“Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says Yahweh, “who each steal my words from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets,” says Yahweh, “who use their tongues, and say, ‘He says.’ Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams,” says Yahweh, “who tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting; yet I didn’t send them or command them. They don’t profit this people at all,” says Yahweh.
Parallel Translations
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“Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says Yahweh, “who each steal my words from his neighbor.
Behold, I am against the prophets,” says Yahweh, “who use their tongues, and say, ‘He says.’
Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams,” says Yahweh, “who tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting; yet I didn’t send them or command them. They don’t profit this people at all,” says Yahweh.
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Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.
Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.
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.
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Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal My words every one from his neighbour.
Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues and say: 'He saith.'
Behold, I am against them that prophesy lying dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies, and by their wantonness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them; neither can they profit this people at all, saith the LORD.
Cross-references (36)
- Deuteronomy 18:20 (vv30, 32) But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other…
- Ezekiel 13:8 (v30) “ ‘Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “Because you have spoken falsehood and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you,” says the Lord…
- Jeremiah 14:14-15 (v30) Then Yahweh said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I didn’t send them. I didn’t command them. I didn’t speak to them. They…
- Lamentations 2:14 (v32) Your prophets have seen false and foolish visions for you. They have not uncovered your iniquity, to reverse your captivity, but have seen…
- Ezekiel 13:7-18 (v32) Haven’t you seen a false vision, and haven’t you spoken a lying divination, in that you say, ‘Yahweh says;’ but I have not spoken?” “…
Show all 35 cross-references
- Zephaniah 3:4 (v32) Her prophets are arrogant and treacherous people. Her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law.
- Jeremiah 7:8 (v32) Behold, you trust in lying words that can’t profit.
- Jeremiah 29:31 (v32) “Send to all of the captives, saying, ‘Yahweh says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I…
- Zechariah 13:2-3 (v32) It will come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Armies, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they will be…
- Matthew 15:14 (v32) Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
- Psalms 34:16 (v30) Yahweh’s face is against those who do evil, to cut off their memory from the earth.
- Isaiah 3:12 (v32) As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people, those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the…
- Jeremiah 23:16 (v32) Yahweh of Armies says, “Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They teach you vanity. They speak a vision of their…
- Jeremiah 23:17 (v31) They say continually to those who despise me, ‘Yahweh has said, “You will have peace;” ’ and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of…
- Jeremiah 23:21-22 (v32) I didn’t send these prophets, yet they ran. I didn’t speak to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, then they…
- Jeremiah 23:25 (v32) “I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’
- Jeremiah 27:14-22 (v32) Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon;’ for they prophesy a lie to…
- Jeremiah 28:15-17 (v32) Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, Hananiah! Yahweh has not sent you, but you make this people trust in a…
- Jeremiah 29:21-23 (v32) Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a…
- Ezekiel 13:20 (v30) “Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I am against your pillows, with which you hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them…
- Revelation 19:20 (v32) The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who worked the signs in his sight, with which he deceived those who had received the…
- Deuteronomy 13:1-18 (v32) If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of…
- 2 Chronicles 18:5 (v31) Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall we go to Ramoth Gilead to battle, or…
- 2 Chronicles 18:10-12 (v31) Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made himself horns of iron and said, “Yahweh says, ‘With these you shall push the Syrians, until they are…
- Isaiah 30:10 (v31) who tell the seers, “Don’t see!” and the prophets, “Don’t prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits.
- Ezekiel 15:7 (v30) I will set my face against them. They will go out from the fire, but the fire will devour them. Then you will know that I am Yahweh, when I…
- 2 Corinthians 1:17 (v32) When I therefore was thus determined, did I show fickleness? Or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with…
- 1 Peter 3:12 (v30) For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears open to their prayer; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
- Leviticus 20:3 (v30) I also will set my face against that person, and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given of his offspring to Molech,…
- Leviticus 26:17 (v30) I will set my face against you, and you will be struck before your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you; and you will flee when…
- Deuteronomy 29:20 (v30) Yahweh will not pardon him, but then Yahweh’s anger and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this…
- 2 Chronicles 18:19-21 (v31) Yahweh said, ‘Who will entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead?’ One spoke saying in this way, and another…
- Jeremiah 44:11 (v30) “Therefore Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, even to cut off all Judah.
- Jeremiah 44:29 (v30) “ ‘This will be the sign to you,’ says Yahweh, ‘that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that my words will surely stand…
- Micah 2:11 (v31) If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies: “I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink;” he would be the prophet of this…
35 distinct cross-references across this passage (36 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (17 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv30–32 Jeremiah returns again to the false teachers, who were…
Jeremiah returns again to the false teachers, who were the authors of all the evils; for they fascinated the people with their flatteries, so that every regard for sound and heavenly doctrine was almost extinguished. But while God declares that he is an avenger against them, he does not exempt the people from punishment. We indeed know that a just reward was rendered to the reprobate, when God let loose the reins to the ministers of Satan with impunity to deceive them. But as the people acquiesced in those false allurements, while Jeremiah so severely reproved the false teachers, he reminds the people how foolishly they betook themselves under the shadow of those men, thinking themselves to be safe.
