Jeremiah 8:22

There is still medicinal ointment ¹  available in Gilead! There is still a physician there! ²  Why then have my dear people ³  not been restored to health? ⁴ 

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people been restored?

Is there no medicine in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why is there no healing for the wounds of my people?

Are there no healing ointments in Gilead? Isn't there a doctor in the house? So why can't something be done to heal and save my dear, dear people?

Is there no life-giving oil in Gilead? is there no expert in medical arts? why then have my people not been made well?

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?

Is there no balm in Gilead, Is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery For the health of the daughter of my people?

There is still medicinal ointment ¹  available in Gilead! There is still a physician there! ²  Why then have my dear people ³  not been restored to health? ⁴ 

¹ tn Heb “balm.” The more familiar “ointment” has been used in the translation, supplemented with the adjective “medicinal.”

sn This medicinal ointment (Heb “balm”) consisted of the gum or resin from a tree that grows in Egypt and Palestine and was thought to have medicinal value (see also Jer 46:11).

² 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.

sn The prophet means by this metaphor that there are still means available for healing the spiritual ills of his people, mainly repentance, obedience to the law, and sole allegiance to God, and still people available who will apply this medicine to them, namely prophets like himself.

³ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

⁴ tn Or more clearly, “restored to spiritual health”; Heb “Why then has healing not come to my dear people?”

sn Jeremiah is lamenting that though there is a remedy available for the recovery of his people they have not availed themselves of it.