◄ Jeremiah 6:8 ►
Be forewarned, O Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you; I will make you a desolation, a land without inhabitant."
Study Bible
Be warned
The phrase "Be warned" is a call to heed and take notice. In Hebrew, the root word is "yasar," which means to discipline or instruct. This is not merely a suggestion but a divine imperative. God, through Jeremiah, is urging Jerusalem to pay attention to His warnings. The historical context here is crucial; Jerusalem was repeatedly warned by prophets about the consequences of their disobedience. This is a call to repentance, a chance to turn back to God before it's too late.

O Jerusalem
"Jerusalem" is not just a city but the heart of the Jewish nation, the center of worship, and the dwelling place of God's temple. The name itself means "foundation of peace," yet the city was anything but peaceful due to its people's rebellion. Historically, Jerusalem was the focal point of God's covenant with Israel, and its mention here underscores the gravity of the warning. The city's spiritual significance makes its potential desolation even more poignant.

or I will turn away from you
The phrase "or I will turn away from you" indicates a conditional statement. The Hebrew root "suwr" means to turn aside or depart. This is a sobering reminder of the consequences of persistent disobedience. God's presence is a blessing, and His departure signifies judgment. In the broader scriptural context, God's turning away is not His desire but a response to the people's choices. It reflects the covenantal relationship where blessings and curses are contingent on obedience.

I will make you a desolation
"A desolation" comes from the Hebrew word "shemamah," meaning ruin or waste. This is a vivid image of what awaits if Jerusalem does not heed the warning. Historically, this prophecy was fulfilled when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 586 B.C. The desolation is both physical and spiritual, symbolizing the loss of God's favor and protection. It serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of forsaking God.

a land without inhabitants
The phrase "a land without inhabitants" paints a picture of complete devastation. The Hebrew word "yashab" means to dwell or inhabit, and its absence signifies total abandonment. This is not just a loss of population but a loss of life, culture, and divine presence. In the biblical narrative, the land is a gift from God, and its desolation is a direct result of the people's failure to uphold their covenant with Him. This serves as a powerful warning to remain faithful and obedient to God's commands.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Jeremiah
A prophet called by God to deliver messages of warning and hope to the people of Judah. His ministry was marked by deep personal struggle and unwavering commitment to God's word.

2. Jerusalem
The capital city of Judah, central to Jewish worship and identity. It was the focal point of God's warnings due to its spiritual and moral decline.

3. God's Warning
The event of God issuing a stern warning to Jerusalem through Jeremiah, emphasizing the consequences of continued disobedience.
Teaching Points
The Seriousness of God's Warnings
God's warnings are not to be taken lightly. They are expressions of His justice and love, urging repentance to avoid judgment.

The Consequences of Disobedience
Persistent disobedience leads to desolation. Just as Jerusalem faced destruction, ignoring God's commands today can lead to spiritual desolation.

The Call to Repentance
God’s warnings are coupled with a call to repentance. Turning back to God can avert disaster and restore relationship.

The Role of Prophets
Prophets like Jeremiah serve as God's mouthpieces, delivering messages that are often unpopular but necessary for spiritual health.

God's Desire for Relationship
Despite the warnings, God's ultimate desire is for a restored relationship with His people, highlighting His mercy and grace.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the warning to Jerusalem in Jeremiah 6:8 reflect God's character of justice and mercy?

2. In what ways can we see the consequences of disobedience in our own lives or communities today?

3. How do the warnings in Jeremiah 6:8 compare to the blessings and curses outlined in Deuteronomy 28?

4. What role do modern-day "prophets" or spiritual leaders play in warning and guiding God's people?

5. How can we apply the call to repentance in Jeremiah 6:8 to our personal spiritual journey?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Deuteronomy 28
This chapter outlines the blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience, providing a backdrop for understanding the consequences mentioned in Jeremiah 6:8.

Isaiah 1
Isaiah also warns Jerusalem of impending judgment due to their rebellion, similar to Jeremiah's message.

Lamentations 1
Written by Jeremiah, this book laments the desolation of Jerusalem, fulfilling the warning given in Jeremiah 6:8.
Sermons
A Warning to the NationB. Whichcote, D. D.Jeremiah 6:8
The Way to Prevent the Ruin of a Sinful PeopleArchbishop Tillotson.Jeremiah 6:8
The Worst Woe of the WickedS. Conway Jeremiah 6:8
A Dreadful OnlookS. Conway Jeremiah 6:1-8
Christian EffortF. Jackson.Jeremiah 6:1-9
The Apostate City that Cannot be Let AloneA.F. Muir Jeremiah 6:4-8
People
Benjamin, Jeremiah
Places
Beth-haccherem, Jerusalem, Sheba, Tekoa, Zion
Topics
Alienated, Corrected, Depart, Desolate, Desolation, Inhabited, Instructed, Jerusalem, Lest, O, Soul, Teaching, Turn, Undergo, Uninhabited, Unpeopled, Warned, Waste
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Jeremiah 6:8

     7241   Jerusalem, significance
     8833   threats

Library
Stedfastness in the Old Paths.
"Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls."--Jer. vi. 16. Reverence for the old paths is a chief Christian duty. We look to the future indeed with hope; yet this need not stand in the way of our dwelling on the past days of the Church with affection and deference. This is the feeling of our own Church, as continually expressed in the Prayer Book;--not to slight what has gone before, …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

