Add parallel Print Page Options

13 Then I said, “Oh, Sovereign Lord,[a] look![b] The prophets are telling them that you said,[c] ‘You will not experience war or suffer famine.[d] I will give you lasting peace and prosperity in this land.’”[e]

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 14:13 tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.” The translation follows the ancient Jewish tradition of substituting the Hebrew word for God for the proper name Yahweh.
  2. Jeremiah 14:13 tn Heb “Behold.” See the translator’s note on usage of this particle in 1:6.
  3. Jeremiah 14:13 tn The words “that you said” are not in the text but are implicit from the first person in the affirmation that follows. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.
  4. Jeremiah 14:13 tn Heb “You will not see sword and you will not have starvation [or hunger].”
  5. Jeremiah 14:13 tn Heb “I will give you unfailing peace in this place.” The translation opts for “peace and prosperity” here for the word שָׁלוֹם (shalom) because in the context it refers both to peace from war and security from famine and plague. The word translated “lasting” (אֱמֶת, ʾemet) is difficult to render here because it has broad uses: “truth, reliability, stability, steadfastness,” etc. “Guaranteed” or “lasting” seem to fit the context the best.

16 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies[a] says to the people of Jerusalem:[b]

“Do not listen to what
those prophets are saying to you.
They are filling you with false hopes.
They are reporting visions of their own imaginations,
not something the Lord has given them to say.[c]

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 23:16 tn Heb “Yahweh of Armies.”sn See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of this title.
  2. Jeremiah 23:16 tn The words “to the people of Jerusalem” are not in the Hebrew text but are supplied in the translation to reflect the masculine plural form of the imperative and the second masculine plural form of the pronoun. These words have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
  3. Jeremiah 23:16 tn Heb “They tell of a vision of their own heart [= mind] not from the mouth of the Lord.”

17 They continually say[a] to those who reject what the Lord has said,[b]
‘Things will go well for you!’[c]
They say to all those who follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts,
‘Nothing bad will happen to you!’

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 23:17 tn The translation reflects an emphatic construction where the infinitive absolute follows a participle (cf. GKC 343 §113.r).
  2. Jeremiah 23:17 tc The translation follows the Greek version. The Hebrew text reads, “who reject me, ‘The Lord has spoken, “Things…”’” The Greek version is to be preferred here because of (1) the parallelism of the lines “reject what the Lord has said” // “follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts;” (2) the preceding context that speaks of “visions of their own imaginations, not what the Lord has given them;” (3) the following context that denies that they have ever had access to the Lord’s secrets; (4) the general contexts earlier regarding false prophecy where rejection of the Lord’s word is in view (6:14 [see there v. 10]; 8:11 [see there v. 9]); and (5) the meter of the poetic lines (the Hebrew meter is 3/5/4/3; the meter presupposed by the translation is 5/3/4/3 with the 3’s being their words). The difference is one of vocalization of the same consonants. The vocalization of the MT is יְהוָה מְנַאֲצַי דִּבֶּר [menaʾatsay dibber yehvah]; the Hebrew Vorlage behind the Greek would be vocalized as מְנַאֲצֵי דְּבַר יְהוָה (menaʾatse devar yehvah).
  3. Jeremiah 23:17 tn Heb “You will have peace.” But see the note on 14:13. See also 6:14 and 8:11.

16 I also told the priests and all the people, “The Lord says, ‘Do not listen to what your prophets are saying. They are prophesying to you that[a] the valuable articles taken from the Lord’s temple will be brought back from Babylon very soon.[b] But they are prophesying a lie to you.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 27:16 tn Heb “don’t listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you….” The sentence has been broken up for the sake of English style, and one level of embedded quotes has been eliminated to ease complexity.
  2. Jeremiah 27:16 sn This refers to the valuable articles of the temple treasury that were carried off by Nebuchadnezzar four years earlier when he carried off Jeconiah, his family, some of his nobles, and some of the cream of Judean society (2 Kgs 24:10-16, especially v. 13, and see also vv. 19-20 in the verses following).

“The Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel,[a] says, ‘I will break the yoke of servitude[b] to the king of Babylon.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 28:2 tn Heb “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel.” See the study notes on 2:19 and 7:3 for the explanation of this title.
  2. Jeremiah 28:2 sn See the study note on 27:2 for this figure. Hananiah is given the same title, “the prophet,” as Jeremiah throughout the chapter, and he claims to speak with the same authority (compare v. 2a with 27:21a). He even speaks like the true prophet; the verb form “I will break” is in the “prophetic perfect,” emphasizing certitude. His message here is a contradiction of Jeremiah’s message recorded in the preceding chapter (compare especially v. 3 with 27:16, 19-22, and v. 4 with 22:24-28). The people and the priests are thus confronted with a choice of whom to believe. Who is the “true” prophet and who is the “false” one? Only fulfillment of their prophecies will prove which is which (see Deut 18:21-22).