Jeremiah23chapter 23

Jeremiah 23:1

“The pastors - shepherds, i. e., civil rulers Jer 2:8. The sheep of My pasture - literally, of My pasturing, the sheep of whom I am shepherd. The people do not belong to the rulers but to God.”

Jeremiah 23:2

“Ye have scattered my flock - The bad government both in Church and State was a principal cause of the people’s profligacy.”

Jeremiah 23:3

“While there is no promise of restoration for the kings, there is for the people (see Jer 4:27), because they had been led astray by their rulers. Have driven them - The evil shepherds drove the people into exile by leading them into sin: and God by inflicting punishment. Their folds - Or, their pastures.”

Jeremiah 23:3

“And this is what ought to be noticed, for as soon as God's mercy is offered, hypocrites apply to themselves whatever God promises, and become more and more insolent, as though they held him bound to them; for impunity leads them to take more liberty to sin. Hence it is that they boast that they are safe, for they consider themselves to be the people of God.”

Jeremiah 23:3-4

“It was the justice of God, for the sin of their shepherds, that dispersed them; but the mercy of God shall gather in the sheep, when the shepherds that betrayed them are cut off.”

Jeremiah 23:4

“And I will set shepherds over them, which shall feed them,.... Good shepherds, rulers and governors, that shall rule them with wholesome laws, and protect and defend them; such as Zerubbabel, Nehemiah, and others, after the captivity: or Christian kings and princes, when the Gospel came to be published and established in many kingdoms and provinces, and the sheep of Christ were gathered out of them.”

Jeremiah 23:4

“Shepherds - Men like Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Maccabees, raised up especially by God. It is a revocation of the promise made to David 2Sa 7:12-16 so far as the earthly throne was concerned. They shall fear no more ... - The effect of good government will be general security. Neither shall they be lacking - Not one sheep shall be missing or lost.”

Jeremiah 23:5

“Even with the temporal kingship abolished, David’s mercies are still sure. A righteous Branch - Or, sprout, germ (see Isa 4:2 note). The sprout is that in which the root springs up and grows, and which, if it be destroyed, makes the root perish also. And a king shall reign ... - Rather, and he shall reign as king. David’s family is to be dethroned (temporally), that it may reign gloriously (spiritually). But compare Jer 33:17, note; Jer 33:25, note.”

Jeremiah 23:5

“Behold - Even the Jewish doctors, as well as the Christian interpreters, understand this as a prophecy of the Messiah who is called the branch, Isaiah iv, 2; liii, 2. And here, he is called the righteous branch, not only because himself was righteous, but because he maketh his people righteous.”

Jeremiah 23:6

“In his days Judah shall be saved,.... In the days of the Messiah, the righteous Branch, and reigning prosperous King, not only the people of the Jews, God's elect among them, but all that truly embrace him, and confess him, as Judah's name signifies, shall be saved from all their sins; from the law, its curse and condemnation; and from wrath to come; and from all their spiritual enemies.”

Jeremiah 23:6

“And this - The name wherewith this branch shall be called, shall be, The Lord our righteousness. This place is an eminent proof of the Godhead of Christ, he is here called Jehovah, and what is proper to God alone, namely to justify, is here applied to Christ.”

Jeremiah 23:9

“Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets,.... The false prophets, as the Targum rightly interprets it.”

Jeremiah 23:9

“Because of the prophets - Rather, concerning “the prophets.” These words should come first, as being the title of this portion of the prophecy Jer. 23:9-40.”

Jeremiah 23:9

“But Vulgate, Septuagint, &c., make this the inscription of the prophecy, CONCERNING THE PROPHETS: as in Jer 46:2; Jeremiah expresses his horror at the so-called "prophets" not warning the people, though iniquity so fearfully abounded, soon to be followed by awful judgments. bones shake-- (Hab 3:16). drunken--God's judgments are represented as stupefying like wine.”

Jeremiah 23:10

“The land is full of adulterers - Of idolaters. Of persons who break their faith to ME, as an impure wife does to her husband. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up - He speaks here, most probably, in reference to dearth. Profane oaths, false swearing, evil courses, violence, etc., had provoked God to send this among other judgments; see Jer 23:19.”

