Jeremiah 23:16-17

23:16 The Lord who rules over all ¹  says to the people of Jerusalem: ² 

“Do not listen to what

those prophets are saying to you.

They are filling you with false hopes.

They are reporting visions of their own imaginations,

not something the Lord has given them to say. ³ 

23:17 They continually say ⁴  to those who reject what the Lord has said, ⁵ 

‘Things will go well for you!’ ⁶ 

They say to all those who follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts,

‘Nothing bad will happen to you!’

Jeremiah 23:21

23:21 I did not send those prophets.

Yet they were in a hurry to give their message. ⁷ 

I did not tell them anything.

Yet they prophesied anyway.

Jeremiah 23:32

23:32 I, the Lord, affirm ⁸  that I am opposed to those prophets who dream up lies and report them. They are misleading my people with their reckless lies. ⁹  I did not send them. I did not commission them. They are not helping these people at all. ¹⁰  I, the Lord, affirm it!” ¹¹ 

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¹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

sn See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of this title.

² tn The words “to the people of Jerusalem” are not in the Hebrew text but are supplied in the translation to reflect the masculine plural form of the imperative and the second masculine plural form of the pronoun. These words have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “They tell of a vision of their own heart [= mind] not from the mouth of the Lord.”

⁴ tn The translation reflects an emphatic construction where the infinitive absolute follows a participle (cf. GKC 343 §113.r).

⁵ tc The translation follows the Greek version. The Hebrew text reads, “who reject me, ‘The Lord has spoken, “Things…”’” The Greek version is to be preferred here because of (1) the parallelism of the lines “reject what the Lord has said” // “follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts;” (2) the preceding context which speaks of “visions of their own imaginations not of what the Lord has given them;” (3) the following context which denies that they have ever had access to the Lord’s secrets; (4) the general contexts earlier regarding false prophecy where rejection of the Lord’s word is in view (6:14 [see there v. 10]; 8:11 [see there v. 9]); (5) the meter of the poetic lines (the Hebrew meter is 3/5/4/3; the meter presupposed by the translation is 5/3/4/3 with the 3’s being their words). The difference is one of vocalization of the same consonants. The vocalization of the MT is יְהוָה מְנַאֲצַי דִּבֶּר [mÿna’atsay dibber yÿhvah]; the Hebrew Vorlage behind the Greek would be vocalized as מְנַאֲצֵי דְּבַר יְהוָה (mÿna’atsey dÿvar yÿhvah).

⁶ tn Heb “You will have peace.” But see the note on 14:13. See also 6:14 and 8:11.

⁷ tn Heb “Yet they ran.”

sn The image is that of a messenger bearing news from the king. See 2 Sam 18:19-24; Jer 51:31; Isa 40:9; 52:7; Hab 2:2 (the tablet/scroll bore the message the runner was to read to the intended recipients of his message). Their message has been given in v. 17 (see notes there for cross references).

⁸ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

⁹ tn Heb “with their lies and their recklessness.” This is an example of hendiadys where two nouns (in this case a concrete and an abstract one) are joined by “and” but one is intended to be the adjectival modifier of the other.

¹⁰ sn In the light of what has been said this is a rhetorical understatement; they are not only “not helping,” they are leading them to their doom (cf. vv. 19-22). This figure of speech is known as litotes.

¹¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”