Jeremiah 23:25-27

23:25 The Lord says, ¹  “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!’ ²  23:26 Those prophets are just prophesying lies. They are prophesying the delusions of their own minds. ³  23:27 How long will they go on plotting ⁴  to make my people forget who I am ⁵  through the dreams they tell one another? That is just as bad as what their ancestors ⁶  did when they forgot who I am by worshiping the god Baal. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 27:9

27:9 So do not listen to your prophets or to those who claim to predict the future by divination, ⁸  by dreams, by consulting the dead, ⁹  or by practicing magic. They keep telling you, ‘You do not need to be ¹⁰  subject to the king of Babylon.’

Jeremiah 29:8

29:8 “For the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹¹  says, ‘Do not let the prophets or those among you who claim to be able to predict the future by divination ¹²  deceive you. And do not pay any attention to the dreams that you are encouraging them to dream.

Jeremiah 29:21-22

29:21 “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹³  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. ¹⁴  ‘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!” ¹⁵ 

Lamentations 2:14

נ (Nun)

2:14 Your prophets saw visions for you

that were worthless lies. ¹⁶ 

They failed to expose your sin

so as to restore your fortunes. ¹⁷ 

They saw oracles for you

that were worthless ¹⁸  lies.

Ezekiel 13:6-16

13:6 They see delusion and their omens are a lie. ¹⁹  They say, “the Lord declares,” though the Lord has not sent them; ²⁰  yet they expect their word to be confirmed. ²¹  13:7 Have you not seen a false vision and announced a lying omen when you say, “the Lord declares,” although I myself never spoke?

13:8 “‘Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you have spoken false words and forecast delusion, look, ²²  I am against you, ²³  declares the sovereign Lord. 13:9 My hand will be against the prophets who see delusion and announce lying omens. They will not be included in the council ²⁴  of my people, nor be written in the registry ²⁵  of the house of Israel, nor enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the sovereign Lord.

13:10 “‘This is because they have led my people astray saying, “All is well,” ²⁶  when things are not well. When anyone builds a wall without mortar, ²⁷  they coat it with whitewash. 13:11 Tell the ones who coat it with whitewash that it will fall. When there is a deluge of rain, hailstones ²⁸  will fall and a violent wind will break out. ²⁹  13:12 When the wall has collapsed, people will ask you, “Where is the whitewash you coated it with?”

13:13 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: In my rage I will make a violent wind break out. In my anger there will be a deluge of rain and hailstones in destructive fury. 13:14 I will break down the wall you coated with whitewash and knock it to the ground so that its foundation is exposed. When it falls you will be destroyed beneath it, ³⁰  and you will know that I am the Lord. 13:15 I will vent my rage against the wall, and against those who coated it with whitewash. Then I will say to you, “The wall is no more and those who whitewashed it are no more – 13:16 those prophets of Israel who would prophesy about Jerusalem ³¹  and would see visions of peace for it, when there was no peace,” declares the sovereign Lord.’

Ezekiel 13:22-23

13:22 This is because you have disheartened the righteous person with lies (although I have not grieved him), and because you have encouraged the wicked person not to turn from his evil conduct and preserve his life. 13:23 Therefore you will no longer see false visions and practice divination. I will rescue my people from your power, and you ³²  will know that I am the Lord.’”

Ezekiel 21:29

21:29 while seeing false visions for you

and reading lying omens for you ³³  –

to place that sword ³⁴  on the necks of the profane wicked, ³⁵ 

whose day has come,

the time of final punishment.

Micah 3:6-11

3:6 Therefore night will fall, and you will receive no visions; ³⁶ 

it will grow dark, and you will no longer be able to read the omens. ³⁷ 

The sun will set on these prophets,

and the daylight will turn to darkness over their heads. ³⁸ 

3:7 The prophets ³⁹  will be ashamed;

the omen readers will be humiliated.

All of them will cover their mouths, ⁴⁰ 

for they will receive no divine oracles.” ⁴¹ 

3:8 But I ⁴²  am full of the courage that the Lord’s Spirit gives,

and have a strong commitment to justice. ⁴³ 

This enables me to confront Jacob with its rebellion,

and Israel with its sin. ⁴⁴ 

3:9 Listen to this, you leaders of the family ⁴⁵  of Jacob,

you rulers of the nation ⁴⁶  of Israel!

