Jeremiah 23

The Lord Our Righteousness

The Lord condemns the shepherds who scattered His flock, promises a righteous Branch of David who will gather and rule it, and shows how to tell a prophet who has stood in His counsel from one who speaks his own dreams.

The chapter gives no date; the Bible Dictionary places chapters 21–23 among the prophecies under Zedekiah (597–586 B.C.) Read with footnotes in Gospel Library

Background

Jeremiah 23 closes a run of three chapters aimed at Judah's leaders. Chapters 21–22 speak to the kings; the Bible Dictionary gathers chapters 21–23 as prophecies “on pastors or…

Jeremiah 23 closes a run of three chapters aimed at Judah's leaders. Chapters 21–22 speak to the kings; the Bible Dictionary gathers chapters 21–23 as prophecies “on pastors or rulers of the people, with promise of the king Messiah (23:1–6),” and puts them under Zedekiah (597–586 B.C.). The chapter itself carries no date.

It falls in two halves. Verses 1–8 pronounce woe on the shepherds who scattered the flock, then promise a gathering and a righteous Branch of David; the same Branch appears again in Jer. 33:15–16. Verses 9–40 begin “Concerning the prophets” in the Hebrew, and turn from kings to the men who claimed to speak for the Lord and told the people they were safe.

The Church's chapter heading sums it up: “The remnants of Israel will be gathered in the last days—The Branch, who is the King (the Messiah), will reign in righteousness—False prophets who teach lies will be cursed.” Latter-day prophets read the first half as a promise of the gathering of Israel, and the second half speaks directly to the question of how a true prophet is known.

The thread through the chapter

The chapter asks who can be trusted to speak and lead for God, and answers by contrast.

The chapter asks who can be trusted to speak and lead for God, and answers by contrast. The shepherds of verses 1–2 “destroy and scatter”; the Lord, who will gather the remnant Himself, sets over them shepherds who feed them and, over all, one righteous King whose name is “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” The prophets of verses 9–40 are the false shepherds' counterpart: they say “Peace” to people who despise the Lord, and they speak “a vision of their own heart.”

The test the chapter gives is whether a man has “stood in the counsel of the LORD” (verses 18, 22): whether he has been in God's presence, heard His word, and so turns the people “from their evil way.” A dream may be told as a dream; what may not be done is to dress it as the Lord's word. The chapter ends with a play on one word, “burden,” which, on one reading, the people have turned into a joke against Jeremiah's warnings and which the Lord turns back on them.

Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.

Verses 1–4

Shepherds who scatter, shepherds who feed

In plain words

“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” says the Lord. “You have scattered my flock and driven them away, and you have not looked after them, so I will look into the evil of your doings. I myself will gather what is left of my flock from all the countries where I drove them, and bring them back to their folds, and they will be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will feed them, and they will not be afraid or dismayed or missing.”

1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.

Language #

Pastors are shepherds

“Pastors” here means shepherds: the Hebrew is “shepherds,” and in this verse it means “leaders.”

“Pastors” here means shepherds: the Hebrew is “shepherds,” and in this verse it means “leaders.” A shepherd, symbolically, is “a person who cares for the Lord's children,” so leaders who “destroy and scatter” have done the opposite of their work. The charge is the one in Ezek. 34:2: “Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?” The Church edition's footnote also sends the reader to Zech. 11:17, “Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock!”

Which leaders are meant? The verse does not say. Chapters 21–23 are filed with the prophecies “on pastors or rulers of the people,” and the word is also read as Judah's “religious leaders,” whom the rest of the chapter describes. Chapters 21–22 had spoken to kings, and verse 11 names “prophet and priest,” so the word probably covers both; the text itself does not choose.

Sources: Jeremiah 23: False Prophets, Old Testament Seminary Student Study Guide (2002). “Shepherd”, Guide to the Scriptures. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Jeremiah”, Bible Dictionary. Chapter 25: Prophecies of a Latter-day Gathering (Jeremiah 23; 30–31; 33; 46–51; Obadiah), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).

2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.

Language #

To visit is to look after, and to judge

One Hebrew verb, paqad, runs through the verse. The shepherds “have not visited” the flock, and the Lord says, “behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings.”

One Hebrew verb, paqad, runs through the verse. The shepherds “have not visited” the flock, and the Lord says, “behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings.” The lexicon lists this verse under “attend to, in act, see to,” with the sheep as object, and lists “visit upon” (of sin) under the sense “punish.” The Church edition's footnote glosses the first “visited” as “been mindful of.”

So the sentence says: you did not look after them, and now I will look into you. The same root returns in verse 4, where the restored sheep “shall not be lacking.” On one reading that verb was chosen to answer verse 2: because the shepherds did not take charge of the sheep, the sheep were lost, and under the new shepherds none will be missed.

Sources: Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.

3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.

Latter-day Prophets #

The gathering begins with conversion

Latter-day prophets read this promise as the gathering of Israel now under way, and teach that it is first of all a conversion.

Latter-day prophets read this promise as the gathering of Israel now under way, and teach that it is first of all a conversion. Elder McConkie taught that the gathering “consists of receiving the truth, gaining again a true knowledge of the Redeemer, and coming back into the true fold of the Good Shepherd.” President Spencer W. Kimball quoted this verse and said of the gathering, “It is to be done by missionary work,” as people gather in their own lands: “The English people will gather in England. The Japanese people will gather in the Orient. The Brazilian people will gather in Brazil.”

Elder Russell M. Nelson put it the same way: “The choice to come unto Christ is not a matter of physical location; it is a matter of individual commitment.” The verse's “folds” are therefore not only places. In this reading the flock is brought back to the Shepherd, wherever it lives.

Sources: Chapter 25: Prophecies of a Latter-day Gathering (Jeremiah 23; 30–31; 33; 46–51; Obadiah), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). Russell M. Nelson, “The Gathering of Scattered Israel”, general conference, Oct. 2006.

4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.

Latter-day Prophets #

The shepherds the Lord sets up

The shepherds of verse 4 are “the righteous prophets and priesthood leaders who, unlike the priests and prophets of Jeremiah's time, lead their people to do good and obey the Lord.”

The shepherds of verse 4 are “the righteous prophets and priesthood leaders who, unlike the priests and prophets of Jeremiah's time, lead their people to do good and obey the Lord.” Righteous shepherds “would be called to teach and help Israel while they were gathered in from their long dispersion.” Earlier the Lord had promised the same thing in Jer. 3:15: “I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.”

Ezekiel sets the order in a parallel chapter. First the Lord Himself says, “I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out” (Ezek. 34:11); then He sets up “one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David” (Ezek. 34:23). Jeremiah's next verse likewise passes from the shepherds to one King.

Sources: Chapter 25: Prophecies of a Latter-day Gathering (Jeremiah 23; 30–31; 33; 46–51; Obadiah), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). Lesson 47: Jeremiah 23; 30–31; 33; 46–51; Obadiah, Old Testament Instructor’s Guide, Religion 301–2. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Verses 5–8

The Branch and a greater gathering

In plain words

“The days are coming when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety, and this is the name he will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness. So the days are coming when people will no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought Israel out of Egypt,’ but, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought the seed of the house of Israel up from the north country and from all the lands where I had driven them,’ and they will live in their own land.”

5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

Witness of Christ #

The Branch is Christ

The Branch is Jesus Christ, the promised King from David's line. The Hebrew tsemach means a “sprout, growth,” and the lexicon lists this verse under “future ruler, under figure of…

The Branch is Jesus Christ, the promised King from David's line. The Hebrew tsemach means a “sprout, growth,” and the lexicon lists this verse under “future ruler, under figure of sprout from Davidic tree.” The Church edition links the Branch to Isaiah's “Stem of Jesse” and “Branch” (Isa. 11:1), and the Lord's own word answers who the Stem of Jesse is: “It is Christ” (D&C 113:1–2). Elder McConkie draws the conclusion: “That the Branch of David is Christ is perfectly clear,” and the King of this verse “shall be the Branch who grew out of the house of David… the Lord Jehovah, even him whom we call Christ.”

