare
BibleGatewayThis verse in more than 200 translations and 70 languages.
Bible.comThe YouVersion reader — hundreds of translations, reading plans, and highlights.
ESV.orgCrossway's official English Standard Version reader.
NET BibleThe NET translation with 60,000+ translators' notes on every rendering decision.
STEP BibleTyndale House's free study tool — original text, vocabulary, and scholarly resources.
BibliaLogos Bible Software's free web reader.
USCCBThe New American Bible (Revised Edition) with the U.S. bishops' study notes.
Commentaries
BibleHub CommentariesDozens of classic commentaries on this verse, gathered on one page.
StudyLightMore than 100 commentary sets — the largest collection on the web.
BibleRefPlain-English commentary on what this verse means, verse by verse.
Enduring WordDavid Guzik's free commentary on this chapter, widely used by Bible teachers.
Bible Study ToolsVerse commentary alongside Greek and Hebrew study aids.
Original Language & Research
- BibleHub InterlinearThe verse word by word — original language, transliteration, and English.
- BibleHub LexiconEvery word's original-language definition and Strong's entry.
Blue Letter BibleDeep-study tools — Strong's numbers, concordance, and word studies.
SefariaThe Hebrew text with Rashi and centuries of Jewish commentary.
Sermons, Hymns & Audio
TrulyRandomVerse is not affiliated with these sites and doesn’t control their content. They’re linked because they’re genuinely useful.
SUMMARY
Jeremiah 8:17 delivers a chilling prophecy of inescapable divine judgment against the unrepentant nation of Judah. Through the vivid imagery of uncharmable, venomous serpents and cockatrices, the Lord declares His intent to unleash a devastating and unavoidable punishment upon His people for their persistent idolatry and rebellion. This verse underscores the futility of human resistance against God's determined will and highlights the severity of the consequences for rejecting His warnings and covenant.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Jeremiah 8:17 is rich in literary devices that amplify its message of impending doom. Symbolism is paramount, as the "serpents" and "cockatrices" are not literal reptiles but powerful metaphors for the invading Babylonian army, which would inflict deadly and inescapable harm upon Judah. The choice of these specific creatures evokes a visceral sense of terror, pain, and inevitability, as their venom is swift and deadly, and they are difficult to evade. The phrase "which will not be charmed" employs irony, subverting the common cultural belief in the efficacy of snake charming, thereby highlighting the absolute futility of human efforts against divine decree. This also functions as a form of hyperbole, emphasizing the extreme and unyielding nature of the judgment. The entire declaration is a form of divine speech, underscored by the concluding "saith the LORD," which lends ultimate authority and certainty to the prophetic warning. The vivid imagery and stark language create a sense of urgency and dread, characteristic of Jeremiah's prophetic style.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Jeremiah 8:17 powerfully articulates God's unwavering commitment to justice and His absolute sovereignty over nations and events. It serves as a stark reminder that persistent rebellion against His covenant and commands will inevitably lead to severe consequences. The uncharmable serpents symbolize the unyielding nature of divine judgment once it has been decreed, emphasizing that human attempts to circumvent or mitigate God's righteous wrath are utterly futile. This verse underscores the biblical principle that God's warnings are not empty threats but solemn declarations, and His patience has limits. It highlights the serious implications of sin and the necessity of genuine repentance for averting divine discipline, demonstrating that God's justice is as certain as His love.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Jeremiah 8:17, though rooted in ancient Israel's context, offers profound and timeless lessons for believers today. It serves as a potent reminder that God is sovereign, just, and holy, and His warnings are to be taken with utmost seriousness. We must not become complacent in our faith or presume upon God's grace, ignoring the spiritual "serpents" of sin and compromise that threaten our walk with Him. The verse underscores the gravity of persistent rebellion and unrepented sin, highlighting that such actions have grave consequences, both individually and corporately. It calls us to a posture of humility and repentance, recognizing that true security lies not in human ingenuity, strength, or self-reliance, but in obedient submission to the Lord. Our hope is found not in charming away the consequences of sin, but in turning to the One who alone can deliver us from its deadly grip and provide genuine refuge.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Are the "serpents" and "cockatrices" in Jeremiah 8:17 literal animals, or are they symbolic?
Answer: While the imagery is drawn from literal venomous snakes, in the context of prophetic literature, the "serpents" and "cockatrices" are overwhelmingly symbolic. They represent the instruments of God's divine judgment, most directly referring to the invading Babylonian army. This interpretation is consistent with other prophetic passages where nations are depicted as destructive forces sent by God, such as in Isaiah 10:5 where Assyria is called God's "rod of anger." The terrifying and inescapable nature of these creatures powerfully conveys the severity and inevitability of the Babylonian invasion and the suffering it would inflict upon Judah.
What does it mean that these serpents "will not be charmed"?
Answer: The phrase "will not be charmed" means that no human effort, magical incantation, or persuasive technique will be able to neutralize, control, or avert the impending judgment. In ancient cultures, snake charmers were believed to have the ability to pacify or manipulate venomous snakes. By stating that these particular "serpents" are uncharmable, God emphasizes that His decreed judgment is absolute and unavoidable. It signifies the futility of Judah's reliance on their own wisdom, military might, political alliances, or even false religious practices to escape the consequences of their unfaithfulness. This judgment is entirely beyond human manipulation or appeasement, highlighting God's supreme authority and the unyielding nature of His word.
How does a verse about God sending destructive "serpents" reconcile with His character as a loving God?
Answer: This verse, while stark, reveals aspects of God's character that are essential for a complete understanding of His nature. Firstly, it demonstrates His holiness and justice. A truly loving God must also be just, and His justice requires that sin and rebellion be addressed. Secondly, it underscores His sovereignty; He is in control of all things, even using nations as instruments of His will. Thirdly, it highlights His faithfulness to His covenant. God had repeatedly warned Israel of the consequences of disobedience, as outlined in Deuteronomy 28. The judgment, therefore, is not arbitrary but a fulfillment of His righteous warnings, intended to bring His people to repentance and restore them to covenant faithfulness. While painful, such discipline is ultimately an act of love, aiming for their ultimate good, even if they fail to recognize it at the time, as explained in Hebrews 12:5-11.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Jeremiah 8:17, with its terrifying imagery of uncharmable, deadly serpents, finds profound Christ-centered fulfillment in the New Testament. While the immediate context speaks of God's judgment against unrepentant Judah, the ultimate "serpent" in biblical narrative is Satan, the deceiver, whose bite brought sin and death into the world, as recorded in Genesis 3:1-15. Humanity, bitten by the serpent of sin, was under an inescapable curse. However, God, in His sovereign plan, sent not judgment, but His Son, Jesus Christ, to deal with the ultimate "bite." Just as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness so that those bitten might look and live, as recounted in Numbers 21:8-9, so too was the Son of Man lifted up on the cross, becoming sin for us, that we might not perish but have eternal life, as Jesus Himself declared in John 3:14-15 and as Paul affirms in 2 Corinthians 5:21. Christ Himself bore the curse and the judgment that humanity deserved, becoming "a curse for us" as stated in Galatians 3:13. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus triumphed over the serpent, Satan, destroying "him who has the power of death, that is, the devil," according to Hebrews 2:14. Thus, for those who are "in Christ Jesus," there is now "no condemnation," as proclaimed in Romans 8:1, for the ultimate, uncharmable judgment of God against sin was fully satisfied in Him, offering a way of escape and life where there was once only the bite of death.