John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 8:20

"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." — Jeremiah 8:20 (ASV)

The Prophet shows now in the name of the people what was the hindrance. At the time Jeremiah spoke, the Jews confidently boasted that God was their defender, and they did not think that the Chaldeans were preparing for an expedition. But as they were inflated with false confidence, the Prophet here recites what they would soon say, Passed has the harvest, ended has the summer, and we have not been saved; that is, “We thought that the associates, with whom we have made alliances, would eventually come to our aid; and we have in this respect been deceived.” In saying that the harvest had passed, some think that they expected help from the Egyptians after they had gathered their grain into barns, for there is then more leisure, and then also there are provisions for the army.

But the Prophet seems to include the whole time suitable for carrying on war, as though he had said, “What will become of us in the end? For if the Egyptians intended to bring help, they would have done so at the suitable time of the year; but passed has the harvest, and the summer has ended: will they come now, when the severity of winter constrains them to keep at home?”

It is the same as though they had said, “There is no hope of aid either from the Egyptians or from other confederates, for the suitable time has passed.” There was nothing less credible to the Jews at that time; for as it has elsewhere appeared, they did not doubt that the Egyptians would bring them aid, and supply them with help instead of God. But the Prophet intimates that whatever the Egyptians might have promised would be in vain and wholly useless, that the people would eventually find out by experience that their promises were mere deceptions, indeed, impostures and deceits. In short, he describes in the name of the people (so that what he said might be more emphatic) what they would soon find out, though they would not believe it at that time.