Jeremiah 14 Study Notes: Drought and False Prophets of Peace
A severe drought strikes Judah, and a prayer confesses the nation’s sins and pleads with God for help. The LORD refuses, tells Jeremiah not to intercede, condemns prophets who promise peace, and a second prayer appeals to Him as the only giver of rain.
General
In the prayer of 14:7-9, the speakers admit that their sins testify against them. On what basis do they still ask the LORD to help?
Answer: Because acting would uphold the honor of the LORD’s name
The prayer is honest about sin: their wrongdoings accuse them, their rebellions are many, and they have sinned against the LORD (14:7). So they do not appeal to their own goodness. They ask Him to act for His own name’s sake, that is, to uphold His reputation and character (14:7). They call Him the Hope of Israel, the One who saves in hard times, and they ask why He seems like a passing traveler or a warrior unable to rescue (14:8-9). They end by pointing out that they bear His name and begging Him not to abandon them (14:9). David prayed the same way, asking pardon on the ground of God’s name because his sin was great (Psalm 25:11), and Daniel later pleaded on the basis of God’s great compassion rather than any righteousness of the people (Daniel 9:18-19).
- Jeremiah 14:7 (BSB)“Although our iniquities testify against us, O LORD, act for the sake of Your name. Indeed, our rebellions are many; we have sinned against You.”The prayer confesses that their sins testify against them and asks God to act for His name’s sake.
- Jeremiah 14:8-9 (BSB)“O Hope of Israel, its Savior in times of distress, why are You like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who stays but a night? Why are You like a man taken by surprise, like a warrior powerless to save? Yet You are among us, O LORD, and we are called by Your name. Do not forsake us!”The prayer calls the LORD Israel’s Hope and Savior and pleads that they bear His name.
- Psalm 25:11 (BSB)“For the sake of Your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, for it is great.”David asks forgiveness for the sake of God’s name because his sin is great.
- Daniel 9:18-19 (BSB)“Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You because of our righteous acts, but because of Your great compassion. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For Your sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people bear Your name.””Daniel pleads on the basis of God’s compassion and name, not the people’s righteousness.
Theological
On what ground does the confession of Jeremiah 14:7-9 appeal to the LORD despite the people’s admitted iniquities?
Answer: Because acting would uphold the honor of the LORD’s name
The confession grounds its plea not in merit but in God’s name. Its speakers concede that their iniquities testify against them and their apostasies are many (14:7), then appeal to the LORD to act for His name’s sake (14:7). They address Him as the Hope and Savior of Israel, protest that He seems like a stranger or a powerless warrior, and plead that they are called by His name (14:8-9). The appeal to God’s name is the same one David makes (Psalm 25:11), and Daniel likewise pleads on the basis of God’s compassion rather than the people’s righteous acts (Daniel 9:18-19). Yet the LORD’s reply in 14:10 answers that this people still love to wander and have not held back their feet.
- Jeremiah 14:7 (BSB)“Although our iniquities testify against us, O LORD, act for the sake of Your name. Indeed, our rebellions are many; we have sinned against You.”The prayer confesses that their sins testify against them and asks God to act for His name’s sake.
- Jeremiah 14:8-9 (BSB)“O Hope of Israel, its Savior in times of distress, why are You like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who stays but a night? Why are You like a man taken by surprise, like a warrior powerless to save? Yet You are among us, O LORD, and we are called by Your name. Do not forsake us!”The prayer calls the LORD Israel’s Hope and Savior and pleads that they bear His name.
- Psalm 25:11 (BSB)“For the sake of Your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, for it is great.”David asks forgiveness for the sake of God’s name because his sin is great.
- Daniel 9:18-19 (BSB)“Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You because of our righteous acts, but because of Your great compassion. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For Your sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people bear Your name.””Daniel pleads on the basis of God’s compassion and name, not the people’s righteousness.
General
True or False: The LORD told Jeremiah not to pray for the people’s well-being, and said He would not listen when they fasted or accept their offerings (Jeremiah 14:11-12).
Answer: True
This is true. The LORD told Jeremiah not to pray for the good of this people (14:11). Even if they fasted, He would not hear their cry, and even if they brought burnt and grain offerings (gifts presented on the altar), He would refuse them. Instead He would bring an end on them through sword, famine, and plague (14:12). This was not the first time; the LORD had given Jeremiah the same command twice before (Jeremiah 7:16; 11:14). Religious ceremonies cannot replace a heart that turns to God, as Isaiah had told Jerusalem when God said He would not listen to prayers lifted by hands stained with blood (Isaiah 1:15).
