Bible Strands
Jeremiah 23:16
This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are filling you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh of Hosts addresses the people of Israel, commanding them to reject the messages of contemporary prophets. This declaration immediately follows His judgment pronouncement against Jerusalem's prophets for spreading ungodliness.
The words — The oracle opens with כֹּֽה־ (koh-) meaning "thus" and אָמַ֞ר ('a.Mar) meaning "he says," establishing a divine speech formula. The core command אַֽל תִּשְׁמְעוּ ('al tish'me'u) literally orders "do not listen" to the prophets' דִּבְרֵי (divrei), or "words."
The thread — The explicit prohibition against listening to false prophets appears in Jeremiah 27:9, which groups them with diviners and mediums. Ezekiel 13:6 condemns those who claim "Thus declares the LORD" while delivering false visions and lying divinations.
Why it lands — Readers must distinguish between messages originating from human imagination and those genuinely delivered by God. The text demands immediate rejection of any prophetic claim that contradicts divine authority or promotes self-centered comfort.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 14:14 “The prophets are prophesying lies in My name,” replied the LORD. “I did not send them or appoint them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, a worthless divination, the futility and delusion of their own minds.
- Ezekiel 13:6 They see false visions and speak lying divinations. They claim, ‘Thus declares the LORD,’ when the LORD did not send them; yet they wait for the fulfillment of their message.
- Jeremiah 27:9 But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums, or your sorcerers who declare, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’
- Ezekiel 13:3 This is what the Lord GOD says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit yet have seen nothing.
- Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
- 2 Corinthians 11:13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
- Galatians 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be under a curse!
- 2 Kings 17:15 They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and became worthless themselves, going after the surrounding nations that the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.
- Jeremiah 23:21 I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied.
- Jeremiah 27:14 Do not listen to the words of the prophets who say, ‘You must not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying to you a lie.