Bible Strands
Jeremiah 8:4
So you are to tell them this is what the LORD says: “Do men fall and not get up again? Does one turn away and not return?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God commands Jeremiah to deliver a rhetorical challenge to the exiled people of Judah during a period of national rebellion and divine judgment.
The words — The Hebrew הֲ/יִפְּל֖וּ (ha./yi.pe.Lu) literally means “do they fall?” paired with יָק֑וּמוּ (ya.Ku.mu) for “do they stand up?” to frame the rhetorical questions.
The thread — This motif of falling and rising appears in Proverbs 24:16, which contrasts the persistent rising of the righteous with the stumbling of the wicked. It echoes in Micah 7:8 and Isaiah 55:7, where falling and returning remain tied to divine restoration.
Why it lands — The text demands the reader acknowledge that physical resilience in falling contrasts sharply with spiritual obstinacy in refusing to repent. It requires an immediate examination of whether one clings to deceit rather than returning to God.
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
Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?
Cross-references
- Proverbs 24:16 For though a righteous man may fall seven times, he still gets up; but the wicked stumble in bad times.
- Micah 7:8 Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will arise; though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.
- Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.
- Jeremiah 3:1 “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers—and you would return to Me?” declares the LORD.
- Hosea 6:1 Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.
- Ezekiel 18:23 Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Lord GOD. Wouldn’t I prefer that he turn from his ways and live?
- Hosea 7:10 Israel’s arrogance testifies against them, yet they do not return to the LORD their God; despite all this, they do not seek Him.
- Hosea 14:1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity.
- Amos 5:2 “Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again. She lies abandoned on her land, with no one to raise her up.”
- 1 Kings 8:38 then may whatever prayer or petition Your people Israel make—each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple—