Albert Barnes Commentary Jeremiah 8:14

"Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there; for Jehovah our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against Jehovah." — Jeremiah 8:14 (ASV)

The people rouse one another to exertion. “Why,” they ask, “do we remain here to be overwhelmed?” They are ready now to follow the command given (see the reference in the margin), but with the conviction that all hope is over.

Let us be silent there - Rather, let us perish there, literally “be put to silence.”

Water of gall - That is, poison. The word rendered “gall” was probably the belladonna, or nightshade, to the “berries” of which the grapes of Israel were compared.