A Blast of the Trumpet against False Peace
The motive with these false prophets is an abominable one. Jeremiah tells us it was an evil covetousness. They preached smooth things because the people would have it so, because they thus brought grist to their own mill, and glory to their own names. Their design was abominable, and without doubt, their end shall be desperate--cast away with the refuse of mankind. These who professed to be the precious sons of God, comparable to fine gold, shall be esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 6: 1860

Whitefield -- the Method of Grace
George Whitefield, evangelist and leader of Calvinistic Methodists, who has been called the Demosthenes of the pulpit, was born at Gloucester, England, in 1714. He was an impassioned pulpit orator of the popular type, and his power over immense congregations was largely due to his histrionic talent and his exquisitely modulated voice, which has been described as "an organ, a flute, a harp, all in one," and which at times became stentorian. He had a most expressive face, and altho he squinted, in …
Grenville Kleiser—The world's great sermons, Volume 3

Reprobation.
In discussing this subject I shall endeavor to show, I. What the true doctrine of reprobation is not. 1. It is not that the ultimate end of God in the creation of any was their damnation. Neither reason nor revelation confirms, but both contradict the assumption, that God has created or can create any being for the purpose of rendering him miserable as an ultimate end. God is love, or he is benevolent, and cannot therefore will the misery of any being as an ultimate end, or for its own sake. It is …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

Prefatory Scripture Passages.
To the Law and to the Testimony; if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.-- Isa. viii. 20. Thus saith the Lord; Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.--Jer. vi. 16. That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But …
G. H. Gerberding—The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church

Jesus Raises the Widow's Son.
(at Nain in Galilee.) ^C Luke VII. 11-17. ^c 11 And it came to pass soon afterwards [many ancient authorities read on the next day], that he went into a city called Nain; and his disciples went with him, and a great multitude. [We find that Jesus had been thronged with multitudes pretty continuously since the choosing of his twelve apostles. Nain lies on the northern slope of the mountain, which the Crusaders called Little Hermon, between twenty and twenty-five miles south of Capernaum, and about …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Backsliding.
"I will heal their backsliding; I will love them freely: for Mine anger is turned away."--Hosea xiv. 4. There are two kinds of backsliders. Some have never been converted: they have gone through the form of joining a Christian community and claim to be backsliders; but they never have, if I may use the expression, "slid forward." They may talk of backsliding; but they have never really been born again. They need to be treated differently from real back-sliders--those who have been born of the incorruptible …
Dwight L. Moody—The Way to God and How to Find It

An Obscured vision
(Preached at the opening of the Winona Lake Bible Conference.) TEXT: "Where there is no vision, the people perish."--Proverbs 29:18. It is not altogether an easy matter to secure a text for such an occasion as this; not because the texts are so few in number but rather because they are so many, for one has only to turn over the pages of the Bible in the most casual way to find them facing him at every reading. Feeling the need of advice for such a time as this, I asked a number of my friends who …
J. Wilbur Chapman—And Judas Iscariot

Sin Charged Upon the Surety
All we like sheep have gone astray: we have turned every one to his own way, and the LORD hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. C omparisons, in the Scripture, are frequently to be understood with great limitation: perhaps, out of many circumstances, only one is justly applicable to the case. Thus, when our Lord says, Behold, I come as a thief (Revelation 16:15) , --common sense will fix the resemblance to a single point, that He will come suddenly, and unexpectedly. So when wandering sinners …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

An Address to the Regenerate, Founded on the Preceding Discourses.
James I. 18. James I. 18. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. I INTEND the words which I have now been reading, only as an introduction to that address to the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, with which I am now to conclude these lectures; and therefore shall not enter into any critical discussion, either of them, or of the context. I hope God has made the series of these discourses, in some measure, useful to those …
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration

Scriptures Showing the Sin and Danger of Joining with Wicked and Ungodly Men.
Scriptures Showing The Sin And Danger Of Joining With Wicked And Ungodly Men. When the Lord is punishing such a people against whom he hath a controversy, and a notable controversy, every one that is found shall be thrust through: and every one joined with them shall fall, Isa. xiii. 15. They partake in their judgment, not only because in a common calamity all shares, (as in Ezek. xxi. 3.) but chiefly because joined with and partakers with these whom God is pursuing; even as the strangers that join …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

How those who Fear Scourges and those who Contemn them are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 14.) Differently to be admonished are those who fear scourges, and on that account live innocently, and those who have grown so hard in wickedness as not to be corrected even by scourges. For those who fear scourges are to be told by no means to desire temporal goods as being of great account, seeing that bad men also have them, and by no means to shun present evils as intolerable, seeing they are not ignorant how for the most part good men also are touched by them. They are to be admonished …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Christian Meekness
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth Matthew 5:5 We are now got to the third step leading in the way to blessedness, Christian meekness. Blessed are the meek'. See how the Spirit of God adorns the hidden man of the heart, with multiplicity of graces! The workmanship of the Holy Ghost is not only curious, but various. It makes the heart meek, pure, peaceable etc. The graces therefore are compared to needlework, which is different and various in its flowers and colours (Psalm 45:14). …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Jeremiah
The interest of the book of Jeremiah is unique. On the one hand, it is our most reliable and elaborate source for the long period of history which it covers; on the other, it presents us with prophecy in its most intensely human phase, manifesting itself through a strangely attractive personality that was subject to like doubts and passions with ourselves. At his call, in 626 B.C., he was young and inexperienced, i. 6, so that he cannot have been born earlier than 650. The political and religious …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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