to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
saith
אָמַ֣ר'a.Mar
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָ֔הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
fall
הֲיִפְּל֖וּha.yi.pe.Lu
H5307
to fall · interrogative particle + verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
arise
יָק֑וּמוּya.Ku.mu
H6965
to rise (in various applications · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
away
יָשׁ֖וּבya.Shuv
H7725
to turn back (hence · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
return
יָשֽׁוּבya.Shuv
H7725
to turn back (hence · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Proverbs 24:16 For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.
Micah 7:8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.
Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and…
Jeremiah 3:1 They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be…
Hosea 6:1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
Ezekiel 18:23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?
Hosea 7:10 And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.
Hosea 14:1 O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 8:4-12
The prophet here is instructed to set before this people the folly of their impenitence, which was it that brought this ruin upon them. They are here represented as the most stupid senseless people in the world, that would not be made wise by all the methods that Infinite Wisdom took to bring them to themselves and their right mind, and so to prevent the ruin that was coming upon them.
I. They would not attend to the dictates of reason. They would not act in the affairs of their souls with the same common prudence with which they acted in other things. Sinners would become saints if they would but show themselves men, and religion would soon rule them if right reason might. Observe it here.…
"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 (Jer 3:12; Jer 4:1).
John Gill on Jeremiah 8:4
Moreover, thou shalt say unto them,.... The Jews, in Jeremiah's time, in order to leave them inexcusable, though the Lord had before assured that they would not hearken to him, Jeremiah 7:27,
thus saith the Lord, shall they fall, and not rise? men, when they fall, endeavour to get up again, and generally they do:
shall he turn away, and not return? when a man turns out of the right way into a wrong one, as soon as he is sensible of his mistake, he returns back; this is usually done among men. This is generally the case in a natural sense, and might be expected in a moral sense; that whereas these people had fallen into sin, they would rise again by repentance; and, having turned from the g…
Jeremiah 8:4-5
4. Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?
4. Et dices ad eos, Sic dicit Jehova, An qui ceciderunt non resurgent? si quis aversus fuerit non revertetur?
5. Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
5. Quare rebellis est populus hic Jerosolymae rebellione perpetua? (forti, ad verbum;) adhaeserunt fraudi (vel, apprehenderunt fraudem,) noluerunt reverti.
Though God had reminded his Prophet of the event, yet he still invites the Jews to repentance; not that there was any hope of restoring them to a right mind, (…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 4.) And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord: Shall the one who falls not rise up again? And the one who turns away not return? After so many evils, it provokes those who were able to remain to repentance. Before the things that were threatened come, it exhorts to conversion, and gives place to repentance. But what is written in Hebrew: And the one who turns away not return, it signifies that the one who has turned away from God, if he wishes to turn to better things, can also turn the anger of God to better things and resist the coming and avoid the blows through prayers.
God is indeed good to everyone, but he shows his patient endurance especially to those who sin. If you want to hear a paradoxical statement—paradoxical because it is not customary but true for the great piety it reveals—listen. God always seems to be severe to the righteous. But he seems good to sinners and quick to clemency. He restores the one who sinned and fell, and he tells him, "Shall not he who falls get up? Or the one who turns away, shall he not turn back again?" And "Why did the stupid daughter of Judah turn away with a shameless revolting?" And again, "Return to me, and I will return to you."
Doth not David say, Every night I will wash my bed, I will water my couch with my tears; and again, I acknowledge my sin, and mine unrighteousness have I not hid; and yet more, I said, I will confess my sins unto the Lord, and so Thou forgavest the wickedness of my heart. Did not the Prophet answer him when, after the guilt of murder and adultery, penitent for Bathsheba, The Lord also hath put away from thee thy sin? Did not confession deliver the king of Babylon, when condemned after so many sins of idolatry? And what is it that the Lord saith, Shall he who has fallen not arise, and he who has turned not return?
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Impenitence · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The People's Obstinacy in Wickedness, and the Dreadfulness of the Judgment. - Since the people cleaves stedfastly to its sin (Jer 8:4-13), the Lord must punish sorely (Jer 8:14 -23). - Jer 8:4-13. "And say to them, Thus hath the Lord said: Doth one fall, and not rise again? or doth one turn away, and not turn back again? Jer 8:5. Why doth this people of Jerusalem turn itself away with a perpetual turning? They hold fast by deceit, they refuse to return. Jer 8:6. I listened and heard: they speak not aright; no one repenteth him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? They all turn to their course again, like a horse rushing into the battle. Jer 8:7. Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth h…
These three short poems were probably delivered during Jehoiakim’s reign.
8:4-7 These verses itemize the evidence of Judah’s sins. The people had fallen into idolatrous ritual sex and followed the ways of idol worship. They remained in their delusions because their minds and hearts were trapped by lies, a term that is often applied to idols (5:3, 6; 7:24; 9:6; Prov 24:16; Isa 44:20; Amos 5:2; Mic 7:8).
Rashi on Jeremiah 8:4
Shall they fall and not rise Is it good for them to cast themselves into a fall from which there is no rising?
if he repents, will He not return? If they wish to repent of their wickedness, will the Holy One, blessed be He, not return from His decree? Another explanation: If they repent, the repentance will not be permanent, for they will quickly return to their wickedness, and in this manner Jonathan rendered it: If to repent, it is revealed before Me that they will not repent.
