Jeremiah 23:31

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I am against the prophets”—the Lord’s declaration—“who use their own tongues to make a declaration.

Hebrew Names Version
Behold, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who use their tongues, and say, He says.

King James Version
Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord , that use their tongues, and say, He saith.

English Standard Version
Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord , who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the Lord .'

New American Standard Bible
"Behold, I am against the prophets," declares the LORD, "who use their tongues and declare, 'The Lord declares!'

New Century Version
I am against the false prophets," says the Lord . "They use their own words and pretend it is a message from me.

Amplified Bible
"Hear this, I am against the prophets," says the LORD, "who use their [own deceitful] tongues and say, 'Thus says the Lord.'

World English Bible
Behold, I am against the prophets, says Yahweh, who use their tongues, and say, He says.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Beholde, I will come against the prophets, saith the Lord, which haue sweete tongues, & say, He saith.

Legacy Standard Bible
Behold, I am against the prophets," declares Yahweh, "who take their tongues and declare, ‘Yahweh declares.'

Berean Standard Bible
"Yes," declares the LORD, "I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and proclaim, 'The Lord declares it.'"

Complete Jewish Bible
Yes, I am against the prophets," says Adonai , "who speak their own words, then add, ‘He says.'

Darby Translation
Behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah, that use their tongues, and say, He hath said.

Easy-to-Read Version
Yes, the Lord says, "I am against the false prophets. They use their own words and pretend that it is a message from me.

George Lamsa Translation
Behold, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who pervert their tongues, and say, Thus says the LORD.

Good News Translation
I am also against those prophets who speak their own words and claim they came from me.

Lexham English Bible
Look, I am against the prophets," declares Yahweh, "who take their tongues and declare as prophets, ‘Yahweh declares.'

Literal Translation
Jehovah says, Behold, I am against the prophets who use their tongues and say, He says.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Beholde, here am I (saieth the LORDE) agaynst the prophetes, that take vpon their tunges to speake: The LORDE hath sayde it.

American Standard Version
Behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.

Bible in Basic English
See, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who let their tongues say, He has said.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues and say: 'He saith.'

King James Version (1611)
Beholde, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that vse their tongues, and say; He sayth.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Beholde, here am I saith the Lorde, against the prophetes that make tongues tender to speake, and to say, The Lorde hath saide it.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Behold, I am against the prophets that put forth prophecies of mere words, and slumber their sleep.

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

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Lo! Y to the profetis, seith the Lord, that taken her tungis, and seien, The Lord seith.

Update Bible Version
Look, I am against the prophets, says Yahweh, that use their tongues, and say, He says.

Webster's Bible Translation
Behold, I [am] against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.

New English Translation
I, the Lord , affirm that I am opposed to those prophets who are using their own tongues to declare, ‘The Lord declares….'

New King James Version
Behold, I am against the prophets," says the LORD, "who use their tongues and say, "He says.'

New Living Translation
I am against these smooth-tongued prophets who say, ‘This prophecy is from the Lord !'

New Life Bible
See, I am against these men," says the Lord, "who use their tongues and say, ‘This is what the Lord says.'

New Revised Standard
See, I am against the prophets, says the Lord , who use their own tongues and say, "Says the Lord ."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Behold me! against the prophets, Declareth Yahweh, who presume with their tongue and declare He declareth:

Douay-Rheims Bible
Behold I am against the prophets, saith the Lord: who use their tongues, and say: The Lord saith it.

Revised Standard Version
Behold, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who use their tongues and say, 'Says the LORD.'

Young's Literal Translation
Lo, I [am] against the prophets, An affirmation of Jehovah, Who are making smooth their tongue, And they affirm -- an affirmation.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Behold, I am against the prophets," declares the LORD, "who use their tongues and declare, 'The Lord declares.'

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

use: or, smooth, Isaiah 30:10, Micah 2:11

He: Jeremiah 23:17, 2 Chronicles 18:5, 2 Chronicles 18:10-12, 2 Chronicles 18:19-21

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 18:20 - the prophet 1 Kings 22:11 - Thus saith Lamentations 2:14 - false Ezekiel 13:6 - saying

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Behold, I [am] against the prophets, saith the Lord,.... Not another sort of prophets distinct from the former, or those that follow; but the same under another character, and against whom he was, and set his face on another occasion;

that use their tongues; at their pleasure, their lips being their own. So the Targum,

"who prophesy according to the will of their own hearts;''

talk in a haughty and insolent manner, speaking bold and daring things of the divine Being; or in a boasting bragging manner, extolling themselves, and speaking highly in their own commendations; or rather in a flattering way to the people: so some read it, by a transposition of a radical letter r, "that smooth their tongues", as Kimchi; or speak smooth things with their tongues, to please the people:

and say, he saith; that is, "the Lord", as the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions express it; that so they, night be the more easily believed by the people; but this was highly provoking to God, to father their lies and falsehoods upon him.

r הלוקחים "hic pro" המחליקים "qui lenificant linguam suam", Pagninus, Gataker; "sumentes blandam linguan suam", Schmidt.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

That use their tongues - literally, that take their tongues. Their second characteristic. They have no message from God, but they take their tongues, their only implement, and say, He saith, using the solemn formula by which Yahweh affirms the truth of His words. Solemn asseverations seemed to give reality to their emptiness.