He also places the reign this verse describes at the Second Coming: Davidic-Messianic prophecies of this kind “have reference almost exclusively to his second sojourn on planet earth.” In the same reading, the Branch and the King are “the Lord Jesus Christ when He returns to earth to reign as ‘King of kings and Lord of lords.’” The Church edition ties the word “King” to the wise men's question, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” (Matt. 2:2), and Christ's descent from David is the ground of the title: He is “the Son of David, the Seed of David, the inheritor, through Mary his mother, of the blood of the great king.”

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. Chapter 13: The Establishment of Zion (Isaiah 1–12), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). Chapter 25: Prophecies of a Latter-day Gathering (Jeremiah 23; 30–31; 33; 46–51; Obadiah), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Witness of Christ #

The name is Jehovah's

The Branch's name is the Lord's own name joined to “our righteousness”: in Hebrew, YHWH tsidqenu.

The Branch's name is the Lord's own name joined to “our righteousness”: in Hebrew, YHWH tsidqenu. Elder McConkie reads it as a name of the Savior: the King who reigns in the Millennium “shall execute judgment and justice in all the earth because he is the Lord Jehovah, even him whom we call Christ.”

The same name appears for the city in Jer. 33:16, “The Lord our righteousness,” which on the same reading “is to say that because the Great King himself reigns in her midst, even the city shall be called after him.” On one reading of the idiom, to be called by a name in the prophets' usage is to be set forth as what the name expresses; the Branch will show Himself to be the Lord who is our righteousness.

Sources: Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb. Chapter 13: The Establishment of Zion (Isaiah 1–12), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

Latter-day Prophets #

A gathering greater than the Exodus

Israel's confession was that the Lord “brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt”; the gathering will be so great that the confession changes.

Israel's confession was that the Lord “brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt”; the gathering will be so great that the confession changes. The gathering “from the four corners of the earth and the bringing of the ten tribes from the north would be a greater miracle than ancient Israel's crossing the Red Sea on dry ground.” The promise is made again, in nearly the same words, in Jer. 16:14–15.

The verse does not say the Exodus is forgotten, only that it is no longer what the people say first; the new deliverance, “from all countries whither I had driven them,” takes its place in verse 8.

Sources: Lesson 47: Jeremiah 23; 30–31; 33; 46–51; Obadiah, Old Testament Instructor’s Guide, Religion 301–2. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

8 But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.

Related Scriptures #

The north country and the ten tribes

In the Church edition the footnote on this phrase points to the ten lost tribes.

In the Church edition the footnote on this phrase points to the ten lost tribes. The Hebrew is “from the land of the north,” the same phrase used when the keys of the gathering were restored: in the Kirtland Temple, Moses “committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north” (D&C 110:11). Elder Nelson quotes that sentence and teaches that “there must come, as part of that restoration, the long-awaited gathering of scattered Israel.”

Sources: Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Russell M. Nelson, “The Gathering of Scattered Israel”, general conference, Oct. 2006.

Verses 9–15

Concerning the prophets

In plain words

My heart is broken within me; all my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, because of the Lord and His holy words. The land is full of adulterers, the land mourns because of the curse, and the pastures of the wilderness have dried up. Prophet and priest alike are profane; I have found their wickedness even in my house. Their way will be slippery in the dark, and they will be driven and fall, in the year I visit them. In Samaria's prophets I saw folly: they prophesied by Baal. In Jerusalem's prophets I have seen something horrible: adultery, lies, and strengthening the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from wickedness. They are like Sodom to me. I will feed them wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink, because from them ungodliness has spread over the whole land.

9 Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.

Context #

Jeremiah speaks, and the chapter turns

Jeremiah is the speaker, and his grief opens the chapter's second half.