You ⁴⁷  hate justice

and pervert all that is right.

3:10 You ⁴⁸  build Zion through bloody crimes, ⁴⁹ 

Jerusalem ⁵⁰  through unjust violence.

3:11 Her ⁵¹  leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, ⁵² 

her priests proclaim rulings for profit,

and her prophets read omens for pay.

Yet they claim to trust ⁵³  the Lord and say,

“The Lord is among us. ⁵⁴ 

Disaster will not overtake ⁵⁵  us!”

[23:25]  ¹ 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]  ² 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.

[23:26]  ³ sn See the parallel passage in Jer 14:13-15.

[23:27]  ⁴ tn The relation of the words to one another in v. 26 and the beginning of v. 27 has created difficulties for translators and commentators. The proper solution is reflected in the NJPS. Verses 26-27 read somewhat literally, “How long is there in the hearts of the prophets who are prophesying the lie and [in the hearts of] the prophets of the delusions of their [own] heart the plotting to cause my people to forget my name…” Most commentaries complain that the text is corrupt, that there is no subject for “is there.” However, the long construct qualification “in the hearts of” has led to the lack of observation that the proper subject is “the plotting to make my people forget.” There are no exact parallels but Jer 14:22; Neh 5:5 follow the same structure. The “How long” precedes the other means of asking a question for the purpose of emphasis (cf. BDB 210 s.v. הֲ 1.b and compare for example the usage in 2 Sam 7:7). There has also been a failure to see that “the prophets of the delusion of…” is a parallel construct noun after “heart of.” Stripping the syntax down to its barest minimum and translating literally, the sentence would read “How long will the plotting…continue in the hearts of the prophets who…and [in hearts of] the prophets of…” The sentence has been restructured in the translation to conform to contemporary English style but attempt has been made to maintain the same subordinations.

[23:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “my name.”

[23:27]  ⁶ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 39).

[23:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “through Baal.” This is an elliptical expression for the worship of Baal. See 11:17; 12:16; 19:5 for other references to their relation to Baal. There is a deliberate paralleling in the syntax here between “through their dreams” and “through Baal.”

[27:9]  ⁸ sn Various means of divination are alluded to in the OT. For example, Ezek 21:26-27 alludes to throwing down arrows to see which way they fall and consulting the shape of the liver of slaughtered animals. Gen 44:5 alludes to reading the future through pouring liquid in a cup. The means alluded to in this verse were all classified as pagan and prohibited as illegitimate in Deut 18:10-14. The Lord had promised that he would speak to them through prophets like Moses (Deut 18:15, 18). But even prophets could lie. Hence, the Lord told them that the test of a true prophet was whether what he said came true or not (Deut 18:20-22). An example of false prophesying and the vindication of the true as opposed to the false will be given in the chapter that follows this.

[27:9]  ⁹ sn An example of this is seen in 1 Sam 28.

[27:9]  ¹⁰ tn The verb in this context is best taken as a negative obligatory imperfect. See IBHS 508-9 §31.4g for discussion and examples. See Exod 4:15 as an example of positive obligation.

[29:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

[29:8]  ¹² sn See the study notes on 27:9 for this term.

[29:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

[29:21]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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.

[2:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “emptiness and whitewash.” The nouns שָׁוְא וְתָפֵל (shv’ vÿtafel) form a nominal hendiadys. The first noun functions adjectivally, modifying the second noun that retains its full nominal sense: “empty whitewash” or “empty deceptions” (see following translation note on meaning of תָּפֵל [tafel]). The noun תָּפֵל (tafel, “whitewash”) is used literally in reference to a white-washed wall (Ezek 13:10, 11, 14, 15) and figuratively in reference to false prophets (Ezek 22:28).

[2:14]  ¹⁷ tc The Kethib שְׁבִיתֵךְ (shÿvitekh) and Qere שְׁבוּתֵךְ (shÿvutekh), which is preserved in many medieval Hebrew mss here and elsewhere (Ps 85:1 Heb 85:2; 126:4; Job 42:10), are struggling with the root. The ancient versions take it from ָָשׁבָה (shavah) meaning “captivity.” Such a meaning is not tenable for the Job passage, which along with a similar phrase in the Sefire inscription suggest that the proper meaning is “to restore someone’s fortunes.”

