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Saturday, June 28th, 2025
the Week of Proper 7 / Ordinary 12
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Jeremiah 23:31

"Hear this, I am against the prophets," says the LORD, "who use their [own deceitful] tongues and say, 'Thus says the Lord.'

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Dream;   Minister, Christian;   Prophets;   Scofield Reference Index - Israel;   Thompson Chain Reference - Leaders;   Ministers;   Religious;   The Topic Concordance - Opposition;   Profit;   Prophecy and Prophets;   Sending and Those Sent;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Prophets, False;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Prophecy, prophet;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - False Prophet;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Quakers;   Holman Bible Dictionary - False Prophet;   Jeremiah;   Lamentations, Book of;   Oracles;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Dream (2);   False Prophets;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Micaiah;   Prophesyings, False;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Dreams;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I am against the prophets”—the Lord’s declaration—“who use their own tongues to make a declaration.
Hebrew Names Version
Behold, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who use their tongues, and say, He says.
King James Version
Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord , that use their tongues, and say, He saith.
English Standard Version
Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord , who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the Lord .'
New American Standard Bible
"Behold, I am against the prophets," declares the LORD, "who use their tongues and declare, 'The Lord declares!'
New Century Version
I am against the false prophets," says the Lord . "They use their own words and pretend it is a message from me.
World English Bible
Behold, I am against the prophets, says Yahweh, who use their tongues, and say, He says.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Beholde, I will come against the prophets, saith the Lord, which haue sweete tongues, & say, He saith.
Legacy Standard Bible
Behold, I am against the prophets," declares Yahweh, "who take their tongues and declare, ‘Yahweh declares.'
Berean Standard Bible
"Yes," declares the LORD, "I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and proclaim, 'The Lord declares it.'"
Complete Jewish Bible
Yes, I am against the prophets," says Adonai , "who speak their own words, then add, ‘He says.'
Darby Translation
Behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah, that use their tongues, and say, He hath said.
Easy-to-Read Version
Yes, the Lord says, "I am against the false prophets. They use their own words and pretend that it is a message from me.
George Lamsa Translation
Behold, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who pervert their tongues, and say, Thus says the LORD.
Good News Translation
I am also against those prophets who speak their own words and claim they came from me.
Lexham English Bible
Look, I am against the prophets," declares Yahweh, "who take their tongues and declare as prophets, ‘Yahweh declares.'
Literal Translation
Jehovah says, Behold, I am against the prophets who use their tongues and say, He says.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Beholde, here am I (saieth the LORDE) agaynst the prophetes, that take vpon their tunges to speake: The LORDE hath sayde it.
American Standard Version
Behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.
Bible in Basic English
See, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who let their tongues say, He has said.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues and say: 'He saith.'
King James Version (1611)
Beholde, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that vse their tongues, and say; He sayth.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Beholde, here am I saith the Lorde, against the prophetes that make tongues tender to speake, and to say, The Lorde hath saide it.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Behold, I am against the prophets that put forth prophecies of mere words, and slumber their sleep.
English Revised Version
Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Lo! Y to the profetis, seith the Lord, that taken her tungis, and seien, The Lord seith.
Update Bible Version
Look, I am against the prophets, says Yahweh, that use their tongues, and say, He says.
Webster's Bible Translation
Behold, I [am] against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.
New English Translation
I, the Lord , affirm that I am opposed to those prophets who are using their own tongues to declare, ‘The Lord declares….'
New King James Version
Behold, I am against the prophets," says the LORD, "who use their tongues and say, "He says.'
New Living Translation
I am against these smooth-tongued prophets who say, ‘This prophecy is from the Lord !'
New Life Bible
See, I am against these men," says the Lord, "who use their tongues and say, ‘This is what the Lord says.'
New Revised Standard
See, I am against the prophets, says the Lord , who use their own tongues and say, "Says the Lord ."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Behold me! against the prophets, Declareth Yahweh, who presume with their tongue and declare He declareth:
Douay-Rheims Bible
Behold I am against the prophets, saith the Lord: who use their tongues, and say: The Lord saith it.
Revised Standard Version
Behold, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who use their tongues and say, 'Says the LORD.'
Young's Literal Translation
Lo, I [am] against the prophets, An affirmation of Jehovah, Who are making smooth their tongue, And they affirm -- an affirmation.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Behold, I am against the prophets," declares the LORD, "who use their tongues and declare, 'The Lord declares.'

