Jeremiah 23:30
in Jeremiah 23“Therefore behold,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words they attribute to Me.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah, that steal my words every one from his neighbor.
KJV
Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.
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This verse in Jeremiah 23
Commentary
9 notes on this verseI 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.
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 steal from one another
These prophets steal words and claim them as the LORD's. Clarke thinks they mixed with true prophets, picked up their messages and spread them as their own. Henry notes that the borrowed sayings never fit the rest of what they said.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
"Thus, I am against the prophets who steal my words, says the Lord." The prophet includes this with reference to the false prophets who were stealing true prophecies from true prophets and then passing them on in secret to someone whom they forbade to speak …
Since the false prophets also avail themselves of the phrase "thus says the Lord," pretending to be the true prophets, there is need of signs that distinguish each of them. Therefore there was, according to the apostle, a gift of distinguishing spirits, and one who possessed this gift distinguished spirits, both the divine and the bad ones, just as a moneychanger distinguishes genuine currency from counterfeit. But aside from this general knowledge, what was just said also suffices for distinguishing. For, my word, he says, is not empty and a nourishment for what is irrational, but it is like wheat and nourishment for what is rational.
(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 Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
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.
Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord,.... The false prophets, with whom the Lord was displeased; he set himself against them, and was determined to bring wrath and ruin on them.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Jeremiah gives in succession the main characteristics of the teaching of the false prophets. The first is that they steal God’s words from one another. Having no message from God, they try to imitate the true prophets.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לָכֵ֛ן | lakhen | <to> therefore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| הִנְנִ֥י | hini | here I | H2005 → | 316 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | [am] on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הַנְּבִאִ֖ים | haneviim | the prophets | H5030 → | 314 times |
| נְאֻם־ | neum- | [the] utterance of | H5002 → | 376 times |
| יְהוָ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| מְגַנְּבֵ֣י | meganevei | [who] steal | H1589 → | |
| דְבָרַ֔י | devarai | <of> words my | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| אִ֖ישׁ | ʾish | each | H376 → | 1663 times |
| מֵאֵ֥ת | meet | from with | H854 → | 929 times |
| רֵעֵֽהוּ׃ | reehu | neighbor his | H7453 → | 188 times |
לָכֵ֛ן<to> therefore
lakhenH3651 →771 times
הִנְנִ֥יhere I
hiniH2005 →316 times
עַל־[am] on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הַנְּבִאִ֖יםthe prophets
haneviimH5030 →314 times
נְאֻם־[the] utterance of
neum-H5002 →376 times
יְהוָ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
מְגַנְּבֵ֣י[who] steal
meganeveiH1589 →
דְבָרַ֔י<of> words my
devaraiH1697 →1440 times
אִ֖ישׁeach
ʾishH376 →1663 times
מֵאֵ֥תfrom with
meetH854 →929 times
רֵעֵֽהוּ׃neighbor his
reehuH7453 →188 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
Psalms 34:16But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to wipe out all memory of them from the earth.
it leads to
- Proverbs 10:7
The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.
- Jeremiah 44:11
Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I will set My face to bring disaster and to cut off all Judah.
- Jeremiah 17:13
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who abandon You will be put to shame. All who turn away will be written in the dust, for they have abandoned the LORD, the fountain of…
- Proverbs 10:7
Through
Deuteronomy 18:20But if any prophet dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or to speak in the name of other gods, that prophet must be put…
it leads to
- 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.”
- Deuteronomy 13:1–5
If a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you,
- Jeremiah 23:13–15
“Among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.
- Ezekiel 13:6
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.
- Jeremiah 28:15–17
Then 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.
- Jeremiah 27:15
Where this verse is studied
About Jeremiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH 23:30; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, FRAGMENTS ON JEREMIAH 19.