Jeremiah is the speaker, and his grief opens the chapter's second half. The Hebrew begins with the words “Concerning the prophets,” a heading, on one reading, for verses 9–40, which sets them apart from the oracles about kings in chapters 21–22.

His distress has two causes, named at the end of the verse: “because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.” He shakes like a drunken man not only at what the prophets do but at what the Lord has said about them.

Sources: Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb. Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.

10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.

11 For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.

12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.

13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.

14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

Context #

Worse than Samaria, like Sodom

Jerusalem's prophets are worse than Samaria's. Of Samaria's the Lord says “folly”: they “prophesied in Baal.”

Jerusalem's prophets are worse than Samaria's. Of Samaria's the Lord says “folly”: they “prophesied in Baal.” Of Jerusalem's He says “an horrible thing”: they commit adultery, “walk in lies,” and “strengthen… the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness.” On one reading their wrong is both false teaching and corrupt living, so that no one is turned from sin.

The comparison “unto me as Sodom” is explained in the Church edition by Ezekiel: “this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness… neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy” (Ezek. 16:49). The verse also says where the harm spread from: “from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land” (verse 15).

Sources: Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.

Verses 16–22

Who has stood in the Lord's counsel

In plain words

“Do not listen to the prophets who prophesy to you. They fill you with false hopes; they speak visions from their own hearts, not from the mouth of the Lord. They keep telling those who despise me, ‘The Lord says you will have peace,’ and everyone who follows his own stubborn heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’ But which of them has stood in the Lord's council to see and hear His word? A whirlwind from the Lord has gone out in fury; it will burst on the heads of the wicked. The Lord's anger will not turn back until He has done what His heart intends; in the latter days you will understand it fully. I did not send these prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. If they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and turned them from their evil ways.”

16 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.

Latter-day Prophets #

What we need, not what we want

The prophets Jeremiah condemns tell the people what pleases them. The next verse says what: they promise “peace” to those who despise the Lord and “No evil shall come upon you” to…

The prophets Jeremiah condemns tell the people what pleases them. The next verse says what: they promise “peace” to those who despise the Lord and “No evil shall come upon you” to everyone who follows his own heart. President Ezra Taft Benson gave the contrast as a test for following a living prophet: “The prophet tells us what we need to know, not always what we want to know.” He added that how we respond “when he tells us what we need to know, but would rather not hear, is a test of our faithfulness.”

The same standard separates Jeremiah from his opponents. Jeremiah “was doomed to preach an unwelcome message, while the false prophets persuaded the people that he was unpatriotic, uninspired, and pessimistic.” The Lord's law for a prophet who claims to speak for Him is in Deut. 18:20–22: the prophet who speaks a word “which I have not commanded him to speak” is false, and when his word does not “follow… nor come to pass,” it is “the thing which the Lord hath not spoken.”

Sources: Ezra Taft Benson, “Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet”, BYU devotional, Feb. 26, 1980. Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

17 They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.

18 For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?

Language #

Standing in the Lord's council

“Counsel” here translates a Hebrew word, sod, that means a circle of close companions and the conversation within it.

“Counsel” here translates a Hebrew word, sod, that means a circle of close companions and the conversation within it. The lexicon renders the phrase “in the intimate circle of the LORD” and lists Amos 3:7 under the same word: “the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” In Hebrew the word is “council”: “a group gathered together to instruct or make decisions.”

The question, “who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD?”, is the test in a single sentence: a true prophet has been present when the Lord spoke, and has “perceived and heard his word.” Verse 22 gives its result. Prophets who had stood there “had caused my people to hear my words,” and “then they should have turned them from their evil way.”

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb. Jeremiah 23: False Prophets, Old Testament Seminary Student Study Guide (2002). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.

20 The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.

21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.

Latter-day Prophets #

Sent, or self-sent

A prophet must be sent. The charge of verse 21 is that these prophets “called themselves to the ministry and prophesy without revelation.”