- Jeremiah 14:11-12 (BSB)“Then the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people. Although they may fast, I will not listen to their cry; although they may offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will finish them off by sword and famine and plague.””God forbids Jeremiah to pray for the people and refuses their fasting and offerings.
- Jeremiah 7:16 (BSB)“As for you, do not pray for these people, do not offer a plea or petition on their behalf, and do not beg Me, for I will not listen to you.”Jeremiah had already been told not to intercede for this people.
- Jeremiah 11:14 (BSB)“As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for I will not be listening when they call out to Me in their time of disaster.”The command not to pray for them is given again, because God will not listen in their disaster.
- Isaiah 1:15 (BSB)“When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.”Isaiah shows God refusing to listen to the many prayers of people whose hands are covered with blood.
Theological
True or False: In Jeremiah 14:11-12 the LORD forbids Jeremiah to intercede for the people’s welfare and declares that He will neither heed their fasting cry nor accept their offerings.
Answer: True
This is true. The LORD forbids Jeremiah to pray for this people’s welfare (14:11); their fasting will not gain a hearing, and their burnt and grain offerings will not be accepted, for He is determined to consume them by sword, famine, and plague (14:12). The prohibition repeats earlier commands to the prophet (Jeremiah 7:16; 11:14). Outward rites offered without repentance do not move God, a point Isaiah had pressed on Jerusalem when the LORD refused to hear the prayers of bloodstained hands (Isaiah 1:15).
- Jeremiah 14:11-12 (BSB)“Then the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people. Although they may fast, I will not listen to their cry; although they may offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will finish them off by sword and famine and plague.””God forbids Jeremiah to pray for the people and refuses their fasting and offerings.
- Jeremiah 7:16 (BSB)“As for you, do not pray for these people, do not offer a plea or petition on their behalf, and do not beg Me, for I will not listen to you.”Jeremiah had already been told not to intercede for this people.
- Jeremiah 11:14 (BSB)“As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for I will not be listening when they call out to Me in their time of disaster.”The command not to pray for them is given again, because God will not listen in their disaster.
- Isaiah 1:15 (BSB)“When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.”Isaiah shows God refusing to listen to the many prayers of people whose hands are covered with blood.
General
True or False: The drought in Jeremiah 14 troubled only the poor farmers, while the nobles and the wild animals were spared (Jeremiah 14:1-6).
Answer: False
This is false. The LORD’s message in this chapter concerns a drought, and it reaches everyone (14:1). Judah mourns and Jerusalem cries out (14:2). Even the nobles send servants to the water cisterns, but the jars come back empty and the servants cover their heads in shame (14:3). The soil splits open, the farmers are dismayed (14:4), a doe abandons her newborn since the fields are bare (14:5), and wild donkeys gasp on the bare hills (14:6). Moses had warned that if Israel turned from the LORD, the sky would become like bronze and the rain like dust (Deuteronomy 28:23-24), and Solomon prayed about times when the sky would be shut because the people had sinned (1 Kings 8:35).
- Jeremiah 14:3-4 (BSB)“The nobles send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns, but find no water; their jars return empty. They are ashamed and humiliated; they cover their heads. The ground is cracked because no rain has fallen on the land. The farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads.”Nobles and farmers alike are shamed when the cisterns are dry and the ground cracks.
- Jeremiah 14:5-6 (BSB)“Even the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawn because there is no grass. Wild donkeys stand on barren heights; they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail for lack of pasture.””Even the wild animals suffer for lack of grass and pasture.
- Deuteronomy 28:23-24 (BSB)“The sky over your head will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron. The LORD will turn the rain of your land into dust and powder; it will descend on you from the sky until you are destroyed.”The covenant curses warned that disobedience would bring a sky like bronze and rain turned to dust.
- 1 Kings 8:35 (BSB)“When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them,”Solomon’s prayer links a sky shut up without rain to the people’s sin.
Theological
True or False: Jeremiah 14:1-6 portrays the drought as falling on the poor alone, with the nobility and the animals of the field left untouched.
Answer: False
This is false. The oracle concerns a drought (14:1) that spares no one: Judah and Jerusalem lament (14:2); the nobles’ servants find the cisterns dry and return ashamed (14:3); the cracked ground shames the farmers (14:4); the doe forsakes her fawn for lack of grass (14:5); the wild donkeys pant on the barren heights (14:6). The drought is covenant discipline, the curse of a bronze sky and dusty rain threatened for disobedience (Deuteronomy 28:23-24) and anticipated in Solomon’s prayer about a sky shut up because of the people’s sin (1 Kings 8:35).
