Ezekiel 34:7

34:7 “‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:

Ezekiel 34:9

34:9 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:

Ezekiel 34:1

A Prophecy Against False Shepherds

34:1 The word of the Lord came to me:

Ezekiel 22:19

22:19 Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘Because all of you ¹  have become slag, look out! – I am about to gather you in the middle of Jerusalem. ² 

Isaiah 1:10

1:10 Listen to the Lord’s word,

you leaders of Sodom! ³ 

Pay attention to our God’s rebuke, ⁴ 

people of Gomorrah!

Isaiah 28:14

The Lord Will Judge Jerusalem

28:14 Therefore, listen to the Lord’s word,

you who mock,

you rulers of these people

who reside in Jerusalem! ⁵ 

Jeremiah 28:15

28:15 Then the prophet Jeremiah told the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord did not send you! You are making these people trust in a lie! ⁶ 

Jeremiah 29:20-24

29:20 ‘So pay attention to what I, the Lord, have said, ⁷  all you exiles whom I have sent to Babylon from Jerusalem.’

29:21 “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ⁸  also has something to say about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you and claiming my authority to do so. ⁹  ‘I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and he will execute them before your very eyes. 29:22 And all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon will use them as examples when they put a curse on anyone. They will say, “May the Lord treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab whom the king of Babylon roasted to death in the fire!” ¹⁰  29:23 This will happen to them because they have done what is shameful ¹¹  in Israel. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have spoken lies while claiming my authority. ¹²  They have spoken words that I did not command them to speak. I know what they have done. I have been a witness to it,’ says the Lord.” ¹³ 

A Response to the Letter and a Subsequent Letter

29:24 The Lord told Jeremiah, “Tell ¹⁴  Shemaiah the Nehelamite ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 29:31-32

29:31 “Send a message to all the exiles in Babylon. Tell them, ‘The Lord has spoken about Shemaiah the Nehelamite. “Shemaiah has spoken to you as a prophet even though I did not send him. He is making you trust in a lie. ¹⁶  29:32 Because he has done this,” ¹⁷  the Lord says, “I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his whole family. There will not be any of them left to experience the good things that I will do for my people. I, the Lord, affirm it! For he counseled rebellion against the Lord.”’” ¹⁸ 

Amos 7:16-17

7:16 So now listen to the Lord’s message! You say, ‘Don’t prophesy against Israel! Don’t preach ¹⁹  against the family of Isaac!’

7:17 “Therefore this is what the Lord says:

‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the streets ²⁰ 

and your sons and daughters will die violently. ²¹ 

Your land will be given to others ²² 

and you will die in a foreign ²³  land.

Israel will certainly be carried into exile ²⁴  away from its land.’”

[22:19]  ¹ tn The Hebrew second person pronoun is masculine plural here and in vv. 19b-21, indicating that the people are being addressed.

[22:19]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:10]  ³ sn Building on the simile of v. 9, the prophet sarcastically addresses the leaders and people of Jerusalem as if they were leaders and residents of ancient Sodom and Gomorrah. The sarcasm is appropriate, for if the judgment is comparable to Sodom’s, that must mean that the sin which prompted the judgment is comparable as well.

[1:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “to the instruction of our God.” In this context, which is highly accusatory and threatening, תּוֹרָה (torah, “law, instruction”) does not refer to mere teaching, but to corrective teaching and rebuke.

[28:14]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[28:15]  ⁶ tn Or “You are giving these people false assurances.”

[29:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “pay attention to the word of the Lord.” However, the Lord is speaking in the words just previous to this and in the words which follow (“whom I have sent”). This is another example of the shift from third person referent to first person which is common in Hebrew poetry and prophecy but is not common in English style. The person has been adjusted in the translation to avoid confusion.

[29:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

[29:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “prophesying lies in my name.” For an explanation of this idiom see the study notes on 14:14 and 23:27.

[29:22]  ¹⁰ sn Being roasted to death in the fire appears to have been a common method of execution in Babylon. See Dan 3:6, 19-21. The famous law code of the Babylonian king Hammurabi also mandated this method of execution for various crimes a thousand years earlier. There is a satirical play on words involving their fate, “roasted them to death” (קָלָם, qalam), and the fact that that fate would become a common topic of curse (קְלָלָה, qÿlalah) pronounced on others in Babylon.

[29:23]  ¹¹ tn It is commonly assumed that this word is explained by the two verbal actions that follow. The word (נְבָלָה, nÿvalah) is rather commonly used of sins of unchastity (cf., e.g., Gen 34:7; Judg 19:23; 2 Sam 13:12) which would fit the reference to adultery. However, the word is singular and not likely to cover both actions that follow. The word is also used of the greedy act of Achan (Josh 7:15) which threatened Israel with destruction and the churlish behavior of Nabal (1 Sam 25:25) which threatened him and his household with destruction. The word is also used of foolish talk in Isa 9:17 (9:16 HT) and Isa 32:6. It is possible that this refers to a separate act, one that would have brought the death penalty from Nebuchadnezzar, i.e., the preaching of rebellion in conformity with the message of the false prophets in Jerusalem and other nations (cf. 27:9, 13). Hence it is possible that the translation should read: “This will happen because of their vile conduct. They have propagated rebellion. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives. They have spoken words that I did not command them to speak. They have spoken lies while claiming my authority.”

[29:23]  ¹² tn Heb “prophesying lies in my name.” For an explanation of this idiom see the study notes on 14:14 and 23:27.

[29:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[29:24]  ¹⁴ tn The words “The Lord told Jeremiah” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation here to indicate the shift in topic and the shift in addressee (the imperative “tell” is second singular). The introduction supplied in the translation here matches that in v. 30 where the words are in the text.

[29:24]  ¹⁵ tn It is unclear whether this is a family name or a place name. The word occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.

[29:31]  ¹⁶ tn Or “is giving you false assurances.”

[29:32]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Therefore.”

[29:32]  ¹⁸ sn Compare the same charge against Hananiah in Jer 28:16 and see the note there. In this case, the false prophesy of Shemaiah is not given but it likely had the same tenor since he wants Jeremiah reprimanded for saying that the exile will be long and the people are to settle down in Babylon.

[7:16]  ¹⁹ tn The verb, which literally means “to drip,” appears to be a synonym of “to prophesy,” but it might carry a derogatory tone here, perhaps alluding to the impassioned, frenzied way in which prophets sometimes delivered their messages. If so, one could translate, “to drivel; to foam at the mouth” (see HALOT 694 s.v. נטף).

[7:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “in the city,” that is, “in public.”

[7:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “will fall by the sword.”

[7:17]  ²² tn Heb “will be divided up with a [surveyor’s] measuring line.”

[7:17]  ²³ tn Heb “[an] unclean”; or “[an] impure.” This fate would be especially humiliating for a priest, who was to distinguish between the ritually clean and unclean (see Lev 10:10).

[7:17]  ²⁴ tn See the note on the word “exile” in 5:5.