Jeremiah 23:22

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
If they had really stood in my council,they would have enabled my people to hear my wordsand would have turned them from their evil waysand their evil deeds.

Hebrew Names Version
But if they had stood in my council, then had they caused my people to hear my words, and had turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

King James Version
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.

English Standard Version
But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds.

New American Standard Bible
"But if they had stood in My council, Then they would have announced My words to My people, And would have turned them back from their evil way And from the evil of their deeds.

New Century Version
But if they had stood in the meeting of angels, they would have told my message to my people. They would have turned the people from their evil ways and from doing evil.

Amplified Bible
"But if they had stood in My council, Then they would have caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned My people from their evil way And from the evil of their decisions and deeds.

World English Bible
But if they had stood in my council, then had they caused my people to hear my words, and had turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

Geneva Bible (1587)
But if they had stande in my counsell, and had declared my words to my people, then they should haue turned them from their euill way, & from the wickednesse of their inuentions.

Legacy Standard Bible
But if they had stood in My council,Then they would have caused My words to be heard by My peopleAnd would have turned them back from their evil wayAnd from the evil of their deeds.

Berean Standard Bible
But if they had stood in My council, they would have proclaimed My words to My people and turned them back from their evil ways and evil deeds."

Contemporary English Version
If they had been in a meeting of my council in heaven, they would have told you people of Judah to give up your sins and come back to me.

Complete Jewish Bible
If they have been present at my council, they should let my people hear my words and turn them from their evil way and the evil of their actions.

Darby Translation
But if they had stood in my council, and had caused my people to hear my words, then would they have turned them from their evil way and from the wickedness of their doings.

Easy-to-Read Version
If they had stood in my heavenly council, then they would have told my messages to the people of Judah. They would have stopped the people from doing bad things. They would have stopped them from doing evil."

George Lamsa Translation
But if they had stood in my counsel and had caused my people to hear my words, then they would have turned them from their evil ways and from the evil of their doings.

Good News Translation
If they had known my secret thoughts, then they could have proclaimed my message to my people and could have made them give up the evil lives they live and the wicked things they do.

Lexham English Bible
But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have caused them to turn from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds.

Literal Translation
But if they had stood in My counsel and had caused My people to hear My Words, then they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But yf they had continued in my councell and herde my wordes: they had turned my people from their euell wayes and wicked ymaginacions.

American Standard Version
But if they had stood in my council, then had they caused my people to hear my words, and had turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

Bible in Basic English
But if they had been in my secret, then they would have made my people give ear to my words, turning them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
But if they have stood in My council, then let them cause My people to hear My words, and turn them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

King James Version (1611)
But if they had stood in my counsell, and had caused my people to heare my wordes, then they should haue turned them from their euil way, and from the euill of their doings.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
But if they had continued in my counsayle, they had opened to my people my wordes, and they had turned my people from their euyll wayes, and wicked imaginations.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But if they had stood in my counsel, and if they had hearkened to my words, then would they have turned my people from their evil practices.

English Revised Version
But if they had stood in my council, then had they caused my people to hear my words, and had turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
If thei hadden stonde in my councel, and hadde maad knowun my wordis to my puple, forsothe Y hadde turned hem awei fro her yuel weie, and fro her worste thouytis.

Update Bible Version
But if they had stood in my council, then they would cause my people to hear my words, and turn them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

Webster's Bible Translation
But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

New English Translation
But if they had stood in my inner circle, they would have proclaimed my message to my people. They would have caused my people to turn from their wicked ways and stop doing the evil things they are doing.

New King James Version
But if they had stood in My counsel, And had caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way And from the evil of their doings.

New Living Translation
If they had stood before me and listened to me, they would have spoken my words, and they would have turned my people from their evil ways and deeds.

New Life Bible
But if they had listened to Me, then they would have made My words known to My people. And they would have turned them back from their sinful way and from the sinful things they did."

New Revised Standard
But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But if they had stood in my council, Then might they have announced my words unto my people, And have turned them from their wicked way and from the wickedness of their doings.

Douay-Rheims Bible
If they had stood in my counsel, and had made my words known to my people, I should have turned them from their evil way, and from their wicked doings.

Revised Standard Version
But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

Young's Literal Translation
But -- if they stood in My counsel, Then they cause My people to hear My words, And they turn them back from their evil way, And from the evil of their doings.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"But if they had stood in My council, Then they would have announced My words to My people, And would have turned them back from their evil way And from the evil of their deeds.

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

if: Jeremiah 23:18, Ezekiel 2:7, Ezekiel 3:17, Acts 20:27

then: Jeremiah 25:5, Jeremiah 35:15, Jeremiah 36:3, Ezekiel 13:22, Ezekiel 18:30, Zechariah 1:4, Acts 26:18-20, 1 Thessalonians 1:9, 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 5:6

Reciprocal: Judges 18:6 - Go in peace Jeremiah 18:2 - cause Jeremiah 23:32 - therefore Lamentations 2:14 - they have Ezekiel 13:5 - have not Daniel 12:3 - turn Zechariah 11:16 - which Malachi 2:6 - and did 1 Timothy 4:16 - them James 5:10 - who 1 Peter 4:11 - any

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But if they had stood in my counsel,.... As they boasted they did; or, as they reproached the true prophets, and charged them with vanity and arrogance, in talking as if they had; had this been truly their case, as it was that of the prophets of the Lord:

and had caused my people to hear my words; or, "then they would have caused my people to hear my words"; had it been so, they would have heard first the words of the Lord themselves in secret and privately, and then they would have caused the people to have heard them; they would not have gone to them with their own lies; they would not have dared to have done that; they would have delivered nothing but what they had heard from the Lord:

then they should, or, "and they would",

have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings; and not have strengthened their hands, and hardened them in their wickedness, and so kept them from repentance and reformation,

Jeremiah 23:14. The Lord argues from the efficacy and success of the ministry of the word to the truth of it, and their miss:, on from him; for though a good ministry is not always successful, at least so successful as could be wished for, and as it might reasonably be expected it would; yet it is more or less so; and at least it has a tendency to bring men off from their evil practices; and it attempts to do it, though it may fail in the execution; whereas a wicked ministry, such as this of the false prophets, had no tendency hereunto; nor was it the design of it; nor did they attempt it; but, on the contrary, encouraged and hardened men in sin.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They should have turned them ... - The work of the true prophet, which is to turn men from evil unto good.