Jeremiah 23:27
in Jeremiah 23They suppose the dreams that they tell one another will make My people forget My name, just as their fathers forgot My name through the worship of Baal.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
that think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers forgat my name for Baal.
KJV
Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.
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This verse in Jeremiah 23
Commentary
6 notes on this verseWhich think to cause my people to forget my name,.... The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "my law".
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
make My people forget My name
The dreams do what Baal once did, making the people forget the LORD's name. Barnes notes that trust in dreams shuts God out of the mind as fully as idol worship. The Greek reads law for name, Gill notes.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 25 onwards) I have heard what the prophets have said, prophesying in my name lies and saying: I had a dream (or I saw a vision). How long will this deceit be in the hearts (or minds) of the prophesying prophets, who desire (or think) to make my people forget my name because of their dreams, which each one tells to their neighbor, just as their fathers forgot my name for Baal (or in Baal).
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
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.
Bay their dreams - Dreams were anciently reputed as a species of inspiration; see Num 12:6; 1Sa 28:6; Joe 3:1; Dan 7:1. In the Book of Genesis we find many examples; and although many mistook the workings of their own vain imaginations in sleep for revelations from God, yet he has often revealed himself in this way: but such dreams were easily distinguished from the others. They were always such as had no connection with the gratification of the flesh; they were such as contained warnings against sin, and excitements to holiness; they were always consecutive - well connected, with a proper beginning and ending; such as possessed the intellect more than the imagination. Of such dreams the Lord says, (Jer 23:28): The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream - permit him to show what he has thus received from the Lord: but let him tell it as a dream, and speak my word faithfully, lest he may have been deceived.
The words behind it
16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הַחֹשְׁבִ֗ים | hachoshevim | who plan | H2803 → | 124 times |
| לְהַשְׁכִּ֤יחַ | lehashkiach | to make forget | H7911 → | 102 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| עַמִּי֙ | ʾami | people my | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| שְׁמִ֔י | shemi | name my | H8034 → | 864 times |
| בַּחֲל֣וֹמֹתָ֔ם | bachalomotam | by dreams their | H2472 → | 65 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| יְסַפְּר֖וּ | yesaperu | they recount | H5608 → | 159 times |
| אִ֣ישׁ | ʾish | each | H376 → | 1663 times |
| לְרֵעֵ֑הוּ | lereehu | to neighbor his | H7453 → | 188 times |
| כַּאֲשֶׁ֨ר | kaasher | just as | H834 → | 5497 times |
| שָׁכְח֧וּ | shakhechu | they forgot | H7911 → | 102 times |
| אֲבוֹתָ֛ם | ʾavotam | ancestors their | H1 → | 1212 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| שְׁמִ֖י | shemi | name my | H8034 → | 864 times |
| בַּבָּֽעַל׃ | babaal | for <the> Baal | H1168 → | 82 times |
הַחֹשְׁבִ֗יםwho plan
hachoshevimH2803 →124 times
לְהַשְׁכִּ֤יחַto make forget
lehashkiachH7911 →102 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
עַמִּי֙people my
ʾamiH5971 →1873 times
שְׁמִ֔יname my
shemiH8034 →864 times
בַּחֲל֣וֹמֹתָ֔םby dreams their
bachalomotamH2472 →65 times
אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
יְסַפְּר֖וּthey recount
yesaperuH5608 →159 times
אִ֣ישׁeach
ʾishH376 →1663 times
לְרֵעֵ֑הוּto neighbor his
lereehuH7453 →188 times
כַּאֲשֶׁ֨רjust as
kaasherH834 →5497 times
שָׁכְח֧וּthey forgot
shakhechuH7911 →102 times
אֲבוֹתָ֛םancestors their
ʾavotamH1 →1212 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
שְׁמִ֖יname my
shemiH8034 →864 times
בַּבָּֽעַל׃for <the> Baal
babaalH1168 →82 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
Acts 13:8But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith.
it leads to
- 2 Timothy 3:8
Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth. They are depraved in mind and disqualified from the faith.
- Acts 13:6–7
They traveled through the whole island as far as Paphos, where they found a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus,
- 2 Timothy 4:14–15
Alexander the coppersmith did great harm to me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds.
- 2 Timothy 3:8
Through
2 Kings 21:3For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed, and he raised up altars for Baal. He made an Asherah pole, as King Ahab of Israel had done, and he worshiped…
it leads to
- 2 Kings 18:4
He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze snake called Nehushtan that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites…
- 2 Kings 17:16
They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves two cast idols of calves and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the host of heaven and served…
- Deuteronomy 17:3
and going to worship other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven—which I have forbidden—
- 1 Kings 16:31–33
And as if it were not enough for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, he even married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and he then…
- 2 Kings 18:4
Through
Judges 3:7So the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.
it leads to
- Exodus 34:13
Rather, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and chop down their Asherah poles.
- Exodus 34:13
Where this verse is studied
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; 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.