He says, first, Behold, I am, against the prophets, who steal my words every one from his neighbor. Many explain this verse as though God condemned the false prophets, who borrowed something from the true prophets, so that they might be their rivals and as it were their apes; and no doubt the ungodly teachers had ever from the beginning made some assumptions, that they might be deemed God’s servants. But it seems, however, a forced view, that they stole words from the true prophets, for the words express what is different, that they stole every one from his friend Jeremiah would not have called God’s faithful servants by this name. I rather think that their secret arts are here pointed out, that they secretly and designedly conspired among themselves, and then that they spread abroad their own figments according to their usual manner. For the ungodly and the perfidious, that they might obtain credit among the simple and unwary, consulted together and devised all their measures craftily, that they might not be immediately found out; and thus one took from the other what he afterwards announced and published. And this is what Jeremiah calls stealing, because they secretly consulted, and then declared to the people what they agreed upon among themselves; and they did this as though every one had derived his oracle from heaven. I have, therefore, no doubt but that the Prophet condemns these hidden consultations when he says that every one stole from his neighhour.
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We indeed see the same thing now under the Papacy, for the monks and unprincipled men of the same character have their own false doctrines; and when they ascend the pulpit, every one speaks as though he was endued with some special gift; and yet they steal every one from his friend, for they are like the soothsayers or the magi, who concocted among themselves their own falsehoods, and only brought out what they deemed necessary to delude the common people. This, then, was one of the vices which the Prophet shews prevailed among the false teachers, — that no one attended to the voice of God, but that every one took furtively from his friend what he afterwards openly proclaimed.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv30–31 Which set forth in my Name that which I…
Which set forth in my Name that which I have not commanded.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv30–32 Jer 23:30 Therefore, behold, I [am] against the prophets,…
Jer 23:30 Therefore, behold, I [am] against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.
Ver. 30. Behold, I am against those prophets.] Heb., Behold, I against, by an angry aposiopesis. {a}
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That steal my word every one from his neighbour.] That filch it, either by hiding it from others, as the Popish doctors do from the common people, or by wresting it to the defence of their false doctrines, as Marcion the heretic, whom, therefore, Tertullian fitly calleth Murem Ponticum, the rat of Pontus, for his gnawing and tawing of the Scriptures, to bring them to his purpose. Or, by a fraudulent imitating of God’s true prophets, taking up their parables, and making use of their expressions, such as are, Thus saith the Lord; Grace be to you and peace, &c. Wasps also have their combs as well as bees; and apes will be doing as they see men to do. Or, lastly, by causing the people to forget and lose the good that they had once learned of the true prophets. This we see daily done by the cunning fetches and flatteries of the seducers of our times, causing many to lose the things that they had wrought. {2Jn 1:8}
{a} A rhetorical artifice, in which the speaker comes to a sudden halt, as if unable or unwilling to proceed.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv30–32 There are various opinions as to what the prophet…
There are various opinions as to what the prophet meaneth here by those prophets that stole the Lord’s words from their neighbours. Some, by their
neighbour, understanding the true prophets, from whom they stole those forms of speech, Thus saith the Lord, or, The word of the Lord, or, The burden of the Lord. Or some of the matter which they prophesied, though they mixed it with their own lies and deceits. Others by neighbours understanding their associates, think that these false prophets conspired together what to say to deceive the people, and so stole what they said one from another: or, the generality of the people, from whom they are said to steal the Lord’s word because they withheld it from them injuriously; or by their arts and flatteries brought men out of love with or fear of the words of the Lord, which had by the true prophets been delivered to them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv30–32 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the…
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. So the Targum,
"therefore, behold, I send my fury against the false prophets;''
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that steal my word, or "words" (q),
everyone from his neighbour; either from the true prophets; beginning their prophecies as they did, with a "thus saith the Lord"; and mingling some words and phrases used by them, the better to ingratiate themselves among the people, and that they might be taken for the prophets of the Lord; as Pelagius, Austin says, used the word "grace", the better to hide his sentiments, and cause them the more easily to be received by the people: or from the false prophets; they privately meeting, and consulting, and agreeing together what they should say to the people, as if they were the words of the Lord: or else from the people themselves; lessening their esteem for the words of the Lord; making them negligent of them and indifferent to them; and causing them to forget what they had heard and received.
(q) "verba mea", Munster, Pagniuus, Montanus, Schmidt.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv30–31 That steal - That conspire together what to say…
That steal - That conspire together what to say to deceive the people, and so steal what they say one from another.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v30 Verse 30. I am against the prophets] Three cases…
Verse 30. I am against the prophets] Three cases are mentioned here which excited God's disapprobation:
1. The prophets who stole the word from their neighbour; 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.
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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.
