Jeremiah 8:6 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

And heard, i.e. that I might hear; the words rather of God than of the prophet, which the continuance of the speech seems to show in the next verse, in the close whereof it is plain that God speaks, expressing himself after the manner of men, who are wont to listen diligently after the things they are very desirous of. See 1 Kings 20:33 Zechariah 3:16. Not aright; or, not so, as the LXX., and the word is thus used, Exodus 10:11 Psalms 1:4; not so as I would have had them; so far from repentance, that I do not perceive a word from them tending that way. What have I done? I see no tendency to repentance, I see none of them so much as calling themselves to an account, not recoiling upon themselves, where repentance usually begins, 2 Chronicles 6:37, as men use upon an inconsiderate act to smite upon their breast, or thigh, and say, What have I done? as 2 Samuel 3:24. Every one turned to his course; to their accustomed way, committing all wickedness without restraint. See on Isaiah 59:7. The fury and unbridledness of their lusts, being spurred on by their wills, it described in the next expression, showing how, like a headstrong horse, he runs away with his rider; or compared to the delight that a horse seems to take in running violently and headstrongly into the battle, as it is described, Job 39:21, &c.; and this word rushing, signifying properly an inundation of waters, helps to show their uncontrollableness in another metaphor: see this verified of them Jeremiah 2:23,24. It is said every one by an hyperbole, at, Psalms 14:3, and frequently elsewhere.