Discovery BoxJeremiah 2:20 
Context2:20 “Indeed, 1 long ago you threw off my authority
and refused to be subject to me. 2
You said, ‘I will not serve you.’ 3
Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hill
and under every green tree,
like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers. 4
Jeremiah 5:5
Context5:5 I will go to the leaders 5
and speak with them.
Surely they know what the Lord demands. 6
Surely they know what their God requires of them.” 7
Yet all of them, too, have rejected his authority
and refuse to submit to him. 8
Jeremiah 14:14
Context14:14 Then the Lord said to me, “Those prophets are prophesying lies while claiming my authority! 9 I did not send them. I did not commission them. 10 I did not speak to them. They are prophesying to these people false visions, worthless predictions, 11 and the delusions of their own mind.
Jeremiah 29:21
Context29:21 “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all 12 also has something to say about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you and claiming my authority to do so. 13 ‘I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and he will execute them before your very eyes.
Jeremiah 29:23
Context29:23 This will happen to them because they have done what is shameful 14 in Israel. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have spoken lies while claiming my authority. 15 They have spoken words that I did not command them to speak. I know what they have done. I have been a witness to it,’ says the Lord.” 16
Jeremiah 41:10
Context41:10 Then Ishmael took captive all the people who were still left alive in Mizpah. This included the royal princesses 17 and all the rest of the people in Mizpah that Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, had put under the authority of Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took all these people captive and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.
1 tn Or “For.” The Hebrew particle (כִּי, ki) here introduces the evidence that they had no respect for him.
2 tn Heb “you broke your yoke…tore off your yoke ropes.” The metaphor is that of a recalcitrant ox or heifer which has broken free from its master.
3 tc The MT of this verse has two examples of the old second feminine singular perfect, שָׁבַרְתִּי (shavarti) and נִתַּקְתִּי (nittaqti), which the Masoretes mistook for first singulars leading to the proposal to read אֶעֱבוֹר (’e’evor, “I will not transgress”) for אֶעֱבֹד (’e’evod, “I will not serve”). The latter understanding of the forms is accepted in KJV but rejected by almost all modern English versions as being less appropriate to the context than the reading accepted in the translation given here.
4 tn Heb “you sprawled as a prostitute on….” The translation reflects the meaning of the metaphor.
5 tn Or “people in power”; Heb “the great ones.”
6 tn Heb “the way of the
7 tn Heb “the judgment [or ordinance] of their God.”
8 tn Heb “have broken the yoke and torn off the yoke ropes.” Compare Jer 2:20 and the note there.
9 tn Heb “Falsehood those prophets are prophesying in my name.” In the OT, the “name” reflected the person’s character (cf. Gen 27:36; 1 Sam 25:25) or his reputation (Gen 11:4; 2 Sam 8:13). To speak in someone’s name was to act as his representative or carry his authority (1 Sam 25:9; 1 Kgs 21:8).
10 tn Heb “I did not command them.” Compare 1 Chr 22:12 for usage.
11 tn Heb “divination and worthlessness.” The noun “worthlessness” stands as a qualifying “of” phrase (= to an adjective; an attributive genitive in Hebrew) after a noun in Zech 11:17; Job 13:4. This is an example of hendiadys where two nouns are joined by “and” with one serving as the qualifier of the other.
sn The word translated “predictions” here is really the word “divination.” Divination was prohibited in Israel (cf. Deut 18:10, 14). The practice of divination involved various mechanical means to try to predict the future. The word was used here for its negative connotations in a statement that is rhetorically structured to emphasize the falseness of the promises of the false prophets. It would be unnatural to contemporary English style to try to capture this emphasis in English. In the Hebrew text the last sentence reads: “False vision, divination, and worthlessness and the deceitfulness of their heart they are prophesying to them.” For the emphasis in the preceding sentence see the note there.
12 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”
sn See study notes on 2:19 and 7:3 for the explanation of this title.
13 tn Heb “prophesying lies in my name.” For an explanation of this idiom see the study notes on 14:14 and 23:27.
14 tn It is commonly assumed that this word is explained by the two verbal actions that follow. The word (נְבָלָה, nÿvalah) is rather commonly used of sins of unchastity (cf., e.g., Gen 34:7; Judg 19:23; 2 Sam 13:12) which would fit the reference to adultery. However, the word is singular and not likely to cover both actions that follow. The word is also used of the greedy act of Achan (Josh 7:15) which threatened Israel with destruction and the churlish behavior of Nabal (1 Sam 25:25) which threatened him and his household with destruction. The word is also used of foolish talk in Isa 9:17 (9:16 HT) and Isa 32:6. It is possible that this refers to a separate act, one that would have brought the death penalty from Nebuchadnezzar, i.e., the preaching of rebellion in conformity with the message of the false prophets in Jerusalem and other nations (cf. 27:9, 13). Hence it is possible that the translation should read: “This will happen because of their vile conduct. They have propagated rebellion. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives. They have spoken words that I did not command them to speak. They have spoken lies while claiming my authority.”
15 tn Heb “prophesying lies in my name.” For an explanation of this idiom see the study notes on 14:14 and 23:27.
16 tn Heb “Oracle of the
17 tn Heb “the daughters of the king.” Most commentators do not feel that this refers to the actual daughters of Zedekiah since they would have been too politically important to have escaped exile with their father. As noted in the translator’s note on 36:26 this need not refer to the actual daughters of the king but may refer to other royal daughters, i.e., the daughters of other royal princes.
