14 Wherefore are we sitting still? Be gathered, and we go in to the fenced cities, And we are silent there, For Jehovah our God hath made us silent, Yea, He causeth us to drink water of gall, For we have sinned against Jehovah. 15 Looking for peace—and there is no good, For a time of healing, and lo, terror. 16 From Dan hath been heard the snorting of his horses, From the voice of the neighings of his mighty ones, Trembled hath all the land, And they come in and consume the land and its fulness, The city and the inhabitants in it. 17 For, lo, I am sending among you serpents, Vipers that have no charmer, And they have bitten you, an affirmation of Jehovah.
18 My refreshing for me 'is' sorrow, For me my heart 'is' sick. 19 Lo, the voice of a cry of the daughter of my people from a land afar off, Is Jehovah not in Zion? is her king not in her? Wherefore have they provoked Me with their graven images, With the vanities of a foreigner? 20 Harvest hath passed, summer hath ended, And we—we have not been saved. 21 For a breach of the daughter of my people have I been broken, I have been black, astonishment hath seized me. 22 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? For wherefore hath not the health of the daughter of my people gone up?
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 8:14-22
Commentary on Jeremiah 8:14-22
(Read Jeremiah 8:14-22)
At length they begin to see the hand of God lifted up. And when God appears against us, every thing that is against us appears formidable. As salvation only can be found in the Lord, so the present moment should be seized. Is there no medicine proper for a sick and dying kingdom? Is there no skilful, faithful hand to apply the medicine? Yes, God is able to help and to heal them. 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, all-sufficient; so that the people may be healed, but will not. Thus men die unpardoned and unchanged, for they will not come to Christ to be saved.