Jeremiah 23:30

30 So, I am against the prophets," says ADONAI, "who steal my words from each other.

Jeremiah 23:30 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 23:30

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;''

that steal my word,
or "words" ^F17, 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 (yrbd) "verba mea", Munster, Pagniuus, Montanus, Schmidt.

Jeremiah 23:30 In-Context

28 "If a prophet has a dream, let him tell it as a dream. But someone who has my word should speak my word faithfully. What do chaff and wheat have in common?" asks ADONAI.

29 "Isn't my word like fire," asks ADONAI, "like a hammer shattering rocks?

30 So, I am against the prophets," says ADONAI, "who steal my words from each other.

31 Yes, I am against the prophets," says ADONAI, "who speak their own words, then add, 'He says.'

32 "I am against those who concoct prophecies out of fake dreams," says ADONAI. "They tell them, and by their lies and arrogance they lead my people astray. I didn't send them, I didn't commission them, and they don't do this people any good at all," says ADONAI.