Jeremiah 23:32

23:32 I, the Lord, affirm 1  that I am opposed to those prophets who dream up lies and report them. They are misleading my people with their reckless lies. 2  I did not send them. I did not commission them. They are not helping these people at all. 3  I, the Lord, affirm it!” 4 

Jeremiah 27:15

27:15 For I, the Lord, affirm 5  that I did not send them. They are prophesying lies to you. If you 6  listen to them, I will drive you and the prophets who are prophesying lies out of the land and you will all die in exile.” 7 

1 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

2 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.

3 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.

4 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

5 tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

6 sn The verbs are again plural referring to the king and his royal advisers.

7 tn Heb “…drive you out and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying lies.”

sn For the fulfillment of this prophecy see Jer 39:5-7; 52:7-11; 2 Kgs 25:4-7.