Jeremiah 23:21
in Jeremiah 23I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I sent not these prophets, yet they ran: I spake not unto them, yet they prophesied.
KJV
I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
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This verse in Jeremiah 23
Commentary
3 notes on this verseon Jeremiah 23:21-22
(Verses 21, 22). I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. If they had stood in my council and had made my words known to my people, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their actions. This sentiment is explained by the Apostle to the Romans: And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
This site's exposition
they speak a vision of their own heart
on Jeremiah 23:16-22
The test set for a true word is where it comes from, out of the mouth of the Lord against a vision of their own heart, and the false comfort these prophets sell, ye shall have peace, no evil shall come upon you, is named as the specific product of that failure. Verse 18's question, who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, invokes the same heavenly council scene Micaiah describes in 1 Kings 22 and Isaiah sees in his sixth chapter, a true prophet admitted to a session a false one never attends. Verse 22 states the test in reverse, if they had stood in my counsel they would have turned my people from their evil way, so the measure of a prophet offered here is moral fruit rather than confidence, whether the message purifies or comforts the hearer past correction.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
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.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| שָׁלַ֥חְתִּי | shalachti | I sent | H7971 → | 845 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַנְּבִאִ֖ים | haneviim | the prophets | H5030 → | 314 times |
| וְהֵ֣ם | vehem | and they | H1992 → | 553 times |
| רָ֑צוּ | ratzu | they ran | H7323 → | 103 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| דִבַּ֥רְתִּי | dibarti | I spoke | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| אֲלֵיהֶ֖ם | ʾaleihem | to them | H413 → | 5510 times |
| וְהֵ֥ם | vehem | and they | H1992 → | 553 times |
| נִבָּֽאוּ׃ | nibau | they prophesied | H5012 → | 115 times |
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
שָׁלַ֥חְתִּיI sent
shalachtiH7971 →845 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַנְּבִאִ֖יםthe prophets
haneviimH5030 →314 times
וְהֵ֣םand they
vehemH1992 →553 times
רָ֑צוּthey ran
ratzuH7323 →103 times
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
דִבַּ֥רְתִּיI spoke
dibartiH1696 →1141 times
אֲלֵיהֶ֖םto them
ʾaleihemH413 →5510 times
וְהֵ֥םand they
vehemH1992 →553 times
נִבָּֽאוּ׃they prophesied
nibauH5012 →115 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 28:15Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The LORD did not send you, but you have persuaded this people to trust in a lie.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 14:14–15
“The prophets are prophesying lies in My name,” replied the LORD. “I did not send them or appoint them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, a worthless divination,…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Lamentations 2:14
The visions of your prophets were empty and deceptive; they did not expose your guilt to ward off your captivity. The burdens they envisioned for you were empty and misleading.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 27:15
For I have not sent them, declares the LORD, and yet they are prophesying falsely in My name; therefore I will banish you, and you will perish—you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”
- Ezekiel 13:2–3
“Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Tell those who prophesy out of their own imagination: Hear the word of the LORD!
- Ezekiel 22:28
Her prophets whitewash these deeds by false visions and lying divinations, saying, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ when the LORD has not spoken.
- Jeremiah 14:14–15
Through
Jeremiah 14:14“The prophets are prophesying lies in My name,” replied the LORD. “I did not send them or appoint them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, a worthless divination,…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 29:31
“Send a message telling all the exiles what the LORD says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite. Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you—though I did not send him—and has made you trust in a lie,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 13:6–7
They see false visions and speak lying divinations. They claim, ‘Thus declares the LORD,’ when the LORD did not send them; yet they wait for the fulfillment of their message.
- Ezekiel 12:24
For there will be no more false visions or flattering divinations within the house of Israel,
- Jeremiah 29:31
Where this verse is studied
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah and Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah.