Jeremiah 23:31
in Jeremiah 23“Yes,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and proclaim, ‘The LORD declares it.’”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.
KJV
Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.
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This verse in Jeremiah 23
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
That use their tongues - literally, that take their tongues. Their second characteristic. They have no message from God, but they take their tongues, their only implement, and say, He saith, using the solemn formula by which Yahweh affirms the truth of His words. Solemn asseverations seemed to give reality to their emptiness.
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 wag their own tongues
The words The LORD declares it marked a true message. Barnes notes these men had only their tongues and used the formula to make empty words sound real. Henry reads the phrase as smooth speech, pleasing the people and never rebuking them.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(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 Awakening3 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.
Some read it, They smooth their tongues; they are very complaisant to the people, and say nothing but what is pleasing and plausible; they never reprove them nor threaten them, but their words are smoother than butter.
Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord,.... Not another sort of prophets distinct from the former, or those that follow; but the same under another character, and against whom he was, and set his face on another occasion; that use their tongues; at their pleasure, their lips being their own.
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הִנְנִ֥י | hini | here I | H2005 → | 316 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | [am] on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הַנְּבִיאִ֖ם | haneviim | the prophets | H5030 → | 314 times |
| נְאֻם־ | neum- | [the] utterance of | H5002 → | 376 times |
| יְהוָ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| הַלֹּקְחִ֣ים | halokechim | who take | H3947 → | 966 times |
| לְשׁוֹנָ֔ם | leshonam | tongue their | H3956 → | 117 times |
| וַֽיִּנְאֲמ֖וּ | vaiyinamu | and they have uttered | H5001 → | |
| נְאֻֽם׃ | neum | an utterance | H5002 → | 376 times |
הִנְנִ֥יhere I
hiniH2005 →316 times
עַל־[am] on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הַנְּבִיאִ֖םthe prophets
haneviimH5030 →314 times
נְאֻם־[the] utterance of
neum-H5002 →376 times
יְהוָ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
הַלֹּקְחִ֣יםwho take
halokechimH3947 →966 times
לְשׁוֹנָ֔םtongue their
leshonamH3956 →117 times
וַֽיִּנְאֲמ֖וּand they have uttered
vaiyinamuH5001 →
נְאֻֽם׃an utterance
neumH5002 →376 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 23:17They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD says that you will have peace,’ and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’
it leads to
- Micah 3:11
Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD, saying, “Is not the LORD among us? No disaster…
- Jeremiah 13:10
These evil people, who refuse to listen to My words, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts, and who go after other gods to serve and worship them, they will be like this…
- Micah 3:11
Through
Micah 2:11If a man of wind were to come and say falsely, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be just the preacher for this people!
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?
- Isaiah 30:10–11
They say to the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions.
- Jeremiah 5:31
Through
Isaiah 30:10They say to the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 13:7–10
Haven’t you seen a false vision and spoken a lying divination when you proclaim, ‘Thus declares the LORD,’ even though I have not spoken?
- Romans 16:18
For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
- Jeremiah 11:21
Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the people of Anathoth who are seeking your life and saying, “You must not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will die by…
- Amos 7:13
But never prophesy at Bethel again, because it is the sanctuary of the king and the temple of the kingdom.”
- Ezekiel 13:7–10
Where this verse is studied
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.