Yeremia 8:10

8:10 ¹ So I will give their wives to other men

and their fields to new owners.

For from the least important to the most important of them,

all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.

Prophets and priests alike,

all practice deceit.

Yeremia 9:3

The Lord Laments That He Has No Choice But to Judge Them

9:3 The Lord says, ² 

“These people are like soldiers who have readied their bows.

Their tongues are always ready to shoot out lies. ³ 

They have become powerful in the land,

but they have not done so by honest means. ⁴ 

Indeed, they do one evil thing after another ⁵ 

and do not pay attention to me. ⁶ 

Yeremia 16:19

16:19 Then I said, ⁷ 

“Lord, you give me strength and protect me.

You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble. ⁸ 

Nations from all over the earth

will come to you and say,

‘Our ancestors had nothing but false gods –

worthless idols that could not help them at all. ⁹ 

Yeremia 23:32

23:32 I, the Lord, affirm ¹⁰  that I am opposed to those prophets who dream up lies and report them. They are misleading my people with their reckless lies. ¹¹  I did not send them. I did not commission them. They are not helping these people at all. ¹²  I, the Lord, affirm it!” ¹³ 

Yeremia 28:15

28:15 Then the prophet Jeremiah told the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord did not send you! You are making these people trust in a lie! ¹⁴ 

Yeremia 29:21

29:21 “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹⁵  also has something to say about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you and claiming my authority to do so. ¹⁶  ‘I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and he will execute them before your very eyes.

Yeremia 29:23

29:23 This will happen to them because they have done what is shameful ¹⁷  in Israel. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have spoken lies while claiming my authority. ¹⁸  They have spoken words that I did not command them to speak. I know what they have done. I have been a witness to it,’ says the Lord.” ¹⁹ 

Yeremia 29:31

29:31 “Send a message to all the exiles in Babylon. Tell them, ‘The Lord has spoken about Shemaiah the Nehelamite. “Shemaiah has spoken to you as a prophet even though I did not send him. He is making you trust in a lie. ²⁰ 

Yeremia 40:16

40:16 But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “Do not do that ²¹  because what you are saying about Ishmael is not true.” ²² 

Yeremia 43:2

43:2 Then Azariah ²³  son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah, and other arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie! The Lord our God did not send you to tell us, ‘You must not go to Egypt and settle there.’

[8:10]  ¹ sn See Jer 6:12-15 for parallels to 8:10-12. The words of Jeremiah to the people may have been repeated on more than one occasion or have been found appropriate to more than one of his collection of messages in written and edited form. See Jer 36:4 and Jer 36:28 for reference to at least two of these collections.

[9:3]  ² tn The words “The Lord says” have been moved up from the end of the verse to make clear that a change in speaker has occurred.

[9:3]  ³ tn Heb “They have readied [or strung] their tongue as their bow for lies.”

[9:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “but not through honesty.”

[9:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “they go from evil to evil.”

[9:3]  ⁶ tn Or “do not acknowledge me”; Heb “do not know me.” But “knowing” in Hebrew thought often involves more than intellectual knowledge; it involves emotional and volitional commitment as well. For יָדַע meaning “acknowledge” see 1 Chr 28:9; Isa 29:21; Hos 2:20; Prov 3:6. This word is also found in ancient Near Eastern treaty contexts where it has the idea of a vassal king acknowledging the sovereignty of a greater king (cf. H. Huffmon, “The Treaty Background of Hebrew yada,” BASOR 181 [1966]: 31-37).

[16:19]  ⁷ tn The words “Then I said” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation to show the shift from God, who has been speaking to Jeremiah, to Jeremiah, who here addresses God.

[16:19]  sn The shift here is consistent with the interruptions that have taken place in chapters 14 and 15 and in Jeremiah’s response to God’s condemnation of the people of Judah’s idolatry in chapter 10 (note especially vv. 6-16).

[16:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “O Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of trouble. The literal which piles up attributes is of course more forceful than the predications. However, piling up poetic metaphors like this adds to the length of the English sentence and risks lack of understanding on the part of some readers. Some rhetorical force has been sacrificed for the sake of clarity.

[16:19]  ⁹ tn Once again the translation has sacrificed some of the rhetorical force for the sake of clarity and English style: Heb “Only falsehood did our ancestors possess, vanity and [things in which?] there was no one profiting in them.”

[16:19]  sn This passage offers some rather forceful contrasts. The Lord is Jeremiah’s source of strength, security, and protection. The idols are false gods, worthless idols, that can offer no help at all.

[23:32]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[23:32]  ¹¹ tn Heb “with their lies and their recklessness.” This is an example of hendiadys where two nouns (in this case a concrete and an abstract one) are joined by “and” but one is intended to be the adjectival modifier of the other.

[23:32]  ¹² sn In the light of what has been said this is a rhetorical understatement; they are not only “not helping,” they are leading them to their doom (cf. vv. 19-22). This figure of speech is known as litotes.

[23:32]  ¹³ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[28:15]  ¹⁴ tn Or “You are giving these people false assurances.”

[29:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

[29:21]  sn See study notes on 2:19 and 7:3 for the explanation of this title.

[29:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “prophesying lies in my name.” For an explanation of this idiom see the study notes on 14:14 and 23:27.

[29:23]  ¹⁷ tn It is commonly assumed that this word is explained by the two verbal actions that follow. The word (נְבָלָה, nÿvalah) is rather commonly used of sins of unchastity (cf., e.g., Gen 34:7; Judg 19:23; 2 Sam 13:12) which would fit the reference to adultery. However, the word is singular and not likely to cover both actions that follow. The word is also used of the greedy act of Achan (Josh 7:15) which threatened Israel with destruction and the churlish behavior of Nabal (1 Sam 25:25) which threatened him and his household with destruction. The word is also used of foolish talk in Isa 9:17 (9:16 HT) and Isa 32:6. It is possible that this refers to a separate act, one that would have brought the death penalty from Nebuchadnezzar, i.e., the preaching of rebellion in conformity with the message of the false prophets in Jerusalem and other nations (cf. 27:9, 13). Hence it is possible that the translation should read: “This will happen because of their vile conduct. They have propagated rebellion. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives. They have spoken words that I did not command them to speak. They have spoken lies while claiming my authority.”

[29:23]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “prophesying lies in my name.” For an explanation of this idiom see the study notes on 14:14 and 23:27.

[29:23]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[29:31]  ²⁰ tn Or “is giving you false assurances.”

[40:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “this thing.”

[40:16]  ²² tn Heb “is false” or “is a lie.”

[43:2]  ²³ sn See the study note on 42:1 for the possible identification of this man with Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite.