Jeremías 23:21

21 »Yo no envié a estos profetas,
sin embargo, van de un lado a otro afirmando hablar en mi nombre.
No les he dado ningún mensaje,
pero aun así siguen profetizando.

Jeremías 23:21 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 23:21

I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran
They might be sent of men, and be encouraged by them; but they were not sent of God: it is not only necessary that men employed in religious affairs should have an external call, in an orderly way, from the church of God; but also an internal call from the Lord himself; he qualifying them with gifts, putting his word into their mouths, and inclining their hearts to publish it; see ( Hebrews 5:4 Hebrews 5:5 ) ; but these false prophets had no mission nor commission from the Lord, nor were they sent on any errand, or with any message from him; and yet they ran;
showed great diligence and zeal, and made haste to tell the people what the Lord had never said to them, but what were the warm imaginations of their own heads and hearts; they ran a race or course of ministry, but it was not good, as in ( Jeremiah 23:10 ) . The Targum adds,

``to do evil:''

I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied;
wherefore what they prophesied was not the word of the Lord, but what they themselves devised; and so was what was false, as the Targum adds: it is a sad character of men when they speak in public neither by the will of God, nor according to the word of God.

Jeremías 23:21 In-Context

19 ¡Miren! El enojo de Dios estalla como una tormenta,
como un torbellino que se arremolina sobre las cabezas de los perversos.

20 El enojo del Señor
no disminuirá
hasta que termine con todo lo que él tenía pensado.
En los días futuros,
ustedes entenderán todo esto con claridad.

21 »Yo no envié a estos profetas,
sin embargo, van de un lado a otro afirmando hablar en mi nombre.
No les he dado ningún mensaje,
pero aun así siguen profetizando.

22 Si hubieran estado en mi presencia y me hubieran escuchado,
habrían hablado mis palabras
y habrían hecho que mi pueblo se apartara
de sus malos caminos y sus malas acciones.

23 ¿Soy acaso Dios solo de cerca? —dice el Señor
—,
no, al mismo tiempo estoy lejos.