The Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 6:8

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

The worst woe of the wicked.

"Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee."

I. THERE ARE MANY WOES WHICH ACCOMPANY SIN. "Many sorrows shall be to the wicked." All observation attests the truth of this word.

II. BUT THERE IS ONE WHICH MAY FITLY BE SPOKEN OF AS THE WORST OF ALL. It is this—God's soul departing from the sinner. This indeed is terrible. It is so amongst men. We hear at times of those who have worn out the love even of those who loved them most tenderly. They have made the soul of those who loved them to depart from them. Sons have done this for fathers and mothers, friends for friends, husbands for wives and wives for husbands; and to have thus driven away a deep and earnest love is a depth of ruin than which none in this world can be more terrible. But to have worn out the love of God—to have made his soul to depart from us, what woe can compare to that? His providential favor may depart from us, and that is sad. Our realization of his love in our hearts may depart from us, and that is sadder still. But for his love itself to depart, that is the worst of all.

III. WHAT, THEN, CAN CAUSE SO GREAT A CALAMITY TO COME UPON A MAN? It is his refusing instruction (cf. Proverbs 1:1-33; "Seeing thou hatest knowledge," etc.). This Judah and Jerusalem were doing; this all too many are doing now.

IV. BUT THIS GOD DEPRECATES GREATLY, AND IMPLORES US NOT TO BE GUILTY OF. "Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem" (cf. our Savior's tears over Jerusalem). Appeal.—C.

More for Jeremiah 6:8

Continue with other commentaries and DiscipleDeck content connected to this verse, chapter, or topic.

Other commentaries

Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 6:1-8Jeremiah 6:1-8 · Matthew Henry Concise CommentaryWhatever methods are used, it is vain to contend with God's judgments. The more we indulge in the pleasures of this life, the more we unfit ourselves for the troubles of this life. The Chaldean army shall break in upon…Judgments Threatened against Israel; The Doom of Israel. (b. c. 608.)Jeremiah 6:1-8 · Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole BibleJUDGMENTS THREATENED AGAINST ISRAEL; THE DOOM OF ISRAEL. (B. C. 608.) Here is I. Judgment threatened against Judah and Jerusalem. The city and the country were at this time secure and under no apprehension of danger; th…The Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 6:1-8Jeremiah 6:1-8 · The Pulpit CommentaryA dreadful onlook. Such was the vision of Jeremiah which he saw concerning the coming wrath upon Judah and Jerusalem. It was the sad sight which the sinners in Jerusalem never, but the seer ever, saw clearly, vividly, h…The Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 6:1-30Jeremiah 6:1-30 · The Pulpit CommentaryEXPOSITION A prophecy, in five stanzas or strophes, vividly describing the judgment and its causes, and enforcing the necessity of repentance.The Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 6:1-8Jeremiah 6:1-8 · The Pulpit CommentaryArrival of a hostile army from the north, and summons to flee from the doomed city.The Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 6:4-8Jeremiah 6:4-8 · The Pulpit CommentaryThe apostate city that cannot be let alone. Godlessness is condemned by its impracticableness as a universal and thorough-going principle of human life. It is also an evil that defies ordinary restraints, and constantly…

commentaryMatthew Henry on Jeremiah 6:1-8Whatever methods are used, it is vain to contend with God's judgments. The more we indulge in the pleasures of this life, the more we unfit ourselves for the troubles of this life. The Chaldean army shall break in upon…Matthew Henry commentaryJudgments Threatened against Israel; The Doom of Israel. (b. c. 608.)JUDGMENTS THREATENED AGAINST ISRAEL; THE DOOM OF ISRAEL. (B. C. 608.) Here is I. Judgment threatened against Judah and Jerusalem. The city and the country were at this time secure and under no apprehension of danger; th…Matthew Henry commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 6:1-8Arrival of a hostile army from the north, and summons to flee from the doomed city.Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 6:1-8A dreadful onlook. Such was the vision of Jeremiah which he saw concerning the coming wrath upon Judah and Jerusalem. It was the sad sight which the sinners in Jerusalem never, but the seer ever, saw clearly, vividly, h…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 6:1-30EXPOSITION A prophecy, in five stanzas or strophes, vividly describing the judgment and its causes, and enforcing the necessity of repentance.Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 6:4-8The apostate city that cannot be let alone. Godlessness is condemned by its impracticableness as a universal and thorough-going principle of human life. It is also an evil that defies ordinary restraints, and constantly…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 6:8Be thou instructed; rather, Let thyself be corrected (Authorized Version misses the sense, a very important one, of the conjugation, which is Nifal tolerativum (comp. Psalms 2:10; Isaiah 53:12). The phrase equivalent to…Joseph S. Exell and contributors