Lies, Not Truth Has Grown Strong In The Land

Lies, Not Truth Has Grown Strong In The Land

Jeremiah writes in Chapter 8

 ¹⁸ God, you are my comfort when I am very sad 

       and when I am afraid. 

 ¹⁹ Listen to the sound of my people. 

       They cry from a faraway land: 

       "Isn't the Lord still in Jerusalem? 

       Isn't Jerusalem's king still there?" 

    But God says, "Why did the people make me angry by worshiping idols, 

       useless foreign idols?" 

 ²⁰ And the people say, "Harvest time is over; 

       summer has ended, 

       and we have not been saved." 

 ²¹ Because my people are crushed, I am crushed. 

       I cry loudly and am afraid for them. 

 ²² Isn't there balm in the land of Gilead? 

       Isn't there a doctor there? 

    So why aren't the hurts of my people healed?

Jeremiah 9

 ¹ I wish my head were like a spring of water 

       and my eyes like a fountain of tears! 

    Then I could cry day and night 

       for my people who have been killed.

 ² I wish I had a place in the desert— 

       a house where travelers spend the night— 

    so I could leave my people. 

       I could go away from them, 

    because they are all unfaithful to God; 

       they are all turning against him.

Judah's Failures

 ³ "They use their tongues like a bow, 

       shooting lies from their mouths like arrows. 

    Lies, not truth, 

       have grown strong in the land. 

    They go from one evil thing to another. 

       They do not know who I am," says the Lord.

 ⁴ "Watch out for your friends, 

       and don't trust your own relatives, 

    because every relative is a cheater, 

       and every friend tells lies about you.

 ⁵ Everyone lies to his friend, 

       and no one speaks the truth. 

    The people of Judah have taught their tongues to lie. 

       They have become tired from sinning.

 ⁶ Jeremiah, you live in the middle of lies. 

       With their lies the people refuse to know me," says the Lord.

 ⁷ So this is what the Lord All-Powerful says: 

    "I will test the people of Judah as a person tests metal in a fire. 

       I have no other choice, 

       because my people have sinned.

 ⁸ Their tongues are like sharp arrows. 

       Their mouths speak lies. 

    Everyone speaks nicely to his neighbor, 

       but he is secretly planning to attack him.

 ⁹ Shouldn't I punish the people for doing this?" says the Lord. 

       "Shouldn't I give a nation like this the punishment it deserves?" 

Jeremiah Chapter 9

There Is A Balm In Gilead

PITN: The Gap Theory