Jeremías 23:21

21 No envié yo a aquellos profetas, y ellos corrían; yo no les hablé, y ellos profetizaban

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 He aquí que la tempestad del SEÑOR saldrá con furor; y la tempestad que está aparejada, caerá sobre la cabeza de los malos

20 No se apartará el furor del SEÑOR, hasta tanto que haya hecho, y hasta tanto que haya cumplido los pensamientos de su corazón; en lo postrero de los días lo entenderéis con entendimiento.

21 No envié yo a aquellos profetas, y ellos corrían; yo no les hablé, y ellos profetizaban

22 Y si ellos hubieran estado en mi secreto, también hubieran hecho oír mis palabras a mi pueblo; y les hubieran hecho volver de su mal camino, y de la maldad de sus obras.

23 ¿Por ventura soy yo Dios de cerca solamente , dijo el SEÑOR, y no Dios de lejos?