Jeremiah 23:21-22

23:21 I did not send those prophets.

Yet they were in a hurry to give their message. 1 

I did not tell them anything.

Yet they prophesied anyway.

23:22 But if they had stood in my inner circle, 2 

they would have proclaimed my message to my people.

They would have caused my people to turn from their wicked ways

and stop doing the evil things they are doing.

Jeremiah 23:32

23:32 I, the Lord, affirm 3  that I am opposed to those prophets who dream up lies and report them. They are misleading my people with their reckless lies. 4  I did not send them. I did not commission them. They are not helping these people at all. 5  I, the Lord, affirm it!” 6 

1 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).

2 tn Or “had been my confidant.” See the note on v. 18.

3 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

4 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.

5 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.

6 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”