The people will speak again in Jeremiah 8:20 in his lament, but Jeremiah interrupts their words by inserting a question from the Lord. Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images and with their foreign gods?
The question effectively answers the questions asked by the people in Jeremiah 8:19a. How can they expect the Lord to be present with them as their protecting King if they have rebelled against him in disobedience and by worshipping other gods?1 It is as if the people are so blinded by their hypocrisy that they do not know the Lord or recognize his voice.2
19 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?”