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Jeremiah 23:32

in Jeremiah 23

“Indeed,” declares the LORD, “I am against those who prophesy false dreams and retell them to lead My people astray with their reckless lies. It was not I who sent them or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all to these people,” declares the LORD.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Behold, I am against them that prophesy lying dreams, saith Jehovah, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting: yet I sent them not, nor commanded them; neither do they profit this people at all, saith Jehovah.

KJV

Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord.

This verse in Jeremiah 23

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
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.

This site's exposition

I have heard the sayings of

on Jeremiah 23:25-32

The prophets’ doubled cry, “I had a dream!”, is mocked, and verse 28 sets the two side by side: “what is straw compared to grain?” The LORD’s word is “like fire” and “like a hammer that smashes a rock,” with a force the invented word lacks.

This site's exposition

who prophesy false dreams

The charges gather here, false dreams, lies told again, and no word from the LORD. Gill reads the reckless lies as both false teaching and loose living, one leading the people's minds astray and the other their lives. Such prophets bring no benefit at all.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Jeremiah · Written before 420.

proposed

(Verse 30 and following) Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,' declares the Lord, 'who steal my words from each other (or from their neighbor). Behold, I am against the prophets,' declares the Lord, 'who use their own tongues and say, "declares" (or who sleep and dream).

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

The third characteristic. See Jer 23:25. Lightness - Vain, empty, talk.

The words behind it

25 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • הִ֠נְנִיhere I

    hiniH2005 →316 times

  • עַֽל־[am] on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • נִבְּאֵ֞י[those who] prophesy

    nibeeiH5012 →115 times

  • חֲלֹמ֥וֹת<of> dreams of

    chalomotH2472 →65 times

  • שֶׁ֙קֶר֙falsehood

    shekerH8267 →113 times

  • נְאֻם־[the] utterance of

    neum-H5002 →376 times

  • יְהוָ֔הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • וַֽיְסַפְּרוּם֙and they have recounted them

    vaysaperumH5608 →159 times

  • וַיַּתְע֣וּand they caused to err

    vaiyatuH8582 →50 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • עַמִּ֔יpeople my

    ʾamiH5971 →1873 times

  • בְּשִׁקְרֵיהֶ֖םby falsehoods their

    beshikreihemH8267 →113 times

  • וּבְפַחֲזוּתָ֑םand by recklessness their

    uvefachazutamH6350 →

  • וְאָנֹכִ֨יand I

    veanokhiH595 →359 times

  • לֹֽא־not

    lo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • שְׁלַחְתִּ֜יםI sent them

    shelachtimH7971 →845 times

  • וְלֹ֣אand not

    velo'H3808 →5168 times

  • צִוִּיתִ֗יםI appointed them

    tzivitimH6680 →494 times

  • וְהוֹעֵ֛ילand certainly <to benefit>

    vehoeilH3276 →23 times

  • לֹֽא־not

    lo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • יוֹעִ֥ילוּthey benefit

    yoiluH3276 →23 times

  • לָֽעָם־<to> the people

    laom-H5971 →1873 times

  • הַזֶּ֖ה<the> this

    hazehH2088 →1180 times

  • נְאֻם־[the] utterance of

    neum-H5002 →376 times

  • יְהוָֽה׃Yahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    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.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 5:31

      The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?

      Reached by 3 separate paths from here.

    • Isaiah 58:1

      “Cry aloud, do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram’s horn. Declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.

    • 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.

    • Ezekiel 22:25

      The conspiracy of the princes in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They devour the people, seize the treasures and precious things, and multiply the widows within her.

  • Through

    Zephaniah 3:4

    Her prophets are reckless, faithless men. Her priests profane the sanctuary; they do violence to the law.

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 22:26

      Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They…

    • 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.

    • Hosea 9:7

      The days of punishment have come; the days of retribution have arrived—let Israel know it. The prophet is called a fool, and the inspired man insane, because of the greatness of your iniquity and…

  • Through

    Jeremiah 7:8

    But look, you keep trusting in deceptive words to no avail.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 28:15

      For you said, “We have made a covenant with death; we have fashioned an agreement with Sheol. When the overwhelming scourge passes through it will not touch us, because we have made lies our…

Where this verse is studied

About Jeremiah

Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, Rembrandt, 1630. Public domain.
Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, Rembrandt, 1630. Public domain.

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.