Yeremia 23:16

23:16 The Lord who rules over all ¹  says to the people of Jerusalem: ² 

“Do not listen to what

those prophets are saying to you.

They are filling you with false hopes.

They are reporting visions of their own imaginations,

not something the Lord has given them to say. ³ 

Yeremia 23:36

23:36 You must no longer say that the Lord’s message is burdensome. ⁴  For what is ‘burdensome’ ⁵  really pertains to what a person himself says. ⁶  You are misrepresenting ⁷  the words of our God, the living God, the Lord who rules over all. ⁸ 

[23:16]  ¹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[23:16]  sn See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of this title.

[23:16]  ² tn The words “to the people of Jerusalem” are not in the Hebrew text but are supplied in the translation to reflect the masculine plural form of the imperative and the second masculine plural form of the pronoun. These words have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[23:16]  ³ tn Heb “They tell of a vision of their own heart [= mind] not from the mouth of the Lord.”

[23:36]  ⁴ tn Heb “burden of the Lord.”

[23:36]  ⁵ tn Heb “the burden.”

[23:36]  ⁶ tn Heb “The burden is [or will be] to a man his word.” There is a good deal of ambiguity regarding how this line is to be rendered. For the major options and the issues involved W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:651-52 should be consulted. Most of them are excluded by the observation that מַשָּׂא probably does not mean “oracle” anywhere in this passage (see note on v. 33 regarding the use of this word). Hence it does not mean “every man’s word becomes his oracle” as in NIV or “for that ‘burden’ [= oracle] is what he entrusts to the man of his word” (W. McKane, Jeremiah [ICC], 1:600-601). The latter is also ruled out by the fact that the antecedent of “his” on “his word” is clearly the word “man” in front of it. This would be the only case where the phrase “man of his word” occurs. There is also no textual reason for repointing the noun with the article as the noun with the interrogative to read “For how can his word become a burden to anyone?” There are, of course, other options but this is sufficient to show that the translation has been chosen after looking at other alternatives.

[23:36]  ⁷ tn Heb “turning.” See BDB 245 s.v. הָפַךְ Qal.1.c and Lev 13:55; Jer 13:33 “changing, altering.”

[23:36]  ⁸ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[23:36]  sn See the study note on 2:19 for the explanation of the significance of this title.