耶利米書8:18-22

8:18 我有憂愁，願能自慰；我心在我裡面發昏。

8:19 聽啊，是我百姓的哀聲從極遠之地而來，說：耶和華不在錫安嗎？錫安的王不在其中麼？耶和華說：他們為甚麼以雕刻的偶像和外邦虛無的神惹我發怒呢？

8:20 麥秋已過，夏令已完，我們還未得救！

8:21 先知說：因我百姓的損傷，我也受了損傷。我哀痛，驚惶將我抓住。

8:22 在基列豈沒有乳香呢？在那裡豈沒有醫生呢？我百姓為何不得痊癒呢？

My joy is gone; grief is upon me;

my heart is sick within me.

  Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people

from the length and breadth of the land:

“Is the Lord not in Zion?

Is her King not in her?”

“Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images

and with their foreign idols?”

  “The harvest is past, the summer is ended,

and we are not saved.”

  For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded;

I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.

  Is there no balm in Gilead?

Is there no physician there?

Why then has the health of the daughter of my people

not been restored?

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    先知在這裡說出心中對百姓的關心，因為他憂心這些人敬拜偶像，會遭遇到上帝的憤怒，會受到上帝嚴重的管教，甚至於會受到大大的傷害！因為上帝是忌邪的上帝，祂恨惡罪惡！百姓行罪惡的事，是會因上帝的怒氣而受到傷害！

    其實，這不只是先知的哀傷，更是上帝的哀傷，祂不願意祂的百姓，因為行不義而遭受到管教。但是上帝又非得管教不可，因為上帝對祂的子民的聖潔十分看重！

    也因為如此，上帝透過耶穌基督的代贖，來接納我們這些罪惡的人，也透過讓我們因著耶穌來稱義，而來救我們脫離罪惡的綑綁，使我們可以不斷地更新，活出上帝兒女的榮耀形象！