Charles Ellicott 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)

Why do we sit still? ... —The cry of the people, in answer to Jehovah's threatening, is introduced by the prophet with startling dramatic vividness. They are ready to flee into the fortified cities, as the prophet had told them in Jeremiah 4:5, but it is without hope. They are going into the silence as of death, for Jehovah Himself has brought them to that silence.

Water of gall. —The idea implied is that of poison as well as bitterness. It is uncertain what the “gall-plant” was; possibly, from its connection with “grapes” or “clusters,” as in Deuteronomy 32:32, belladonna or colocynth is meant. Others have suggested the poppy, and this is in part confirmed by the narcotic properties implied in Matthew 27:34. In Deuteronomy 29:18 it is joined with “wormwood.”