A prophet must be sent. The charge of verse 21 is that these prophets “called themselves to the ministry and prophesy without revelation.” The verse's footnote points to the topic of authority, and the Church's own standard is the fifth article of faith: “a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority” (A of F 1:5).

A revelation in this dispensation says the same: no one is to “go forth to preach my gospel” unless “ordained by some one who has authority, and it is known to the church that he has authority” (D&C 42:11). The Church edition's footnotes link this verse to a Book of Mormon warning about “false teachers” (2 Ne. 28:12) and to the Savior's: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing” (3 Ne. 14:15), with the test that follows: “Ye shall know them by their fruits” (3 Ne. 14:16). Jeremiah gives the fruit as repentance: sent prophets turn people from evil (verse 22).

Sources: Chapter 25: Prophecies of a Latter-day Gathering (Jeremiah 23; 30–31; 33; 46–51; Obadiah), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

22 But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

Verses 23–32

A God near and far, and the dreamers

In plain words

“Am I only a God nearby, and not a God far off? Can anyone hide in secret places where I cannot see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth? I have heard the prophets who prophesy lies in my name and say, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ How long will this go on in the hearts of prophets of their own deceit? They think their dreams will make my people forget my name, as their fathers forgot it for Baal. Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, and let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. What does straw have to do with grain? Is not my word like fire, and like a hammer that breaks rock to pieces? So I am against the prophets who steal my words from one another, who use their tongues to declare ‘The Lord declares,’ and who prophesy false dreams and lead my people astray with reckless lies. I did not send or appoint them, and they do this people no good.”

23 Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?

24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.

Related Scriptures #

A God who is near and sees

The Lord answers the false prophets' boldness with His nearness: “Am I a God at hand… and not a God afar off?

The Lord answers the false prophets' boldness with His nearness: “Am I a God at hand… and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?” The prophets spoke lies “in my name,” and the Lord answers, “I have heard what the prophets said” (verse 25).

The Church edition ties verse 24 to the psalmist's question: “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?” (Ps. 139:7), and to the revelation on light: “which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space,” the light “which is in all things… even the power of God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things” (D&C 88:12–13). The Lord who fills heaven and earth is not out of earshot of a lie told in His name.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

25 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.

26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;

27 Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.

28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.

Language #

A dream is not the word

The Lord does not forbid dreams; He forbids calling one's own dream His word.

The Lord does not forbid dreams; He forbids calling one's own dream His word. Dreaming is one way He does speak: “If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream” (Num. 12:6). But “Not all dreams are revelations,” and “Inspired dreams are the fruit of faith.” So verse 28 allows a man to tell a dream, as a dream, and demands that the one who “hath my word” speak it “faithfully.”

The charge in verses 25–27 is that the dreams were “the deceit of their own heart” and were told “in my name,” in order to make the people “forget my name,” as their fathers had “for Baal.” The Lord's comparison, “What is the chaff to the wheat?”, puts the dream beside the word and shows the difference in worth.

Sources: “Dream”, Guide to the Scriptures. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.

31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.

Language #

Borrowing the formula “saith the LORD”

The charge in verse 31 is that the false prophets borrow the Lord's own formula.

The charge in verse 31 is that the false prophets borrow the Lord's own formula. “He saith” translates the Hebrew verb naʾam, for which the lexicon cites only this verse; it is built on the noun neʾum, the “saith” of “saith the LORD” that recurs all through this chapter. The lexicon renders the phrase “they uttered (in the prophetic manner), it as an utterance (of the LORD); they used the prophetic formula.” They “take their tongues” and speak “oracle” themselves, without the Lord.

Put plainly, “They say ‘Thus saith the Lord’ when the Lord has not spoken through them.” Verse 30 adds a related charge: they “steal my words every one from his neighbour.”

32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.

