Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 8:17

"For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you, saith Jehovah." — Jeremiah 8:17 (ASV)

Serpents, cockatrices. —There is a sudden change of figure, one new image of terror starting from the history of the fiery serpents of Numbers 21:6, or, possibly, from the connection of Dan with the “serpent” and “adder” in Genesis 49:17.

It is not easy to identify the genus and species of the serpents of the Bible. Here the two words are in apposition. “Cockatrice,” however, cannot be right, as that name belongs, as an English word, to legendary zoology.

The Vulgate gives “basilisk.” In Proverbs 23:32 it is translated by “adder.” In any case, it implies a hissing venomous snake (probably the cerastes or serpens regulus), and the symbolism which identified it with the Assyrian or Chaldean power had already appeared in Isaiah 14:29.

Which will not be charmed. —The figure is that of Psalm 58:4-5. The “deaf adder” that “refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer” represents an implacable enemy waging a pitiless war. Serpent-charming, as in the case of the Egyptian sorcerers (Exodus 7:11), seems to have been from a very early time, as it is now, both in Egypt and India, one of the most prominent features of the natural magic of the East.