3. The prophets who made up false stories, which they termed prophecies, revealed to them in dreams; and thus caused the people to err, Jer 23:32.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v30 Jer 23:30-32. Behold, I am against the prophets that…
Jer 23:30-32. Behold, I am against the prophets that steal my words, &c. — “That imitate the true prophets, speaking in my name, as they do, and saying, Thus saith the Lord, (see Jer 23:31,) and using their words, but applying them to their own purpose: or, it may be, adding their own inventions to them.” So Lowth. Others paraphrase the verse thus, “That conspire together what to say to deceive the people, and to steal what they say one from another.” Or, perhaps the meaning rather is, That utter, as revelations made to themselves, things which they have learned, and, as it were, stolen from others. That use their tongues, &c. — That take their own tongues, as Blaney renders it, and say, He (the Lord) hath said. “The phrase of taking their own tongue,” he observes: “is, I think, very easily to be understood of those who, without any inspiration, took upon them to deliver messages to the people, and pretended that they came from God.” I am against them that prophesy false dreams — False things, under the notion of revelations made to them in their sleep. And cause my people to err — To wander from the right way; by their lies, and by their lightness — By their groundless assertions, their folly, their rashness and inconsistency with themselves: or, by the flatteries of their preaching, soothing men up in their sins, and by the looseness and lewdness of their conversation encouraging them to persist in them. Yet I sent them not, &c. — They are not my messengers, nor is what they say my message. Therefore they shall not profit this people at all — All the profit they aim at communicating is to make the people easy, but they shall not be able to do even that; for my providences will be such as will fill them with painful apprehensions and distressing fears. Some read the clause, They do not profit this people, considering the words as implying more than they express, namely, that these false prophets not only did the people no good, but did them a great deal of hurt. Observe, reader, none can expect God’s blessing upon their ministry who are not called and sent of God. And those that corrupt the word of God, while they pretend to preach it, are so far from edifying the church, that they do it the greatest mischief imaginable.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv30–32 Jeremiah gives in succession the main characteristics of the…
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.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv30–32 Neighbour, causing those whom I have sent to be…
CHAPTER XXIII.
Neighbour, causing those whom I have sent to be disregarded.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv30–32 steal my words--a twofold plagiarism; one steals from the…
steal my words--a twofold plagiarism; one steals from the other, and all steal words from Jehovah's true prophets, but misapply them (see Jer 28:2; Joh 10:1; Rev 22:19).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v30 30-32. Some of the leading characteristics of false prophets…
30-32. Some of the leading characteristics of false prophets are here grouped together. a) They steal my words every one from his neighbour; which has been aptly described as a twofold plagiarism — one steals from another, but all from God’s true prophets. b) They say, He saith. They give out their sayings as God’s. c) They have pretended revelations — prophesy false dreams. d) Finally and fatally, they cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness — That is, their boastful pretensions.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv30–32 30. steal my words] They have themselves no revelation…
30. steal my words] They have themselves no revelation to impart, and therefore proclaim as their own that which has been said by the really inspired.
30–32. See introd. summary to section.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv30–32 (30) That steal my words . . .—Another note…
(30) That steal my words . . .—Another note of the counterfeit prophet is found in the want of any living personal originality. The oracles of the dreamers were patchworks of plagiarism, and they borrowed, not as men might do legitimately, and as Jeremiah himself did, from the words of the great teachers of the past, but from men of their own time, false and unreal as themselves. What we should call the “clique” of false prophets went on repeating each other’s phrases with a wearisome iteration. In “my words” we have, probably, the fact that, in part also, they decked out their teaching with the borrowed plumes of phrases from true prophets.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv30–32 Vers. 30-32. The punishment solemnly introduced by a three…
Vers. 30-32. The punishment solemnly introduced by a three times repeated, Behold, I am against, etc., corresponding to three several features of the conduct of the false prophets. First we are told that the prophets steal my words every one from his neighbor. The latter part of the phrase reminds us of ver. 27, but the neighbor in this case must mean, at any rate primarily, a fellow-prophet, one who has really received a revelation at first-hand from Jehovah. The "false prophets," not trusting to their "dreams" alone, listen greedily to the discourses of men like Jeremiah, not with a view to spiritual profit, but to making their own utterances more effective. We must remember that they lived by their prophesying. (Mic_3:5)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v31 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Yahweh continues to deliver his message about the false prophets and priests that he began in Jeremiah 23:9 and completes in Jeremiah 23:40.
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See
This alerts the reader to pay special attention to what follows. AT: "Pay attention"
against the prophets
"opposed to the prophets"
this is Yahweh's declaration
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 1:8. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
who use their tongues
Here "tongues" is a metonym for the ability to speak. (See: Metonymy)
who dream deceitfully
"who claim to have dreams from God, but they are not from God"
translationWords
tongue
preach
people of God
command
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v30 23:30-32 The Lord rebuked and opposed the prophets who…
23:30-32 The Lord rebuked and opposed the prophets who spoke lies in his name.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.