Contextual Overview

9Concerning the prophets: My heart [says Jeremiah] is broken within me, All my bones shake; I have become like a drunken man, A man whom wine has overcome, Because of the LORD And because of His holy words [declared against unfaithful leaders]. 10For the land is full of adulterers (unfaithful to God); The land mourns because of the curse [of God upon it]. The pastures of the wilderness have dried up. The course of action [of the false prophets] is evil and they rush into wickedness; And their power is not right. 11"For both [false] prophet and priest are ungodly (profane, polluted); Even in My house I have found their wickedness," says the LORD. 12"Therefore their way will be to them like slippery paths In the dark; they will be pushed and fall into them; For I will bring disaster on them, In the year of their punishment," says the LORD. 13"And I have seen a foolish and an offensive thing in the prophets of Samaria: They prophesied by Baal and caused My people Israel to go astray. 14"Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: They commit adultery and walk in lies; They encourage and strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one has turned back from his wickedness. All of them have become like Sodom to Me, And her inhabitants like Gomorrah. 15"Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts in regard to the prophets, 'Behold, I am going to feed them [the bitterness of] wormwood And make them drink the poisonous water [of gall], For from the [counterfeit] prophets of Jerusalem Profaneness and ungodliness have spread into all the land.'" 16Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Do not listen to the words of the [false] prophets who prophesy to you. They are teaching you worthless things and are leading you into futility; They speak a vision of their own mind and imagination And not [truth] from the mouth of the LORD. 17"They are continually saying to those who despise Me [and My word], 'The Lord has said, "You will have peace"'; And they say to everyone who walks after the stubbornness of his own heart, 'No evil will come on you.' 18"But who [among them] has stood in the council of the LORD, That he would perceive and hear His word? Who has marked His word [noticing and observing and paying attention to it] and has [actually] heard it?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

use: or, smooth, Isaiah 30:10, Micah 2:11

He: Jeremiah 23:17, 2 Chronicles 18:5, 2 Chronicles 18:10-12, 2 Chronicles 18:19-21

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 18:20 - the prophet 1 Kings 22:11 - Thus saith Lamentations 2:14 - false Ezekiel 13:6 - saying

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Behold, I [am] against the prophets, saith the Lord,.... Not another sort of prophets distinct from the former, or those that follow; but the same under another character, and against whom he was, and set his face on another occasion;

that use their tongues; at their pleasure, their lips being their own. So the Targum,

"who prophesy according to the will of their own hearts;''

talk in a haughty and insolent manner, speaking bold and daring things of the divine Being; or in a boasting bragging manner, extolling themselves, and speaking highly in their own commendations; or rather in a flattering way to the people: so some read it, by a transposition of a radical letter r, "that smooth their tongues", as Kimchi; or speak smooth things with their tongues, to please the people:

and say, he saith; that is, "the Lord", as the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions express it; that so they, night be the more easily believed by the people; but this was highly provoking to God, to father their lies and falsehoods upon him.

r הלוקחים "hic pro" המחליקים "qui lenificant linguam suam", Pagninus, Gataker; "sumentes blandam linguan suam", Schmidt.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

That use their tongues - literally, that take their tongues. Their second characteristic. They have no message from God, but they take their tongues, their only implement, and say, He saith, using the solemn formula by which Yahweh affirms the truth of His words. Solemn asseverations seemed to give reality to their emptiness.


 
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