Jeremiah 8:6
I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle. I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.
The verse depicts God bending down to listen, yet hearing no right speech, for no one turns from evil to ask what wrong has been done. It is a picture of persistent and perpetual backsliding, in which people cling to deceit and refuse to return. Instead each one veers to his own chosen path with the headlong recklessness of a war-horse plunging into battle. This describes those who hear the divine word yet turn away from Scripture rather than obey its plain requirements.
In its setting this blindness to divine judgment stands in stark contrast to the stork, turtledove, and swallow, which all know their appointed seasons. The people boast that they are wise and that the law is with them, but having rejected the divine word their scribal labor is empty, their wise are put to shame and taken captive, and no true wisdom is left in them. They dress moral wounds lightly by crying peace where there is no peace, they feel no shame for abominable deeds and have lost even the power to blush, and therefore they will fall among the fallen and be cast down in the time of visitation.
The way back is to amend ways and doings and to quit trusting in lying words. It calls for obeying the divine voice and carrying out just judgment between people. It requires no longer oppressing the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, shedding no innocent blood, and walking no more after other gods. Those who listen diligently in this manner will have their souls live under the everlasting covenant.