Jeremiah 23:10

“Swearing - By false-swearing, or by idle and profane swearing. The pleasant places - The wrath of God was extended to all places whether more or less inhabited. Their courses - The prophets did not only err in single acts, but the whole course of their actions was evil, and particularly their power, rule and government, was not right.”

Jeremiah 23:11

“For both prophet and priest are profane - While by their office they are consecrated to God, they have made themselves common and unholy by their sins. See Jer 3:9 note. Yea, in my house - This may refer to sins such as those of the sons of Eli 1Sa 2:22, or that they had defiled the temple by idolatrous rites.”

Jeremiah 23:12

“Every word denotes the certainty of their fall. “Their path is like slippery places in darkness:” and on this path “they are pushed with violence.” External circumstances assist in urging on to ruin those who choose the path of vice.”

Jeremiah 23:13

“And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria,.... The ten tribes of Israel, among whom, in Ahab's time there were many false prophets, Baal's prophets, even four hundred and fifty; whose "folly" the Lord had formerly taken notice of; even their idolatry and impiety for giving into which the ten tribes had been carried captive years ago.”

Jeremiah 23:13

“And I have seen folly ... - Rather, “Also I have seen.” The prophet contrasts the prophets of Samaria with those of Jerusalem. In the conduct of the former God saw folly (literally that which is insipid, as being unsalted). It was stupidity to prophesy by Baal, an idol. In Baal - i. e., in the name of Baal.”

Jeremiah 23:14

“I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem - That is, the prophets of Jerusalem, while professing a pure faith, have followed the ways, and become as corrupt as the prophets of Samaria. They are all of them unto me as Sodom - Incorrigible, brutish sinners, who will as surely be destroyed as Sodom and Gomorrah were.”

Jeremiah 23:14

“By this means Judah and Jerusalem have become as Sodom and Gomorrah, that were wicked, and sinners before the Lord exceedingly; and God looked upon them accordingly as fit for nothing but to be destroyed, as they were, with fire and brimstone. That they encouraged people in sin by their false prophecies.”

Jeremiah 23:16

“Hearken not unto the words of the prophets - That is, of those who promise you safety, without requiring you to forsake your sins and turn unto the Lord; see Jer 23:17.”

Jeremiah 23:16

“Hearken not - People are under no religious obligation to hear any thing but the revealed will of God, and are not to obey those that call to them for what that doth not call to them.”

Jeremiah 23:17

“Still - “Continually.” This verse gives the chief test by which the false prophet is to be detected, namely, that his predictions violate the laws of morality.”

Jeremiah 23:17

“And, which was worst of all, they told them, God has said so, so making him to patronize sin, and to contradict himself. Note, Those that are resolved to go on in their evil ways will justly be given up to believe the strong delusions of those who tell them that they shall have peace though they go on.”

Jeremiah 23:18

“For who - Which of those prophets, that prophesy such terrible things against this city is a privy-counsellor to God? The words seem to be the words of the false prophets.”

Jeremiah 23:18

“Who of you has, that are so confident of this? You deliver this message with a great deal of assurance; but have you consulted God about it? No; you never considered whether it be agreeable to the discoveries God has made of himself, whether it will consist with the honour of his holiness and justice, to let sinners go unpunished.”

Jeremiah 23:19

Rather, “Behold, the tempest of Yahweh, even hot anger hath gone forth and a whirlwind shall burst upon the head of the wicked.”

Jeremiah 23:19

“So far from all prosperity awaiting the people as the false prophets say (Jer 23:17), wrath is in store for them. grievous--literally, "eddying," whirling itself about, a tornado. In Jer 30:23, "continuing" is substituted for "grievous." fall grievously--it shall be hurled on.”

Jeremiah 23:20

“It is the custom in Scripture, after what is bitter, to say kind things for encouragement, and after what is good to say more bitter words. Scripture does this in order that, when they have disdained the wealth of the goodness of God, they may not store up for themselves anger in a day of anger. Hence God said, "If anger comes, it will not withdraw unless God has accomplished what he wants." And if God wants, anger also occurs, in order that what God wants does occur.”

Jeremiah 23:20

“The anger - The prophet speaks of the judgment as of a messenger, which should not return till it had done its errand, and executed what God had resolved it should effect.”

