Jeremiah 8

The LORD, Zion's King

Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities? Jeremiah 8:19

The exiles cry out, wondering whether the LORD, Zion's King, is still among them. Scripture promises that the Lord will one day dwell in Zion's midst as her King, fulfilled in Christ's reign.

How we know: Jehovah is the premortal Christ (Abraham 1:16; D&C 110:3–4)

• the same title in Zephaniah 3:15 — The king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee.
• the same title in D&C 45:59 — The Lord shall be in their midst ... and shall be their king and their lawgiver.

The harvest is past

The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. Jeremiah 8:20

Judah realizes too late that the time to be saved has slipped away. In modern revelation Jesus Christ uses these words to warn people to prepare before His coming, lest their summer end and their souls not be saved.

• alluded to by D&C 45:2 — In an hour when ye think not the summer shall be past, and the harvest ended, and your souls not saved.
• quoted by D&C 56:16 — The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and my soul is not saved!

Balm in Gilead / the Physician

Balm of Gilead — a healing resin from Gilead; physician — one who heals

For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. Jeremiah 8:21–22

Jeremiah (or the Lord through him) feels his people's wound as his own and asks why no healing has come when a balm and a physician are near. Christians widely hear Christ here, the Physician who carries our hurts and heals the sin-sick soul.

• the same title in Mark 2:17 — Jesus: They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick.
• the same title in Isaiah 53:4-5 — Surely he hath borne our griefs ... and with his stripes we are healed.