Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

Jeremiah 29:21

in Jeremiah 29

This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying to you lies in My name: “I will deliver them to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will kill them before your very eyes.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie unto you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes;

KJV

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie unto you in my name; Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes;

⋯

This verse in Jeremiah 29

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,.... See Gill on Jer 29:4; of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie unto you: two false prophets, of whom we have no account any where else but here; and are, no doubt, the prophets, or however two of them, that they of the captivity boasted of that God had raised unto them in Babylon, Jer 29:

This site's exposition

all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon

on Jeremiah 29:20-21

Two named prophets among the exiles, Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, are singled out for judgment, delivered into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar and slain before the exiles' own eyes rather than left to a private end. Their punishment falls by the hand of the very king they should have counseled submission to, the same king Jeremiah's letter had just told the people to seek peace toward. False prophecy inside the exile community is answered as publicly as Hananiah's had been in Jerusalem.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Jeremiah · Written before 420.

proposed

(Verses 21-23) This is what the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, says to Ahaziah son of Coliah, and to Zedekiah son of Maasiah, who prophesy to you falsely in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will strike them down before your eyes.

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), and this is the purport of Jeremiah's letter. Here is a letter which Shemaiah, a false prophet in Babylon, wrote to the priests at Jerusalem, to stir them up to persecute Jeremiah (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

He shall slay them before your eyes - Nebuchadnezzar would be led by political reasons to punish these pretended prophets, as their predictions tended to make his Israelitish subjects uneasy and disaffected, and might excite them to rebellion. He therefore slew them; two of them, it appears, he burnt alive, viz., Ahab and Zedekiah, who are supposed by the rabbins to be the two elders who endeavored to seduce Susanna, see Jer 29:23. Burning alive was a Chaldean punishment, Dan 3:6, and Amo 2:1. From them other nations borrowed it.

The words behind it

27 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.

  • כֹּֽה־thus

    koh-H3541 →577 times

  • אָמַר֩he says

    ʾamarH559 →5305 times

  • יְהוָ֨הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • צְבָא֜וֹתof hosts

    tzevaotH6635 →485 times

  • אֱלֹהֵ֣י[the] God of

    ʾeloheiH430 →2601 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֗לIsrael

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • אֶל־concerning

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • אַחְאָ֤בAhab

    ʾachavH256 →

  • בֶּן־[the] son of

    ben-H1121 →4930 times

  • קֽוֹלָיָה֙Kolaiah

    kolayahH6964 →

  • וְאֶל־and to

    veel-H413 →5510 times

  • צִדְקִיָּ֣הוּZedekiah

    tzidkiyahuH6667 →63 times

  • בֶן־[the] son of

    ven-H1121 →4930 times

  • מַֽעֲשֵׂיָ֔הMaaseiah

    maaseyahH4641 →23 times

  • הַֽנִּבְּאִ֥יםwho are prophesying

    hanibeimH5012 →115 times

  • לָכֶ֛םto <the> you

    lakhem

  • בִּשְׁמִ֖יin name my

    bishmiH8034 →864 times

  • שָׁ֑קֶרfalsehood

    shakerH8267 →113 times

  • הִנְנִ֣י׀here I

    hiniH2005 →316 times

  • נֹתֵ֣ן[am] about to give

    notenH5414 →2011 times

  • אֹתָ֗ם<obj.> them

    ʾotamH853 →10935 times

  • בְּיַד֙in [the] hand of

    beyadH3027 →1618 times

  • נְבֽוּכַדְרֶאצַּ֣רNebuchadnezzar

    nevukhadretzarH5019 →60 times

  • מֶֽלֶךְ־[the] king of

    melekh-H4428 →2525 times

  • בָּבֶ֔לBabylon

    bavelH894 →262 times

  • וְהִכָּ֖םand he will strike down them

    vehikamH5221 →499 times

  • לְעֵינֵיכֶֽם׃to eyes your

    leeineikhemH5869 →887 times

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

Related verses

11 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Jeremiah 20:4For this is what the LORD says: ‘I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies before your very eyes. And I will hand Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will carry them away to Babylon and put them to the sword.6 worksMatthew 7:15Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.6 worksJeremiah 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, the futility and delusion of their own minds.3 worksLamentations 2:14The 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.3 worksJeremiah 29:8–9For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Do not be deceived by the prophets and diviners among you, and do not listen to the dreams you elicit from them.3 worksAmos 7:17Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be divided by a measuring line, and you yourself will die on pagan soil. And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their homeland.’”3 works
The other 5 cross-references, with their words ▾
Jeremiah 29:23For they have committed an outrage in Israel by committing adultery with the wives of their neighbors and speaking lies in My name, which I did not command them to do. I am He who knows, and I am a witness, declares the LORD.”3 worksJeremiah 37:3Yet King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet with the message, “Please pray to the LORD our God for us!”3 works2 Chronicles 18:10Now Zedekiah son of Chenaanah had made for himself iron horns and declared, “This is what the LORD says: ‘With these you shall gore the Arameans until they are finished off.’”2 works1 Kings 22:11Now Zedekiah son of Chenaanah had made for himself iron horns and declared, “This is what the LORD says: ‘With these you shall gore the Arameans until they are finished off.’”2 works2 Chronicles 34:8Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, in order to cleanse the land and the temple, Josiah sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God.2 works

The walk

5 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

    • 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 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?

    • 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 22:25

      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.

    • Micah 3:5–7

      This is what the LORD says: “As for the prophets who lead My people astray, who proclaim peace while they chew with their teeth, but declare war against one who puts nothing in their…

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About Jeremiah

The Prophet Jeremiah, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Prophet Jeremiah, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Jeremiah: the study guide →Read Jeremiah 29 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Jeremiah 29 →