Jeremiah 23:21

“I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran - Not to save souls, but to profit themselves. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied - They never received the word at my mouth; yet they went, publishing their own deceits, and pretending them to be revelations from God. The churches which have legal emoluments are ever in danger of being overrun and ruined by worldly and self-interested priests.”

Jeremiah 23:22

“This enables us to see, brethren, that they of Nicaea breathe the spirit of Scripture, in that God says in Exodus, `I am that I am,' and through Jeremiah, `Who is in His substance and hath seen His word;' and just below, `if they had stood in My subsistence and heard My words:' now subsistence is essence, and means nothing else but very being, which Jeremiah calls existence, in the words, `and they heard not the voice of existence.' For subsistence, and essence, is existence: for it is, or in other words exists.”

Jeremiah 23:22

“They would have encouraged and assisted the reformation of manners, would have made this their scope in all their preaching, to part between men and their sins; but it appeared that this was a thing they never aimed at, but, on the contrary, to encourage sinners in their sins.”

Jeremiah 23:23

“Let not the false prophets fancy that their devices (Jer 23:25) are unknown to Me. Are ye so ignorant as to suppose that I can only see things near Me, namely, things in heaven, and not earthly things as being too remote?”

Jeremiah 23:23

“The eye of God is the same on earth that it is in heaven. Here it runs to and fro as well as there ( 2 Chron. xvi. 9 ); and what is in the minds of men, whose spirits are veiled in flesh, is as clearly seen by him as what is in the mind of angels, those unveiled spirits above that surround his throne.”

Jeremiah 23:24

Wherefore, if we sensibly hold to those things which be worthy of the Son of God, we ought to understand Him to have been sent in such a way that the Word of God, out of the incomprehensible and ineffable mystery of the depths of His majesty, gave Himself for comprehension to our minds, so far as we could lay hold of Him, not only when He "emptied" Himself, but also when He dwelt in us, as it is written: "I will dwell in them."

Jeremiah 23:25

“In Deu 13:1 “a dreamer of dreams” is used in a bad sense, and with reason. God communicating His will by dreams was a thing too easy to counterfeit for it not to be misused.”

Jeremiah 23:27

“Which think to cause my people to forget my name,.... The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "my law".”

Jeremiah 23:27

“To his neighbor - i. e., to one another, to the people about him, to anyone. As their fathers ... - Rather, “as their fathers forgot My name through Baal.” The superstition which attaches importance to dreams keeps God as entirely out of men’s minds as absolute idolatry.”

Jeremiah 23:28

“What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord - Do not mingle these equivocal matters with positive revelations. Do not consider a dream, even from a prophet, as that positive inspiration which my prophets receive when their reason, judgment, and spiritual feelings are all in full and in regular exercise. Mix none of your own devices with my doctrines.”

Jeremiah 23:28

“The test is adherence to, or forgetfulness of, Me and My law (Jer 23:27). that hath a dream--that pretends to have a divine communication by dream, let him tell it "faithfully," that it may be compared with "my word" (2Co 4:2).”

Jeremiah 23:29

"Fire" is called "the Gospel" and "salvation" is called "preaching," or "fire" could also refer to participation in the Holy Spirit, which is similar to experiencing fire. And indeed, this is also why the most wise John the Baptist concerning himself and all of us said, "I baptize you with water for repentance" etc., [looking ahead] to our Savior Jesus Christ [who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire]. Rightly, therefore, did Christ say, "I have come to bring fire upon the earth, and I wish that it were already kindled."

Jeremiah 23:29

“Like as a fire - God’s word is the great purifier which destroys all that is false and aves, only the genuine metal. Compare Heb 4:12. Like a hammer ... - God’s word rouses and strengthens the conscience and crushes within the heart everything that is evil.”

Jeremiah 23:29

"My word" which is "wheat" [Jer 23:28], that is, food to the true prophet and his hearers, is a consuming "fire," and a crushing "hammer" (Mt 21:44) to false prophets and their followers (2Co 2:16). The Word of the false prophets may be known by its promising men peace in sin.

Jeremiah 23:29

“Note, The word of God is like fire. The law was a fiery law ( Deut. xxxiii. 2 ), and of the gospel Christ says, I have come to send fire on the earth, Luke xii.”