- Jeremiah 14:3-4 (BSB)“The nobles send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns, but find no water; their jars return empty. They are ashamed and humiliated; they cover their heads. The ground is cracked because no rain has fallen on the land. The farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads.”Nobles and farmers alike are shamed when the cisterns are dry and the ground cracks.
- Jeremiah 14:5-6 (BSB)“Even the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawn because there is no grass. Wild donkeys stand on barren heights; they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail for lack of pasture.””Even the wild animals suffer for lack of grass and pasture.
- Deuteronomy 28:23-24 (BSB)“The sky over your head will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron. The LORD will turn the rain of your land into dust and powder; it will descend on you from the sky until you are destroyed.”The covenant curses warned that disobedience would bring a sky like bronze and rain turned to dust.
- 1 Kings 8:35 (BSB)“When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them,”Solomon’s prayer links a sky shut up without rain to the people’s sin.
General
How does the LORD respond to the people’s prayer for help in the drought (Jeremiah 14:10)?
Answer: He refuses them, since they keep straying from Him
The LORD’s answer is a refusal. He points to their ways: these people truly love to wander and have not held back their feet from straying, so He rejects them and will now call their guilt to account and judge their sins (14:10). The prophet Hosea had spoken almost the same sentence over the northern kingdom, saying the LORD would not accept their sacrifices (Hosea 8:13). Hosea also described Judah’s loyalty as morning mist that quickly disappears (Hosea 6:4).
- Jeremiah 14:10 (BSB)“This is what the LORD says about this people: “Truly they love to wander; they have not restrained their feet. So the LORD does not accept them; He will now remember their iniquity and punish them for their sins.””The LORD declares that the people love to wander, so He will not accept them but will punish their sins.
- Hosea 8:13 (BSB)“Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to Me, and though they eat the meat, the LORD does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins: They will return to Egypt.”Hosea announces nearly the same verdict: the LORD does not accept them and will remember their iniquity.
- Hosea 6:4 (BSB)“What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes.”Hosea pictures Judah’s loyalty as mist that vanishes, the kind of fleeting devotion Jeremiah’s verdict exposes.
Theological
What is the LORD’s verdict on the people’s confession in Jeremiah 14:10?
Answer: He refuses them, since they keep straying from Him
The divine reply rejects the plea. The people delight in straying and have not held their steps in check, so the LORD rejects them and will now call their guilt to account (14:10). The reply sets the plea of 14:7-9 beside the people’s conduct: whatever they say, they keep straying. The verdict closely echoes Hosea’s sentence on Israel, whose sacrifices the LORD likewise would not accept (Hosea 8:13), and Hosea’s complaint that Judah’s loyalty evaporates like the morning dew (Hosea 6:4).
- Jeremiah 14:10 (BSB)“This is what the LORD says about this people: “Truly they love to wander; they have not restrained their feet. So the LORD does not accept them; He will now remember their iniquity and punish them for their sins.””The LORD declares that the people love to wander, so He will not accept them but will punish their sins.
- Hosea 8:13 (BSB)“Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to Me, and though they eat the meat, the LORD does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins: They will return to Egypt.”Hosea announces nearly the same verdict: the LORD does not accept them and will remember their iniquity.
- Hosea 6:4 (BSB)“What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes.”Hosea pictures Judah’s loyalty as mist that vanishes, the kind of fleeting devotion Jeremiah’s verdict exposes.
General
The second prayer in Jeremiah 14 ends by asking whether the gods of other peoples can bring rain. What does it confess (Jeremiah 14:19-22)?
Answer: That the LORD alone is the One who sends rain
A second prayer asks whether God has completely rejected Judah, since they hoped for peace and healing but found only terror (14:19). It admits the wickedness of the present generation and of their ancestors (14:20), and pleads with God, on account of His name, not to dishonor His glorious throne or break His covenant (14:21). It ends by asking whether the useless gods of other peoples, or the sky on its own, can give showers. The answer is no: the LORD alone does this, so the people will wait in hope for Him (14:22). Scripture consistently says it is God who readies showers for the land (Psalm 147:8) and who shows His goodness to all people by sending rain and fruitful seasons (Acts 14:17). Jeremiah had earlier complained that the people did not fear the God who gives rain in its season (Jeremiah 5:24).
- Jeremiah 14:21-22 (BSB)“For the sake of Your name do not despise us; do not disgrace Your glorious throne. Remember Your covenant with us; do not break it. Can the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies alone send showers? Is this not by You, O LORD our God? So we put our hope in You, for You have done all these things.”The prayer appeals to God’s name and covenant and confesses that only He sends the rain.
