Jeremiah 23:17

23:17 They continually say ¹  to those who reject what the Lord has said, ² 

‘Things will go well for you!’ ³ 

They say to all those who follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts,

‘Nothing bad will happen to you!’

Jeremiah 23:21

23:21 I did not send those prophets.

Yet they were in a hurry to give their message. ⁴ 

I did not tell them anything.

Yet they prophesied anyway.

Jeremiah 23:25

23:25 The Lord says, ⁵  “I have heard what those prophets who are prophesying lies in my name are saying. They are saying, ‘I have had a dream! I have had a dream!’ ⁶ 

Jeremiah 23:31

23:31 I, the Lord, affirm ⁷  that I am opposed to those prophets who are using their own tongues to declare, ‘The Lord declares….’ ⁸ 

[23:17]  ¹ tn The translation reflects an emphatic construction where the infinitive absolute follows a participle (cf. GKC 343 §113.r).

[23:17]  ² tc The translation follows the Greek version. The Hebrew text reads, “who reject me, ‘The Lord has spoken, “Things…”’” The Greek version is to be preferred here because of (1) the parallelism of the lines “reject what the Lord has said” // “follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts;” (2) the preceding context which speaks of “visions of their own imaginations not of what the Lord has given them;” (3) the following context which denies that they have ever had access to the Lord’s secrets; (4) the general contexts earlier regarding false prophecy where rejection of the Lord’s word is in view (6:14 [see there v. 10]; 8:11 [see there v. 9]); (5) the meter of the poetic lines (the Hebrew meter is 3/5/4/3; the meter presupposed by the translation is 5/3/4/3 with the 3’s being their words). The difference is one of vocalization of the same consonants. The vocalization of the MT is יְהוָה מְנַאֲצַי דִּבֶּר [mÿna’atsay dibber yÿhvah]; the Hebrew Vorlage behind the Greek would be vocalized as מְנַאֲצֵי דְּבַר יְהוָה (mÿna’atsey dÿvar yÿhvah).

[23:17]  ³ tn Heb “You will have peace.” But see the note on 14:13. See also 6:14 and 8:11.

[23:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “Yet they ran.”

[23:25]  ⁷ tn The words, “The Lord says” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to show that the Lord continues speaking.

[23:25]  ⁸ sn To have had a dream was not an illegitimate means of receiving divine revelation. God had revealed himself in the past to his servants through dreams (e.g., Jacob [Gen 31:10-11] and Joseph [Gen 37:6, 7, 9]) and God promised to reveal himself through dreams (Num 12:6; Joel 2:28 [3:1 HT]). What was illegitimate was to use the dream to lead people away from the Lord (Deut 13:1-5 [13:2-6 HT]). That was what the prophets were doing through their dreams which were “lies” and “the delusions of their own minds.” Through them they were making people forget who the Lord really was which was just like what their ancestors had done through worshiping Baal.

[23:31]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[23:31]  ¹¹ tn The word “The Lord” is not actually in the text but is implicit in the idiom. It is generally supplied in all the English versions.