Jeremiah 23:36

You must no longer say that the Lord’s message is burdensome. ¹  For what is ‘burdensome’ ²  really pertains to what a person himself says. ³  You are misrepresenting ⁴  the words of our God, the living God, the Lord who rules over all. ⁵ 

But you must not mention ‘the oracle of the LORD’ again, because every man’s own word becomes his oracle and so you distort the words of the living God, the LORD Almighty, our God.

"For you will no longer remember the oracle of the LORD, because every man’s own word will become the oracle, and you have perverted the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God.

But stop using this phrase, ‘prophecy from the LORD.’ For people are using it to give authority to their own ideas, turning upside down the words of our God, the living God, the LORD Almighty.

But don't go around pretending to know it all, saying 'God told me this...God told me that....'I don't want to hear it anymore. Only the person I authorize speaks for me. Otherwise, my Message gets twisted, the Message of the living GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies.

And you will no longer put people in mind of the word of weight of the Lord: for every man’s word will be a weight on himself; for the words of the living God, of the Lord of armies, our God, have been twisted by you.

But "the burden of the LORD" you shall mention no more, for the burden is everyone’s own word, and so you pervert the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God.

"And the oracle of the LORD you shall mention no more. For every man’s word will be his oracle, for you have perverted the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God.

You must no longer say that the Lord’s message is burdensome. ¹  For what is ‘burdensome’ ²  really pertains to what a person himself says. ³  You are misrepresenting ⁴  the words of our God, the living God, the Lord who rules over all. ⁵ 

¹ tn Heb “burden of the Lord.”

² tn Heb “the burden.”

³ tn Heb “The burden is [or will be] to a man his word.” There is a good deal of ambiguity regarding how this line is to be rendered. For the major options and the issues involved W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:651-52 should be consulted. Most of them are excluded by the observation that מַשָּׂא probably does not mean “oracle” anywhere in this passage (see note on v. 33 regarding the use of this word). Hence it does not mean “every man’s word becomes his oracle” as in NIV or “for that ‘burden’ [= oracle] is what he entrusts to the man of his word” (W. McKane, Jeremiah [ICC], 1:600-601). The latter is also ruled out by the fact that the antecedent of “his” on “his word” is clearly the word “man” in front of it. This would be the only case where the phrase “man of his word” occurs. There is also no textual reason for repointing the noun with the article as the noun with the interrogative to read “For how can his word become a burden to anyone?” There are, of course, other options but this is sufficient to show that the translation has been chosen after looking at other alternatives.

⁴ tn Heb “turning.” See BDB 245 s.v. הָפַךְ Qal.1.c and Lev 13:55; Jer 13:33 “changing, altering.”

⁵ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

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