Jeremiah 2:8

2:8 Your priests ¹  did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’ ² 

Those responsible for teaching my law ³  did not really know me. ⁴ 

Your rulers rebelled against me.

Your prophets prophesied in the name of the god Baal. ⁵ 

They all worshiped idols that could not help them. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 2:26

2:26 Just as a thief has to suffer dishonor when he is caught,

so the people of Israel ⁷  will suffer dishonor for what they have done. ⁸ 

So will their kings and officials,

their priests and their prophets.

Jeremiah 5:31

5:31 The prophets prophesy lies.

The priests exercise power by their own authority. ⁹ 

And my people love to have it this way.

But they will not be able to help you when the time of judgment comes! ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 23:11

23:11 Moreover, ¹¹  the Lord says, ¹² 

“Both the prophets and priests are godless.

I have even found them doing evil in my temple!

Jeremiah 23:14-15

23:14 But I see the prophets of Jerusalem ¹³ 

doing something just as shocking.

They are unfaithful to me

and continually prophesy lies. ¹⁴ 

So they give encouragement to people who are doing evil,

with the result that they do not stop their evildoing. ¹⁵ 

I consider all of them as bad as the people of Sodom,

and the citizens of Jerusalem as bad as the people of Gomorrah. ¹⁶ 

23:15 So then I, the Lord who rules over all, ¹⁷ 

have something to say concerning the prophets of Jerusalem: ¹⁸ 

‘I will make these prophets eat the bitter food of suffering

and drink the poison water of judgment. ¹⁹ 

For the prophets of Jerusalem are the reason ²⁰ 

that ungodliness ²¹  has spread throughout the land.’”

Jeremiah 26:7-8

26:7 The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah say these things in the Lord’s temple. 26:8 Jeremiah had just barely finished saying all the Lord had commanded him to say to all the people. All at once some ²²  of the priests, the prophets, and the people grabbed him and shouted, “You deserve to die! ²³ 

Jeremiah 32:32

32:32 I am determined to do so because the people of Israel and Judah have made me angry with all their wickedness – they, their kings, their officials, their priests, their prophets, and especially the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem ²⁴  have done this wickedness. ²⁵ 

Isaiah 28:7

28:7 Even these men ²⁶  stagger because of wine,

they stumble around because of beer –

priests and prophets stagger because of beer,

they are confused ²⁷  because of wine,

they stumble around because of beer;

they stagger while seeing prophetic visions, ²⁸ 

they totter while making legal decisions. ²⁹ 

Lamentations 4:13

מ (Mem)

4:13 But it happened ³⁰  due to the sins of her prophets ³¹ 

and the iniquities of her priests,

who poured out in her midst

the blood of the righteous.

Ezekiel 22:25-28

22:25 Her princes ³²  within her are like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they have devoured lives. They take away riches and valuable things; they have made many women widows ³³  within it. 22:26 Her priests abuse my law and have desecrated my holy things. They do not distinguish between the holy and the profane, ³⁴  or recognize any distinction between the unclean and the clean. They ignore ³⁵  my Sabbaths and I am profaned in their midst. 22:27 Her officials are like wolves in her midst rending their prey – shedding blood and destroying lives – so they can get dishonest profit. 22:28 Her prophets coat their messages with whitewash. ³⁶  They see false visions and announce lying omens for them, saying, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ when the Lord has not spoken.

Zephaniah 3:4

3:4 Her prophets are proud; ³⁷ 

they are deceitful men.

Her priests defile what is holy; ³⁸ 

they break God’s laws. ³⁹ 

[2:8]  ¹ tn Heb “The priests…the ones who grasp my law…the shepherds…the prophets…they…”

[2:8]  ² sn See the study note on 2:6.

[2:8]  ³ tn Heb “those who handle my law.”

[2:8]  ⁴ tn Or “were not committed to me.” The Hebrew verb rendered “know” refers to more than mere intellectual knowledge. It carries also the ideas of emotional and volitional commitment as well intimacy. See for example its use in contexts like Hos 4:1; 6:6.

[2:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “by Baal.”

[2:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “and they followed after those things [the word is plural] which do not profit.” The poetic structure of the verse, four lines in which a distinct subject appears at the beginning followed by a fifth line beginning with a prepositional phrase and no distinct subject, argues that this line is climactic and refers to all four classes enumerated in the preceding lines. See W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:88-89. There may be a play or pun in the Hebrew text on the name for the god Baal (בַּעַל, ba’al) and the verb “cannot help you” (Heb “do not profit”) which is spelled יַעַל (ya’al).

[2:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “house of Israel.”

[2:26]  ⁸ tn The words “for what they have done” are implicit in the comparison and are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:31]  ⁹ tn Heb “they shall rule at their hands.” Since the word “hand” can be used figuratively for authority or mean “side” and the pronoun “them” can refer to the priests themselves or the prophets, the following translations have also been suggested: “the priests rule under their [the prophets’] directions,” or “the priests rule in league with them [the prophets].” From the rest of the book it would appear that the prophets did not exercise authority over the priests nor did they exercise the same authority over the people that the priests did. Hence it probably mean “by their own hand/power/authority.”

[5:31]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “But what will you do at its end?” The rhetorical question implies a negative answer: “Nothing!”

[23:11]  ¹¹ tn The particle כִּי (ki) which begins this verse is parallel to the one at the beginning of the preceding verse. However, the connection is too distant to render it “for.” “Moreover” is intended to draw the parallel. The words “the Lord says” (Heb “Oracle of the Lord”) have been drawn up to the front to introduce the shift in speaker from Jeremiah, who describes his agitated state, to God, who describes the sins of the prophets and priests and his consequent judgment on them.

