Jeremiah 8:4
 Jeremiah 8:4 
New International Version (©2011)
"Say to them, 'This is what the LORD says: "'When people fall down, do they not get up? When someone turns away, do they not return?

New Living Translation (©2007)
"Jeremiah, say to the people, 'This is what the LORD says: "'When people fall down, don't they get up again? When they discover they're on the wrong road, don't they turn back?

English Standard Version (©2001)
“You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD: When men fall, do they not rise again? If one turns away, does he not return?

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"You shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD, "Do men fall and not get up again? Does one turn away and not repent?

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
"You are to say to them: This is what the LORD says: Do people fall and not get up again? If they turn away, do they not return?

International Standard Version (©2012)
"You are to say to them, 'This is what the LORD says: "Will a person fall down and then not get up? Will someone turn away and then not turn back again?

NET Bible (©2006)
The LORD said to me, "Tell them, 'The LORD says, Do people not get back up when they fall down? Do they not turn around when they go the wrong way?

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
"Say to them, 'This is what the LORD says: When someone falls, he gets back up. When someone turns away from me, he returns.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
Moreover you shall say unto them, Thus says the LORD; Shall they fall, and not rise? shall he turn away, and not return?

American King James Version
Moreover you shall say to them, Thus said the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?

American Standard Version
Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah: Shall men fall, and not rise up again? Shall one turn away, and not return?

Douay-Rheims Bible
And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: Shall not he that falleth, rise again? and he that is turned away, shall he not turn again?

Darby Bible Translation
And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah: Do men fall, and not rise up? Doth one turn away, and not return?

English Revised Version
Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD: shall men fall, and not rise up again? shall one turn away, and not return?

Webster's Bible Translation
Moreover, thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?

World English Bible
Moreover you shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh: Shall men fall, and not rise up again? Shall one turn away, and not return?

Young's Literal Translation
And thou hast said unto them: Thus said Jehovah, Do they fall, and not rise? Doth he turn back, and not return?

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:4-13 What brought this ruin? 1. The people would not attend to reason; they would not act in the affairs of their souls with common prudence. Sin is backsliding; it is going back from the way that leads to life, to that which leads to destruction. 2. They would not attend to the warning of conscience. They did not take the first step towards repentance: true repentance begins in serious inquiry as to what we have done, from conviction that we have done amiss. 3. They would not attend to the ways of providence, nor understand the voice of God in them, ver. 7. They know not how to improve the seasons of grace, which God affords. Many boast of their religious knowledge, yet, unless taught by the Spirit of God, the instinct of brutes is a more sure guide than their supposed wisdom. 4. They would not attend to the written word. Many enjoy abundance of the means of grace, have Bibles and ministers, but they have them in vain. They will soon be ashamed of their devices. The pretenders to wisdom were the priests and the false prophets. They flattered people in sin, and so flattered them into destruction, silencing their fears and complaints with, All is well. Selfish teachers may promise peace when there is no peace; and thus men encourage each other in committing evil; but in the day of visitation they will have no refuge to flee unto.


Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4 - Jeremiah 9:1. - The incorrigible wickedness of the people, and the awfulness of the judgment. Verse 4. - Moreover thou shalt say, etc.; literally, and thou shalt say. The section is introduced by a formula which connects it with Jeremiah 7:2, 28. Shall they fall, etc.? rather, Do men fall... doth a man turn away? One of those appeals to common sense in which the prophets delight. Who ever sees a fallen man stay quietly on the ground without attempting to rise? or a man who has wandered out of the path persist in going in the wrong direction?


Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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 good ways of God, would soon return again to them.


Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. "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; 4:1).


Jeremiah 8:4 Parallel Commentaries

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Judah's Sin and Punishment
3And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places where I have driven them, said the LORD of hosts. 4Moreover you shall say to them, Thus said the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return? 5Why then is this people of Jerusalem slid back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. …

Proverbs 24:16 for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.
Amos 5:2 "Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again, deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her up."
Micah 7:8 Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.