- Psalm 147:8 (BSB)“who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow on the hills.”The psalmist praises God as the One who prepares rain for the earth.
- Acts 14:17 (BSB)“Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.””Paul tells the crowd at Lystra that God gives rain and fruitful seasons as a witness to His goodness.
- Jeremiah 5:24 (BSB)“They have not said in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rains, both autumn and spring, in season, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’”Jeremiah charged the people with not fearing the LORD who gives the seasonal rains.
Theological
What confession closes the second lament in Jeremiah 14:19-22?
Answer: That the LORD alone is the One who sends rain
The second lament protests God’s apparent rejection (14:19), confesses both present wickedness and ancestral guilt (14:20), and appeals to His name, His throne, and His covenant (14:21). It climaxes in a confession of God’s sole sovereignty over nature: neither the empty gods of the peoples nor the heavens by themselves can give rain; the LORD does all these things, so the people wait for Him (14:22). This truth about God’s rule over nature is affirmed in the Psalms (Psalm 147:8) and in Paul’s preaching that God gives rain and fruitful seasons as a witness to Himself (Acts 14:17); Jeremiah had earlier charged that the people did not fear the God who sends seasonal rain (Jeremiah 5:24). Yet the LORD’s reply in 15:1 is that even Moses and Samuel could not turn His heart toward this people.
- Jeremiah 14:21-22 (BSB)“For the sake of Your name do not despise us; do not disgrace Your glorious throne. Remember Your covenant with us; do not break it. Can the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies alone send showers? Is this not by You, O LORD our God? So we put our hope in You, for You have done all these things.”The prayer appeals to God’s name and covenant and confesses that only He sends the rain.
- Psalm 147:8 (BSB)“who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow on the hills.”The psalmist praises God as the One who prepares rain for the earth.
- Acts 14:17 (BSB)“Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.””Paul tells the crowd at Lystra that God gives rain and fruitful seasons as a witness to His goodness.
- Jeremiah 5:24 (BSB)“They have not said in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rains, both autumn and spring, in season, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’”Jeremiah charged the people with not fearing the LORD who gives the seasonal rains.
General
What message does the LORD give Jeremiah to speak to the people in Jeremiah 14:17-18?
Answer: Weeping without ceasing over the people’s crushing wound
The LORD gave Jeremiah a word of grief to speak, voiced in the first person, whether heard as the prophet’s own sorrow or as the LORD’s grief spoken through him. Eyes would run with tears without stopping, night and day, because the people, pictured as a virgin daughter, had been struck with a terrible, crushing wound (14:17). In the countryside he would see those killed in battle; in the city, those wasting from hunger; and even prophet and priest would go off to an unfamiliar country (14:18). These tears echo Jeremiah’s longing elsewhere to weep endlessly over the slain of his people (Jeremiah 9:1). Lamentations voices the same sorrow over the ruined city (Lamentations 2:11), and centuries later Jesus wept over Jerusalem as He approached it (Luke 19:41).
- Jeremiah 14:17-18 (BSB)“You are to speak this word to them: ‘My eyes overflow with tears; day and night they do not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people has been shattered by a crushing blow, a severely grievous wound. If I go out to the country, I see those slain by the sword; if I enter the city, I see those ravaged by famine! For both prophet and priest travel to a land they do not know.’””Jeremiah is to speak a lament of unceasing tears over the wounded people, the slain, and the starving.
- Jeremiah 9:1 (BSB)“Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.”Jeremiah longs to weep day and night for his people’s slain.
- Lamentations 2:11 (BSB)“My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.”Lamentations expresses the same grief over the destruction of the people.
- Luke 19:41 (BSB)“As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it”Jesus weeps over Jerusalem as He approaches the city.
Theological
What does the word Jeremiah is told to speak in Jeremiah 14:17-18 express?
Answer: Weeping without ceasing over the people’s crushing wound
The word Jeremiah must deliver is itself a first-person lament, whether the grief is the prophet’s own or the LORD’s voiced through him: eyes stream unceasingly because the people, pictured as a virgin daughter, have suffered a crushing, grievous blow (14:17). Outside the city lie the slain; inside, the famine-stricken; prophet and priest alike go off to an unfamiliar country (14:18). God’s messenger announces judgment with tears, not detachment, as he does elsewhere (Jeremiah 9:1) and as Lamentations does over the fallen city (Lamentations 2:11). Christ Himself later wept over Jerusalem as He approached it (Luke 19:41).
