Jeremiah 23:23

Easy-to-Read Version

This message is from the Lord . "I am God, and I am always near. I am not far away.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“Am I a God who is only near”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and not a God who is far away?

Hebrew Names Version
Am I a God at hand, says the LORD, and not a God afar off?

King James Version
Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord , and not a God afar off?

English Standard Version
"Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord , and not a God far away?

New American Standard Bible
"Am I a God who is near," declares the LORD, "And not a God far off?

New Century Version
"I am a God who is near," says the Lord . "I am also a God who is far away.

Amplified Bible
"Am I a God who is at hand," says the LORD, "And not a God far away?"

World English Bible
Am I a God at hand, says Yahweh, and not a God afar off?

Geneva Bible (1587)
Am I a God at hande, saith the Lord, and not a God farre off?

Legacy Standard Bible
"Am I a God who is near," declares Yahweh,"And not a God far off?

Berean Standard Bible
"Am I only a God nearby," declares the LORD, "and not a God far away?"

Contemporary English Version
I am everywhere— both near and far,

Complete Jewish Bible
Am I God only when near," asks Adonai , "and not when far away?

Darby Translation
Am I a God at hand, saith Jehovah, and not a God afar off?

George Lamsa Translation
I am the God who is near, says the LORD God, and not a God afar off.

Good News Translation
"I am a God who is everywhere and not in one place only.

Lexham English Bible
Am I a God from near," declares Yahweh, "and not a God from far?

Literal Translation
Am I a God near by, says Jehovah, and not a God from afar?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Am I the God that seeth but the thinge, which is nye at honde, and not that is farre of? saieth the LORDE.

American Standard Version
Am I a God at hand, saith Jehovah, and not a God afar off?

Bible in Basic English
Am I only a God who is near, says the Lord, and not a God at a distance?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Am I a God near at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?

King James Version (1611)
Am I a God at hand, sayth the Lord, and not a God afarre off?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Am I then God that seeth but the thing whiche is nye at hande, and not that is farre of, saith the Lorde?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
I am a God nigh at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off.

English Revised Version
Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Gessist thou, whether Y am God of niy, seith the Lord, and not God afer?

Update Bible Version
Am I a God at hand, says Yahweh, and not a God far off?

Webster's Bible Translation
[Am] I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off.

New English Translation
Do you people think that I am some local deity and not the transcendent God?" the Lord asks.

New King James Version
"Am I a God near at hand," says the LORD, "And not a God afar off?

New Living Translation
Am I a God who is only close at hand?" says the Lord . "No, I am far away at the same time.

New Life Bible
"Am I a God Who is near," says the Lord, "and not a God Who is far away?

New Revised Standard
Am I a God near by, says the Lord , and not a God far off?

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Am I, a God at hand, Demandeth Yahweh, And not a God afar off?

Douay-Rheims Bible
Am I, think ye, a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?

Revised Standard Version
"Am I a God at hand, says the LORD, and not a God afar off?

Young's Literal Translation
A God near [am] I -- an affirmation of Jehovah, And not a God afar off?

THE MESSAGE
"Am I not a God near at hand"— God 's Decree— "and not a God far off? Can anyone hide out in a corner where I can't see him?" God 's Decree. "Am I not present everywhere, whether seen or unseen?" God 's Decree.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Am I a God who is near," declares the LORD, "And not a God far off?

