In the application in Jeremiah 8:5, the Pilel is used for to turn away from, and strengthened by: with perpetual turning away or backsliding.

Jeremiah 8:5 meaning. The spiritual state of Jerusalem during Jeremiah's time was deeply troubling, marked by a persistent refusal to repent from sin.

5 Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return.

It is natural for a person who falls to pick himself up again, but the people of Jerusalem who have fallen spiritually make no attempt to return to God.

Why has this people, Jerusalem, Turned away in continual apostasy? They hold on to deceit, They refuse to return. - What is the meaning of Jeremiah 8:5?

These people fill into sin, and rise not again by repentance; they turn out of the good ways of God and religion, and return not again; they backslide and ...

David Guzik commentary on Jeremiah 8, where Jeremiah preaches the stubborness of Judah, who rejected the word of the Lord.

Sin is backsliding; it is going back from the way that leads to life, to that which leads to destruction. 2. They would not attend to the warning of conscience.

The prophet proceeds, in this chapter, both to magnify and to justify the destruction that God was bringing upon this people, to show how grievous it would be ...