Jeremiah 23:30-32

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Jeremiah 23:30 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”
2. Jeremiah 23:30 tn Heb “who are stealing my words from one another.” However, context shows it is their own word that they claim is from the Lord (cf. next verse).
3. Jeremiah 23:31 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”
4. Jeremiah 23:31 tn The words “The Lord” are not actually in the text but are implicit in the idiom. They are generally supplied in all the English versions.sn Jer 23:30-33 are filled with biting sarcasm. The verses all begin with the words “Behold, I am against the prophets who…” and go on to describe their reprehensible behavior. They “steal” one another’s messages, which the Lord sarcastically calls “my words” (The passage shows that they are not; compare Marc Anthony’s use of “noble” to describe the ignoble men who killed Caesar). Here the idiom translated “to use their own tongue” really refers to taking something in preparation for action, i.e., “they take their tongue” and “declare.” The verb “declare” is only used here and is derived from the idiom “oracle of,” which is almost universally used in the idiom “oracle of the Lord,” which occurs 176 times in Jeremiah. That is, it is their tongue that is “declaring not his mouth” (v. 16). Moreover, in the report of what they “declare,” the Lord has left out the qualifying “of the Lord” to suggest the delusive nature of their message, i.e., they mislead people into believing that their message is from the Lord. Elsewhere in the discussion of the issue of false prophecy the Lord will use the full formula (Ezek 13:6-7). How ironic that their “Oracle of…” is punctuated by the triple “Oracle of the Lord” (vv. 30, 31, 32; translated here “I, the Lord, affirm that…”).
5. Jeremiah 23:32 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”
6. Jeremiah 23:32 tn Heb “with their lies and their recklessness.” This is an example of hendiadys where two nouns (in this case a concrete and an abstract one) are joined by “and” but one is intended to be the adjectival modifier of the other.
7. Jeremiah 23:32 sn In the light of what has been said this is a rhetorical understatement; they are not only “not helping,” they are leading them to their doom (cf. vv. 19-22). This figure of speech is known as litotes.
8. Jeremiah 23:32 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”