Contextual Overview

⁹ A message to the prophets: I am very sad—my heart is broken. All my bones are shaking. Because of the Lord and his holy words, I am like a man who is drunk. ¹⁰ The land of Judah is full of people who commit adultery. They are unfaithful in many ways. So God cursed the land, and it became very dry. The plants are dried and dying in the pastures. The fields have become like the desert. The prophets are evil. They use their influence and power in the wrong way. ¹¹ This message is from the Lord : "The prophets and even the priests are evil. I have seen them doing evil things in my own Temple. ¹² I will stop giving my messages to them. They will walk in darkness. The road will be slippery for those prophets and priests, and they will fall in that darkness. I will bring disaster on them; I will punish them." This message is from the Lord . ¹³ "I saw the prophets of Samaria doing wrong things. I saw them prophesy in the name of the false god Baal. They led the people of Israel away from me. ¹⁴ I have even seen the prophets of Jerusalem doing sinful things. They are committing adultery and living a life of lies. They support their fellow prophets and never stop doing evil. They have become like Sodom; they are all like Gomorrah." ¹⁵ So this is what the Lord All-Powerful says about those Jerusalem prophets: "I will make them suffer. Their food will be bitter, their water like poison. I will punish them because they started a spiritual sickness that spread through the whole country." ¹⁶ This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: "Don't pay attention to what those prophets are saying to you. They are trying to fool you. They talk about visions, but they did not get their visions from me. Their visions come from their own minds. ¹⁷ Some of the people hate the real messages from the Lord , so the prophets give them a different message. They say, ‘You will have peace.' Some of the people are very stubborn. They do only what they want to do. So the prophets say, ‘Nothing bad will happen to you!' ¹⁸ But none of these prophets has stood in the heavenly council. None of them has seen or heard the message from the Lord . None of them has paid close attention to his message.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

1 Kings 20:23, 1 Kings 20:28, Psalms 113:5, Psalms 139:1-10, Ezekiel 20:32-35, Jonah 1:3, Jonah 1:4

Reciprocal: Genesis 11:5 - General Exodus 20:18 - they removed 2 Kings 6:12 - telleth 2 Kings 19:27 - I know Psalms 33:13 - beholdeth Psalms 94:9 - hear Psalms 139:7 - General Isaiah 37:28 - I know Jeremiah 29:23 - even I Amos 9:3 - hide Acts 17:27 - he be

Gill's Notes on the Bible

[Am] I a God at hand, saith the Lord,.... Or "near" f; that is, in heaven; and only sees, and hears, and observes persons and things there, being near unto him:

and not a God afar off? that sees, and hears, and takes notice of persons and things at a distance, even on earth. The meaning is, that he certainly was; and that persons and things on earth were as much under his cognizance and notice, as persons and things in heaven; which was quite contrary to the notions of these atheistical prophets and people; who, like Heathens, thought that God did not concern himself about persons and things on earth. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, without the interrogative, "I am a God near, saith the Lord, and not afar off". The meaning is, that God is alike near in one place as in another; which is a very great truth; and a very comfortable one it is to the people of God, to whom he is near in all places, and at all times; he is a present help in time of trouble; he is near them, to hear their cries, and grant their requests; he is near to give them assistance in a time of need, and to deliver them out of all their troubles; to afford them his gracious presence, and to indulge them with communion with himself; to communicate all good things to them; to speak comfortably to them; to take them by the hand, and lead them in the way everlasting: he is at their right hand to uphold them with his, and to strengthen them with strength in their souls; to advise and counsel, and direct them; to rebuke their enemies, and save them from them that condemn them; and indeed there are no people like them, who have God so nigh unto them, in all things they call upon him for, Deuteronomy 4:7; and though he may seem at times to be afar off, and stand at a distance from them; when he hides his face; withdraws his gracious influences; does not appear at once for their relief in distress; but suffers them to he afflicted in one way or another; yet in reality he is not; but is nigh unto them when they call upon him: and this truth is as uncomfortable and dreadful to wicked men, who cannot go from his spirit, or flee from his presence; which is everywhere, in heaven and hell, in the earth and seas, even in the uttermost parts of them; there his eye is upon them, and his right hand can reach them: he is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. The Targum is,

"I God have created the world from the beginning, saith the Lord; and I God will renew the world for the righteous;''

see 2 Peter 3:13; and some interpret the words of time, as well as of place; as if the sense was this, am I a God of late date, as the gods of the Heathens are? no, I am not: am I not a God from eternity who was before the world was, and the Creator of it, which they are not? verily I am: but the former sense is best, and most agreeable with the context, and what follows.

f מקרב "e propinquo", Junius Tremellius, Piscator "vel propinquus", Schmidt.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

At hand - Or, near. An appeal to the omnipotence of God in demonstration of the wickedness of the prophets. His power is not limited, so that He can notice only things close to Him, but is universal.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 23:23. Am I a God at hand, - and not a God afar off? — You act as if you thought I could not see you! Am I not omnipresent? Do not I fill the heavens and the earth? Jeremiah 23:24.