Jeremiah 8:21-22

8:21 My heart is crushed because my dear people ¹  are being crushed. ² 

I go about crying and grieving. I am overwhelmed with dismay. ³ 

8:22 There is still medicinal ointment ⁴  available in Gilead!

There is still a physician there! ⁵ 

Why then have my dear people ⁶ 

not been restored to health? ⁷ 

[8:21]  ¹ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

[8:21]  ² tn Heb “Because of the crushing of the daughter of my people I am crushed.”

[8:21]  ³ tn Heb “I go about in black [i.e., mourning clothes]. Dismay has seized me.”

[8:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “balm.” The more familiar “ointment” has been used in the translation, supplemented with the adjective “medicinal.”

[8:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?” In this context the questions are rhetorical and expect a positive answer, which is made explicit in the translation.

[8:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

[8:22]  ⁷ tn Or more clearly, “restored to spiritual health”; Heb “Why then has healing not come to my dear people?”