Jeremiah 29:23

For they have committed an outrage in Israel by committing adultery with the wives of their neighbors and speaking lies in My name, which I did not command them to do. I am He who knows, and I am a witness, declares the LORD.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The LORD speaks through Jeremiah to the Judean exiles in Babylon, addressing the false prophets Zedekiah and Ahab who are misleading them.

The words — נְבָלָה (ne.va.Lah) translates as "folly" or "outrage," denoting the moral violation, while נְשֵׁי (ne.Shei) specifies "the wives of" the neighbors involved in the adultery.

The thread — The text’s theme of divine scrutiny over false prophecy and sexual immorality appears in Jeremiah 23:14, which condemns prophets who commit adultery and walk in lies, Malachi 3:5, which declares God as a swift witness against adulterers, and Hebrews 4:13, which states that nothing in creation remains hidden from God’s sight.

Why it lands — The verse demands that readers recognize the absolute accountability of those who claim divine authority while violating covenant boundaries, and it requires the exiled community to judge the credibility of any message by its alignment with God’s revealed will.

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

Because they have committed villany in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know, and am a witness, saith the Lord.

Cross-references

Jeremiah 23:14 And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns his back on wickedness. They are all like Sodom to Me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.”
Malachi 3:5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
Hebrews 4:13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Proverbs 5:21 For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths.
Jeremiah 16:17 For My eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from My face, and their guilt is not concealed from My eyes.
Jeremiah 29:8 For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Do not be deceived by the prophets and diviners among you, and do not listen to the dreams you elicit from them.
Jeremiah 29:21 This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying to you lies in My name: “I will deliver them to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will kill them before your very eyes.
Psalms 50:16 To the wicked, however, God says, “What right have you to recite My statutes and to bear My covenant on your lips?
Jeremiah 7:9 Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known,
Jeremiah 13:27 Your adulteries and lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution on the hills and in the fields—I have seen your detestable acts. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will you remain unclean?”