Jeremiah 23:13

THE MESSAGE

"Over in Samaria I saw prophets acting like silly fools—shocking! They preached using that no-god Baal for a text, messing with the minds of my people. And the Jerusalem prophets are even worse—horrible!— sex-driven, living a lie, Subsidizing a culture of wickedness, and never giving it a second thought. They're as bad as those wretches in old Sodom, the degenerates of old Gomorrah."

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Among the prophets of SamariaI saw something disgusting:They prophesied by Baaland led my people Israel astray.

Hebrew Names Version
I have seen folly in the prophets of Shomron; they prophesied by Ba`al, and caused my people Yisra'el to err.

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

English Standard Version
In the prophets of Samaria I saw an unsavory thing: they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.

New American Standard Bible
"Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.

New Century Version
"I saw the prophets of Samaria do something wrong. Those prophets prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel away.

Amplified Bible
"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.

World English Bible
I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And I haue seene foolishnesse in the prophets of Samaria, that prophecied in Baal, & caused my people Israel to erre.

Legacy Standard Bible
"Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing:They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.

Berean Standard Bible
"Among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.

Contemporary English Version
The prophets in Samaria were disgusting to me, because they preached in the name of Baal and led my people astray.

Complete Jewish Bible
"I have seen inappropriate conduct in the prophets of Shomron — they prophesied by Ba‘al and led my people Isra'el astray.

Darby Translation
And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: they prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.

Easy-to-Read Version
"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.

George Lamsa Translation
And I have seen falsehood in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal and caused my people Israel to err.

Good News Translation
I have seen the sin of Samaria's prophets: they have spoken in the name of Baal and have led my people astray.

Lexham English Bible
"Now in the prophets of Samaria I saw a disgusting thing. They prophesied by Baal and they caused my people Israel to err.

Literal Translation
And I have seen frivolity among the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal and led astray My people Israel.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
I haue sene foly amonge the prophetes of Samaria, yt they preched for Baal, ad disceaued my people off Israel.

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

Bible in Basic English
And I have seen ways without sense in the prophets of Samaria; they became prophets of the Baal, causing my people Israel to go wrong.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And I have seen unseemliness in the prophets of Samaria: they prophesied by Baal, and caused My people Israel to err.

King James Version (1611)
And I haue seene folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophecied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to erre.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
I haue seene folly among the prophetes of Samaria, that preached for Baal, and deceaued my people of Israel.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And in the prophets of Samaria I have seen lawless deeds; they prophesied by Baal, and led my people Israel astray.

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

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And in the profetis of Samarie Y siy fonnednesse, and thei profesieden in Baal, and disseyueden my puple Israel.

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

Webster's Bible Translation
And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.

New English Translation
The Lord says, "I saw the prophets of Samaria doing something that was disgusting. They prophesied in the name of the god Baal and led my people Israel astray.

New King James Version
"And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: They prophesied by Baal And caused My people Israel to err.

New Living Translation
"I saw that the prophets of Samaria were terribly evil, for they prophesied in the name of Baal and led my people of Israel into sin.

New Life Bible
"In Samaria I have seen a very bad thing among the men of Samaria who tell what is going to happen in the future. They speak for the false god Baal, and have led My people into sin.

New Revised Standard
In the prophets of Samaria I saw a disgusting thing: they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Even among the prophets of Samaria, had I seen a foolish thing, - They prophesied by Baal, And led astray my people Israel.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: they prophesied in Baal and deceived my people Israel.

Revised Standard Version
In the prophets of Sama'ria I saw an unsavory thing: they prophesied by Ba'al and led my people Israel astray.

Young's Literal Translation
And in prophets of Samaria I have seen folly, They have prophesied by Baal, And cause my people -- Israel -- to err.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.

Contextual Overview

⁹ My head is reeling, my limbs are limp, I'm staggering like a drunk, seeing double from too much wine— And all because of God , because of his holy words. ¹⁰Now for what God says regarding the lying prophets: "Can you believe it? A country teeming with adulterers! faithless, promiscuous idolater-adulterers! They're a curse on the land. The land's a wasteland. Their unfaithfulness is turning the country into a cesspool, Prophets and priests devoted to desecration. They have nothing to do with me as their God. My very own Temple, mind you— mud-spattered with their crimes." God 's Decree. "But they won't get by with it. They'll find themselves on a slippery slope, Careening into the darkness, somersaulting into the pitch-black dark. I'll make them pay for their crimes. It will be the Year of Doom." God 's Decree. ¹³"Over in Samaria I saw prophets acting like silly fools—shocking! They preached using that no-god Baal for a text, messing with the minds of my people. And the Jerusalem prophets are even worse—horrible!— sex-driven, living a lie, Subsidizing a culture of wickedness, and never giving it a second thought. They're as bad as those wretches in old Sodom, the degenerates of old Gomorrah." ¹⁵ So here's the Message to the prophets from God -of-the-Angel-Armies: "I'll cook them a supper of maggoty meat with after-dinner drinks of strychnine. The Jerusalem prophets are behind all this. They're the cause of the godlessness polluting this country." ¹⁶A Message from God -of-the-Angel-Armies: "Don't listen to the sermons of the prophets. It's all hot air. Lies, lies, and more lies. They make it all up. Not a word they speak comes from me. They preach their ‘Everything Will Turn Out Fine' sermon to congregations with no taste for God, Their ‘Nothing Bad Will Ever Happen to You' sermon to people who are set in their own ways. ¹⁸"Have any of these prophets bothered to meet with me, the true God ? bothered to take in what I have to say? listened to and then lived out my Word? Look out! God 's hurricane will be let loose— my hurricane blast, Spinning the heads of the wicked like tops! God's raging anger won't let up Until I've made a clean sweep, completing the job I began. When the job's done, you'll see that it's been well done. ²¹"I never sent these prophets, but they ran anyway. I never spoke to them, but they preached away. If they'd have bothered to sit down and meet with me, they'd have preached my Message to my people. They'd have gotten them back on the right track, gotten them out of their evil ruts. ²³"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. ²⁵"I know what they're saying, all these prophets who preach lies using me as their text, saying ‘I had this dream! I had this dream!' How long do I have to put up with this? Do these prophets give two cents about me as they preach their lies and spew out their grandiose delusions? They swap dreams with one another, feed on each other's delusive dreams, trying to distract my people from me just as their ancestors were distracted by the no-god Baal. ²⁸"You prophets who do nothing but dream— go ahead and tell your silly dreams. But you prophets who have a message from me— tell it truly and faithfully. What does straw have in common with wheat? Nothing else is like God 's Decree. Isn't my Message like fire?" God 's Decree. "Isn't it like a sledgehammer busting a rock?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

folly: or, an absurd thing, Heb. unsavoury

prophets: Hosea 9:7, Hosea 9:8

prophesied: Jeremiah 2:8, 1 Kings 18:18-21, 1 Kings 18:25-28, 1 Kings 18:40

and: 2 Chronicles 33:9, Isaiah 9:16

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 18:20 - the prophet Proverbs 13:17 - wicked Isaiah 28:7 - err in Isaiah 56:10 - they are all dumb Jeremiah 36:2 - against Israel Ezekiel 13:10 - seduced Amos 2:4 - and their Matthew 7:15 - false Matthew 7:22 - have we

Cross-References

Genesis 23:5
The Hittites responded, "Why, you're no mere outsider here with us, you're a prince of God! Bury your dead wife in the best of our burial sites. None of us will refuse you a place for burial."

2 Samuel 24:24
But the king said to Araunah, "No. I've got to buy it from you for a good price; I'm not going to offer God , my God, sacrifices that are no sacrifice." So David bought the threshing floor and the ox, paying out fifty shekels of silver. He built an altar to God there and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. God was moved by the prayers and that was the end of the disaster.

Romans 13:8
Don't run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along. The law code—don't sleep with another person's spouse, don't take someone's life, don't take what isn't yours, don't always be wanting what you don't have, and any other "don't" you can think of—finally adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can't go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love.

Colossians 4:5
Use your heads as you live and work among outsiders. Don't miss a trick. Make the most of every opportunity. Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out.

Hebrews 13:5
Don't be obsessed with getting more material things. Be relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, "I'll never let you down, never walk off and leave you," we can boldly quote, God is there, ready to help; I'm fearless no matter what. Who or what can get to me?

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria,.... The ten tribes of Israel, among whom, in Ahab's time there were many false prophets, Baal's prophets, even four hundred and fifty; whose "folly" the Lord had formerly taken notice of; even their idolatry and impiety for giving into which the ten tribes had been carried captive years ago. The word r here used signifies that which is "unsavoury": something very unsavoury in their doctrines, and in their lives; they were as salt which has lost its savour and is good for nothing; to which bad ministers are compared, Matthew 5:13. These words are to be read in connection with the following, and may be rendered, "indeed I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria"; of Israel in times past; "but I have seen in the prophets of Jerusalem" s that which is far worse; and therefore they must not expect to escape; or, as the Syriac version, "as I have seen in the prophets of Samaria--so have I seen in the prophets of Jerusalem", c. so that here is a comparison run between them and the latter are represented as worse than the former, though they were bad enough; as follows: for

they prophesied in Baal; in the name of Baal, whose prophets they were; so the Targum,

"they prophesied in the name of idols:''

or, "they prophesied by Baal", as the Septuagint version t; they pretended to be inspired by him, and to receive their prophecies from him: or, "they prophesied concerning Baal"; what he would do for them, for those that worshipped him. The Arabic version is, "they prophesied in my name to Baal"; which seems to be foreign from the sense of the place:

and caused my people Israel to err; by following their directions and instructions, and worshipping Baal.

r תפלה "insulsitatem", Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt "intulsa", Pagninus; "insulsam rem", Munster, Vatablus; "insulsum", Montanus, Cocceius. s So Schmidt. t בבעל, δια τον βααλ, Sept. "per Baalem", Schmidt. So Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And I have seen folly ... - Rather, “Also I have seen.” The prophet contrasts the prophets of Samaria with those of Jerusalem. In the conduct of the former God saw folly (literally that which is insipid, as being unsalted). It was stupidity to prophesy by Baal, an idol.

In Baal - i. e., in the name of Baal.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 23:13. I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria — This was not to be wondered at, for their religion was a system of corruption.