Bible Strands
Jeremiah 8:11
They dress the wound of the daughter of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah delivers this oracle against Judah’s leaders and prophets during a time of national apostasy and impending military collapse. He addresses a society where spiritual authorities actively conceal the severity of the crisis.
The words — וַיְרַפְּאוּ (va-yeraffeu) means “they healed” or “they dressed,” describing the superficial treatment of the fracture (שֶׁבֶר, shever) of the daughter of God’s people. The phrase highlights a careless, minimal intervention (עַל נְקַלָּה, al neqallah) that ignores the depth of the injury.
The thread — The identical declaration appears in Jeremiah 6:14 and echoes Ezekiel 13:10, where false prophets similarly proclaim “Peace, peace” despite the absence of reconciliation. The pattern of deceptive assurance also surfaces in 1 Kings 22:6.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to confront unaddressed sin and impending judgment rather than accept hollow assurances. It demands honest reckoning with reality over the comfort of unearned peace.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 6:14 They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.
- Ezekiel 13:10 Because they have led My people astray, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and whitewashing any flimsy wall that is built,
- 1 Kings 22:6 So the king of Israel assembled the prophets, about four hundred men, and asked them, “Should I go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I refrain?” “Go up,” they replied, “and the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.”
- 1 Kings 22:13 Then the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah instructed him, “Behold now, with one accord the words of the prophets are favorable to the king. So please let your words be like theirs, and speak favorably.”
- Jeremiah 14:14 “The prophets are prophesying lies in My name,” replied the LORD. “I did not send them or appoint them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, a worthless divination, the futility and delusion of their own minds.
- Jeremiah 27:9 But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums, or your sorcerers who declare, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’
- Jeremiah 28:3 Within two years I will restore to this place all the articles of the house of the LORD that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and carried to Babylon.
- Lamentations 2:14 The visions of your prophets were empty and deceptive; they did not expose your guilt to ward off your captivity. The burdens they envisioned for you were empty and misleading.
- Ezekiel 13:22 Because you have disheartened the righteous with your lies, even though I have caused them no grief, and because you have encouraged the wicked not to turn from their evil ways to save their lives,
- Micah 2:11 If a man of wind were to come and say falsely, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be just the preacher for this people!