- Jeremiah 14:17-18 (BSB)“You are to speak this word to them: ‘My eyes overflow with tears; day and night they do not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people has been shattered by a crushing blow, a severely grievous wound. If I go out to the country, I see those slain by the sword; if I enter the city, I see those ravaged by famine! For both prophet and priest travel to a land they do not know.’””Jeremiah is to speak a lament of unceasing tears over the wounded people, the slain, and the starving.
- Jeremiah 9:1 (BSB)“Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.”Jeremiah longs to weep day and night for his people’s slain.
- Lamentations 2:11 (BSB)“My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.”Lamentations expresses the same grief over the destruction of the people.
- Luke 19:41 (BSB)“As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it”Jesus weeps over Jerusalem as He approaches the city.
General
Jeremiah tells the LORD that other prophets are promising the people lasting peace, free of war and hunger. What does the LORD say about those prophets (Jeremiah 14:13-16)?
Answer: They were not sent by God and would die by war and hunger
Jeremiah pointed out that the other prophets were promising peace and safety, telling the people that war and hunger would never come (14:13). The LORD answered that these prophets were telling lies in His name. He had never sent, appointed, or spoken to them; their visions and predictions came from their own minds (14:14). Because they denied that war and hunger would come, they themselves would die by war and hunger, and the people who believed them would also perish (14:15-16). The same charge appears later: the LORD never sent them, but they ran with a message anyway (Jeremiah 23:21). Jeremiah had already exposed prophets who treated the people’s wound lightly, promising peace when there was none (Jeremiah 6:14), and the Law of Moses said a prophet who spoke in God’s name without His command deserved death (Deuteronomy 18:20).
- Jeremiah 14:13-14 (BSB)““Ah, Lord GOD!” I replied, “Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this place.’” “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.”Jeremiah reports the prophets’ promises of peace, and the LORD says He never sent them.
- Jeremiah 14:15-16 (BSB)“Therefore this is what the LORD says about the prophets who prophesy in My name: I did not send them, yet they say, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land.’ By sword and famine these very prophets will meet their end! And the people to whom they prophesy will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem because of famine and sword. There will be no one to bury them or their wives, their sons or their daughters. I will pour out their own evil upon them.”The false prophets and the people who believed them will fall by the sword and famine they denied.
- Jeremiah 23:21 (BSB)“I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied.”God repeats that He did not send these prophets, yet they ran with a message.
- Jeremiah 6:14 (BSB)“They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.”The false prophets had already been exposed for promising peace when there was none.
- Deuteronomy 18:20 (BSB)“But if any prophet dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or to speak in the name of other gods, that prophet must be put to death.””The Law condemns a prophet who speaks in God’s name what God did not command.
Theological
What is the LORD’s judgment on the prophets who promised Judah peace without war or hunger (Jeremiah 14:13-16)?
Answer: They were not sent by God and would die by war and hunger
Jeremiah raises the problem of the peace prophets, who promise lasting security free of war and hunger (14:13). The LORD’s reply is categorical: they prophesy lies in His name; He neither sent, commissioned, nor spoke to them; their message is false vision, worthless divination, and self-generated delusion (14:14). The judgment fits the lie: by the very sword and famine they denied, these prophets will perish, and the people who listened will share their end (14:15-16). The charge is repeated in Jeremiah 23:21 and anticipated in 6:14, and it applies the Mosaic sentence on any prophet who presumes to speak in God’s name without His command (Deuteronomy 18:20). Their hearers are not excused; they will reap their own evil (14:16).
- Jeremiah 14:13-14 (BSB)““Ah, Lord GOD!” I replied, “Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this place.’” “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.”Jeremiah reports the prophets’ promises of peace, and the LORD says He never sent them.
- Jeremiah 14:15-16 (BSB)“Therefore this is what the LORD says about the prophets who prophesy in My name: I did not send them, yet they say, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land.’ By sword and famine these very prophets will meet their end! And the people to whom they prophesy will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem because of famine and sword. There will be no one to bury them or their wives, their sons or their daughters. I will pour out their own evil upon them.”The false prophets and the people who believed them will fall by the sword and famine they denied.
- Jeremiah 23:21 (BSB)“I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied.”God repeats that He did not send these prophets, yet they ran with a message.
- Jeremiah 6:14 (BSB)“They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.”The false prophets had already been exposed for promising peace when there was none.
- Deuteronomy 18:20 (BSB)“But if any prophet dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or to speak in the name of other gods, that prophet must be put to death.””The Law condemns a prophet who speaks in God’s name what God did not command.