Jeremiah 23:30

30 "Therefore behold, ¹I am against the prophets," declares the LORD, "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 "The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain?" declares the LORD .

29 "Is not My word like fire?" declares the LORD , "and like a hammer which shatters a rock?

30 "Therefore behold, I am against the prophets," declares the LORD , "who steal My words from each other.

31 "Behold, I am against the prophets," declares the LORD , "who use their tongues and declare, 'The Lord declares.'

32 "Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams," declares the LORD , "and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit," declares the LORD .

Cross References

• 1. Deuteronomy 18:20; Psalms 34:16; Jeremiah 14:14, 15; Ezekiel 13:8