Jeremiah 8:5
Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
Jerusalem's backsliding was perpetual, a persistent turning away in which the people clung fast to deceit and falsehood and refused to repent and return to God and to obedience. They held to deception rather than coming back to Him, rejecting repentance and the return to obedience He required. Their repeated breaking of the covenant and turning backward came from disobeying God's voice and refusing correction.
The same perpetual backsliding describes the masses in the present age of the world, who turn their ears away from hearing the Lord's word. They do so because they do not want to be disturbed by His plainly specified requirements. Instead of searching the Scriptures for themselves to understand what the Lord says so that they may obey His voice, they cling to falsehood and refuse to come back to obedience.