Verses 33–40

The burden of the Lord

In plain words

“When this people, or a prophet or priest, asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ you will say, ‘What burden? I will cast you off.’ Whoever says ‘the burden of the Lord,’ I will punish, him and his house. Say to one another instead, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ and ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ But do not mention ‘the burden of the Lord’ any more, because each man's own word becomes his burden, and you have twisted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts. Because you keep saying it after I told you not to, I will utterly forget you and cast you and the city I gave you and your fathers out of my presence, and bring on you an everlasting reproach and perpetual shame that will not be forgotten.”

33 And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD.

Language #

The word “burden”

“Burden” is the Hebrew massa, which means a load and, from the same root, a weighty utterance or oracle.

“Burden” is the Hebrew massa, which means a load and, from the same root, a weighty utterance or oracle. The lexicon gives the prophetic sense “utterance, oracle,” and cites this verse in discussing it; the Church edition's footnote gives “prophecy.”

The people had turned the word into a jibe. On one reading, the question “What is the burden of the LORD?” is mockery: they ridicule Jeremiah's sayings as burdensome. The Lord turns the joke back, and on the same reading the answer keeps the figure: “What burden? I will even forsake you,” as if to unload a burden. He tells them to ask instead, “What hath the LORD answered?” (verse 35), for “every man's word shall be his burden” (verse 36): a word used mockingly weighs on the one who uses it.

Verse 39 sounds like the same word. “I will utterly forget you” is spelled in Hebrew almost like “I will utterly lift you up” (the root of massa), and some read it that way. One reading holds that the text as it stands, “forget,” “is much more in keeping.”

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.

34 And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house.

35 Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken?

36 And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man’s word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.

37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken?

38 But since ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith the LORD; Because ye say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD;

39 Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence:

40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.

Seeing Christ in Jeremiah 23

Chapter 23 gives Christ two titles before it condemns anyone else. He is the “righteous Branch” raised “unto David,” the King who will “execute judgment and justice in the earth” (Jer. 23:5), and His name is Jehovah's own: “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jer. 23:6). The Lord's word in this dispensation identifies the Stem of Jesse as Christ (D&C 113:1–2), and the Church's teachers read this Branch as the King who reigns in the Millennium. Over against the shepherds who scattered, He is the one who says, “I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out” (Ezek. 34:11), and the Good Shepherd who “giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

Worth exploring next

The same promise again. Read Jer. 33:14–16, where the Branch and the name return, and Jer. 16:14–21 for the greater gathering.
The shepherds' chapter. Read Ezek. 34 beside verses 1–6, noticing who finally gathers the flock.
The Stem of Jesse. Read Isa. 11:1–5 with D&C 113:1–2.
Judging a prophet. Read Deut. 18:20–22 and 3 Ne. 14:15–20.
A talk on the living prophet. President Ezra Taft Benson's “Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet” (BYU devotional, 1980), the seventh and twelfth fundamentals especially.

This chapter elsewhere in scripture

Jer. 33:15–16 — The Branch of righteousness and the name “The Lord our righteousness” return, with the name given to Jerusalem.
Jer. 16:14–15 — The promise that Israel will no longer swear by the Exodus, but by the Lord who gathers them from the north, is made here in nearly the same words as verses 7–8.

Sources & further reading

“Jeremiah”, Bible Dictionary.
Jeremiah 23: False Prophets, Old Testament Seminary Student Study Guide (2002).
“Shepherd”, Guide to the Scriptures.
“Dream”, Guide to the Scriptures.
The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).
Chapter 25: Prophecies of a Latter-day Gathering (Jeremiah 23; 30–31; 33; 46–51; Obadiah), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).
Chapter 13: The Establishment of Zion (Isaiah 1–12), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).
Lesson 47: Jeremiah 23; 30–31; 33; 46–51; Obadiah, Old Testament Instructor’s Guide, Religion 301–2.
Russell M. Nelson, “The Gathering of Scattered Israel”, general conference, Oct. 2006.
Ezra Taft Benson, “Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet”, BYU devotional, Feb. 26, 1980.
Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.
Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb.
Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.

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