[2:14]  ¹⁸ tn The nouns שָׁוְא וּמַדּוּחִים (shav’ umaddukhim, lit., “emptiness and enticements”) form a nominal hendiadys. The first functions adjectivally, modifying the second noun that retains its nominal sense: “empty enticements” or “false deceptions.” The noun מַדּוּחַ (madduakh), meaning “enticement” or “transgression” is a hapax legomenon (term that appears only once in the Hebrew OT). It is related to the verb נָדָח (nadakh, “to entice, lead astray”) which is often used in reference to idolatry.

[13:6]  ¹⁹ sn The same description of a false prophet is found in Micah 2:11.

[13:6]  ²⁰ sn The Lord has not sent them. A similar concept is found in Jer 14:14; 23:21.

[13:6]  ²¹ tn Or “confirmed”; NIV “to be fulfilled”; TEV “to come true.”

[13:8]  ²² tn The word h!nn@h indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[13:8]  ²³ tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘h!nn#n' ?l?K>,’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.

[13:9]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew term may refer to the secret council of the Lord (Jer 23:18; Job 15:8), but here it more likely refers to a human council comprised of civic leaders (Gen 49:6; Jer 6:11; 15:17 Ps 64:3; 111:1).

[13:9]  ²⁵ tn The reference here is probably to a civil list (as in Ezra 2:16; Neh 7:64) rather than to a “book of life” (Exod 32:32; Isa 4:3; Ps 69:29; Dan 12:1). This registry may have been established at the making of David’s census (2 Sam 24:2, 9).

[13:10]  ²⁶ tn Or “peace.”

[13:10]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew word only occurs here in the Bible. According to L. C. Allen (Ezekiel [WBC], 1:202-3) it is also used in the Mishnah of a wall of rough stones without mortar. This fits the context here comparing the false prophetic messages to a nice coat of whitewash on a structurally unstable wall.

[13:11]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and you, O hailstones.”

[13:11]  ²⁹ sn A violent wind will break out. God’s judgments are frequently described in storm imagery (Pss 18:7-15; 77:17-18; 83:15; Isa 28:17; 30:30; Jer 23:19; 30:23).

[13:14]  ³⁰ tn Or “within it,” referring to the city of Jerusalem.

[13:16]  ³¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[13:23]  ³² tn The Hebrew verb is feminine plural, indicating that it is the false prophetesses who are addressed here.

[21:29]  ³³ tn Heb “in the seeing concerning you falsehood, in divining concerning you a lie.” This probably refers to the attempts of the Ammonites to ward off judgment through prophetic visions and divination.

[21:29]  ³⁴ tn Heb “you”; the referent (the sword mentioned in v. 28) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:29]  ³⁵ sn The second half of the verse appears to state that the sword of judgment would fall upon the wicked, despite their efforts to prevent it.

[3:6]  ³⁶ tn Heb “it will be night for you without a vision.”

[3:6]  ³⁷ tn Heb “it will be dark for you without divination.”

[3:6]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and the day will be dark over them.”

[3:7]  ³⁹ tn Or “seers.”

[3:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “the mustache,” or perhaps “the beard.” Cf. KJV, NAB, NRSV “cover their lips.”

[3:7]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “for there will be no answer from God.”

[3:8]  ⁴² sn The prophet Micah speaks here and contrasts himself with the mercenaries just denounced by the Lord in the preceding verses.

[3:8]  ⁴³ tn Heb “am full of power, the Spirit of the Lord, and justice and strength.” The appositional phrase “the Spirit of the Lord” explains the source of the prophet’s power. The phrase “justice and strength” is understood here as a hendiadys, referring to the prophet’s strong sense of justice.

[3:8]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “to declare to Jacob his rebellion and to Israel his sin.” The words “this enables me” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[3:9]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “house.”

[3:9]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “house.”

[3:9]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was begun here in the translation for stylistic reasons (also at the beginning of v. 10).

[3:10]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “who.”

[3:10]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “bloodshed” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); NLT “murder.”

[3:10]  ⁵⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:11]  ⁵¹ sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).

[3:11]  ⁵² tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”

[3:11]  ⁵³ tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”

[3:11]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “Is not the Lord in our midst?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he is!”

[3:11]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”