[23:11]  ¹² tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[23:14]  ¹³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[23:14]  ¹⁴ tn Or “they commit adultery and deal falsely.” The word “shocking” only occurs here and in 5:30 where it is found in the context of prophesying lies. This almost assures that the reference to “walking in lies” (Heb “in the lie”) is referring to false prophesy. Moreover the references to the prophets in 5:13 and in 14:13-15 are all in the context of false prophesy as are the following references in this chapter in 23:24, 26, 32 and in 28:15. This appears to be the theme of this section. This also makes it likely that the reference to adultery is not literal adultery, though two of the false prophets in Babylon were guilty of this (29:23). The reference to “encouraging those who do evil” that follows also makes more sense if they were preaching messages of comfort rather than messages of doom. The verbs here are infinitive absolutes in place of the finite verb, probably used to place greater emphasis on the action (cf. Hos 4:2 in a comparable judgment speech.)

[23:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “So they strengthen the hands of those doing evil so that they do not turn back from their evil.” For the use of the figure “strengthen the hands” meaning “encourage” see Judg 9:24; Ezek 13:22 (and cf. BDB 304 s.v. חָזַק Piel.2). The vav consecutive on the front of the form gives the logical consequence equivalent to “so” in the translation.

[23:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “All of them are to me like Sodom and its [Jerusalem’s] inhabitants like Gomorrah.”

[23:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[23:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Therefore, thus says the Lord…concerning the prophets.” The person is shifted to better conform with English style and the word “of Jerusalem” is supplied in the translation to avoid the possible misunderstanding that the judgment applies to the prophets of Samaria who had already been judged long before.

[23:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “I will feed this people wormwood and make them drink poison water.” For these same words of judgment on another group see 9:15 (9:14 HT). “Wormwood” and “poison water” are not to be understood literally here but are symbolic of judgment and suffering. See, e.g., BDB 542 s.v. לַעֲנָה.

[23:15]  ²⁰ tn The compound preposition מֵאֵת (me’et) expresses source or origin (see BDB 86 s.v. אֵת 4.c). Context shows that the origin is in their false prophesying which encourages people in their evil behavior.

[23:15]  ²¹ sn A word that derives from this same Hebrew word is used in v. 11 at the beginning of the Lord’s criticism of the prophet and priest. This is a common rhetorical device for bracketing material that belongs together. The criticism has, however, focused on the false prophets and the judgment due them.

[26:8]  ²² tn The translation again represents an attempt to break up a long complex Hebrew sentence into equivalent English ones that conform more to contemporary English style: Heb “And as soon as Jeremiah finished saying all that…the priests…grabbed him and said…” The word “some” has been supplied in the translation, because obviously it was not all the priests, the prophets, and all the people, but only some of them. There is, of course, rhetorical intent here to show that all were implicated, although all may not have actually participated. (This is a common figure called synecdoche where all is put for a part – all for all kinds or representatives of all kinds. See E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 614-19, and compare usage in Acts 10:12; Matt 3:5.)

[26:8]  ²³ tn Or “You must certainly die!” The construction here is again emphatic with the infinitive preceding the finite verb (cf. Joüon 2:423 §123.h, and compare usage in Exod 21:28).

[32:32]  ²⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[32:32]  ²⁵ tn Heb “remove it from my sight 32:33 because of all the wickedness of the children of Israel and the children of Judah which they have done to make me angry, they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” The sentence has been broken up in conformity with contemporary English style and an attempt has been made to preserve the causal connections.

[28:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “these.” The demonstrative pronoun anticipates “priests and prophets” two lines later.

[28:7]  ²⁷ tn According to HALOT 135 s.v. III בלע, the verb form is derived from בָּלַע (bala’, “confuse”), not the more common בָּלַע (“swallow”). See earlier notes at 3:12 and 9:16.

[28:7]  ²⁸ tn Heb “in the seeing.”

[28:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “[in] giving a decision.”

[4:13]  ³⁰ tn These words do not appear in the Hebrew, but are supplied to make sense of the line. The introductory causal preposition מִן (min) (“because”) indicates that this phrase – or something like it – is implied through elision.

[4:13]  ³¹ tn There is no main verb in the verse; it is an extended prepositional phrase. One must either assume a verbal idea such as “But it happened due to…” or connect it to the following verses, which themselves are quite difficult. The former option was employed in the present translation.

[22:25]  ³² tn Heb “a conspiracy of her prophets is in her midst.” The LXX reads “whose princes” rather than “a conspiracy of prophets.” The prophets are mentioned later in the paragraph (v. 28). If one follows the LXX in verse 25, then five distinct groups are mentioned in vv. 25-29: princes, priests, officials, prophets, and the people of the land. For a defense of the Septuagintal reading, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:32, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:720, n. 4.

[22:25]  ³³ tn Heb “her widows they have multiplied.” The statement alludes to their murderous acts.

[22:26]  ³⁴ tn Or “between the consecrated and the common.”

[22:26]  ³⁵ tn Heb “hide their eyes from.” The idiom means to disregard or ignore something or someone (see Lev 20:4; 1 Sam 12:3; Prov 28:27; Isa 1:15).

[22:28]  ³⁶ tn Heb “her prophets coat for themselves with whitewash.” The expression may be based on Ezek 13:10-15.

[3:4]  ³⁷ sn Applied to prophets, the word פֹּחֲזִים (pokhazim, “proud”) probably refers to their audacity in passing off their own words as genuine prophecies from the Lord (see Jer 23:32).

[3:4]  ³⁸ tn Or “defile the temple.”

[3:4]  ³⁹ tn Heb “they treat violently [the] law.”