Jeremiah 23:30

“I am against the prophets - Three cases are mentioned here which excited God’s disapprobation: 1. The prophets who stole the word from their neighbor; who associated with the true prophets, got some intelligence from them, and then went and published it as a revelation which themselves had received, Jer 23:30. 2. The prophets who used their tongues; הלקחים לשונם hallokechim leshonam, who lick or smooth with their tongues - gave their own counsels as Divine revelations, flattering them in their sins, and promising peace, when God had not spoken; and prefaced them, “Thus saith the Lord,” Jer 23:31.”

Jeremiah 23:30-31

“Those that were strangers to the spirit of the true prophets mimicked their language, picked up some good sayings of theirs, and delivered them to the people as if they had been their own, but with an ill grace; they were not of a piece with the rest of their discourses. The legs of the lame are not equal, so is a parable in the mouth of fools, Prov. xxvi.”

Jeremiah 23:31

“That use their tongues - literally, that take their tongues. Their second characteristic. They have no message from God, but they take their tongues, their only implement, and say, He saith, using the solemn formula by which Yahweh affirms the truth of His words. Solemn asseverations seemed to give reality to their emptiness.”

Jeremiah 23:31

“Some read it, They smooth their tongues; they are very complaisant to the people, and say nothing but what is pleasing and plausible; they never reprove them nor threaten them, but their words are smoother than butter.”

Jeremiah 23:32

“Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord,.... And not true ones, such as the Lord spoke in to his prophets, and which they communicated from him to his people; see Num 12:6; and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; by the false doctrines and prophecies which they delivered, and by their loose and disorderly lives which they led; so that they debauched the principles of the people by the former, and their practices by the latter.”

Jeremiah 23:33

“Burden - Here a prophecy, either (1) as being something weighty: or (2) a something said aloud. Isaiah brought the word into general use: Jeremiah never used it, though his predictions were all of impending evil. The false prophets, however, applied it in derision to Jeremiah’s prophecies, playing upon its double sense, and so turning solemn realities into mockery (see Jer 23:34). What burden? - Or, according to another reading, Ye are the burden. I will even forsake you - Rather, and I will cast you away.”

Jeremiah 23:33

“What is the burden--play on the double sense of the Hebrew: an oracle and a burden. They scoffingly ask, Has he got any new burden (burdensome oracle: for all his prophecies are disasters) to announce (Mal 1:1)?”

Jeremiah 23:33

“The sin here charged upon them is bantering God's prophets and dialect they used, and jesting with sacred things. They asked, What is the burden of the Lord?”

Jeremiah 23:34

“That shall say - That is, that shall in derision say thus, mocking at my threatenings. And his house - I will not only punish him, but his whole family.”

Jeremiah 23:35

“The proper words for prophecy. It is to be called an answer when the people have come to inquire of Yahweh: but His word when it is sent unasked.”

Jeremiah 23:35

The result of My judgments shall be, ye shall address the prophet more reverentially hereafter, no longer calling his message a burden, but a divine response or word. "What hath the LORD answered?"

Jeremiah 23:36

“Every man’s word shall be his burden - Ye say that all God’s messages are burdens, and to you they shall be such: whereas, had you used them as you ought, they would have been blessings to you. For ye have perverted the words of the living God - And thus have sinned against your own souls.”

Jeremiah 23:37

“Thus shall thou say to the prophet,.... To Jeremiah, or any true prophet of the Lord; after the following manner should everyone address him, that made any inquiry of the will of the Lord by him: what hath the Lord answered thee? and what hath the Lord spoken? this is repeated from Jer 23:35; for the confirmation of it, and for the direction of the people, and to show how much the Lord approved of such a way of behaving towards his prophet, and himself by him.”

Jeremiah 23:38

“This was the word that gave great offence to God, that, whenever they spoke of the word of the Lord, they called it, in scorn and derision, the burden of the Lord. This was a word that the prophets much used, and used it seriously, to show what a weight the word of God was upon their spirits, of what importance it was, and how pressingly it should come upon those that heard it.”

Jeremiah 23:39

“Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you,.... That is, so behave towards them, as though they were entirely out of his sight and mind; show no affection to them; take no care of them; bestow no favours upon them; and no more have them under his protection.”

Jeremiah 23:39

Translate, “Therefore, behold, I will even take you up (or will burden you), and I will cast you, and the city which I gave you and your fathers, out of my presence.”