Jeremiah 23:33 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 23:33
And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD.
a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
prophet
הַנָּבִ֤יאha.na.Vi'
H5030
a prophet or (generally) inspired man · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
priest
כֹהֵן֙kho.Hen
H3548
literally one officiating · noun, common masculine singular absolute
ask
יִשְׁאָלְךָ֩yish.'a.le.Kha
H7592
to inquire · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
saying
לֵאמֹ֔רle.Mor
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
burden
מַשָּׂ֖אma.Sa'
H4853
a burden · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֑הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
say
וְאָמַרְתָּ֤ve.'a.mar.Ta
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
burden
מַשָּׂ֔אma.Sa'
H4853
a burden · noun, common masculine singular absolute
forsake
וְנָטַשְׁתִּ֥יve.na.tash.Ti
H5203
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 1st person common singular
saith
נְאֻםne.'um-
H5002
an oracle · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָֽהYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Malachi 1:1 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.
Deuteronomy 32:19-20 And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.
Isaiah 13:1 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
Jeremiah 12:7 I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.
Hosea 9:12 Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from t…
Nahum 1:1 The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
Habakkuk 1:1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
Deuteronomy 31:17-18 Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devou…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 23:33–end
The profaneness of the people, with that of the priests and prophets, is here reproved in a particular instance, which may seem of small moment in comparison of their greater crimes; but profaneness in common discourse, and the debauching of the language of a nation, being a notorious evidence of the prevalency of wickedness in it, we are not to think it strange that this matter was so largely and warmly insisted upon here. Observe,
I. The sin here charged upon them is bantering God's prophets and dialect they used, and jesting with sacred things. They asked, What is the burden of the Lord? Jer 23:33 and Jer 23:34. They say, The burden of the Lord, Jer 23:38. This was the word that gave grea…
What is the burden--play on the double sense of the Hebrew: an oracle and a burden. They scoffingly ask, Has he got any new burden (burdensome oracle: for all his prophecies are disasters) to announce (Mal 1:1)? Jeremiah indignantly repeats their own question, Do you ask, What burden? This, then, it is, "I will forsake you." My word is burdensome in your eyes, and you long to be rid if it. You shall get your wish. There will be no more prophecy: I will forsake you, and that will be a far worse "burden" to you.
John Gill on Jeremiah 23:33
And when this people, or a prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee,.... Any of the people, who were grown very profane; or any of the false prophets, who encouraged them in their irreligion and impiety; or any of the priests, who were in combination with them against the true prophets of the Lord; when any of these, in a scoffing jeering manner, should ask the Prophet Jeremiah,
saying, what is the burden of the Lord? or prophesy in the name of the Lord, as the Targum; and because some of the prophecies are called "burdens", see Isaiah 13:1; hence, by way of derision, they called every one so; and because many of these, though not all, were predictions of judgments and calamities that were to c…
(Verse 33 and following) So if this people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, saying: what is the burden of God (or what is the assumption of the Lord)? you shall say to them: You are the burden (or assumption). For I will cast (or hurl) you away, says the Lord. And the prophet and the priest and the people, who says the burden (or assumption) of the Lord, I will visit (or avenge) upon that man and upon his house. Each one will say to his friend (nearest in the Vulgate) and to his brother: what did the Lord answer, and what did the Lord speak? And the burden (or assumption) of the Lord will not be remembered anymore, because the burden (or assumption) will be each one's own word (in the Alexandrian version). The Hebrew word massa means burden and weight, as interpreted by Aquila as ἅρμα, that is, burden and weight: Symmachus, Septuagint, and Theodotion translate it as assumption. Therefore, wherever it is heavy, what the Lord threatens, and full of weight and labor, and unendurable, it is also called a burden in the title ἅρμα, that is, weight. Wherever, indeed, the Lord promises prosperity, or after a threat, he promises better things, there the Vision is spoken, or certainly the word of the Lord: and it was clear from the very title of the prophecy of the weight, or vision, and the Word of God, what kind of prediction would follow. Therefore, since the Prophets used to announce sad things and threaten punishments to the sinful people, in order to turn them back to repentance: but the merciful and compassionate Lord delayed his judgment for a long time, the deceived people, led astray by the fraud of false prophets, thought that what the Lord threatened would not come true, and they turned the true matter into a game and a joke; and mocking the prophets, they said: Here again he sees the weight and burden of the Lord. And so it happened that, not at all seriously but as a joke and mockery, the burden and weight were called the Vision. Therefore, the Lord instructed that whether the people, the prophets, or the priests asked Jeremiah what the burden or assumption of the Lord was, he should respond to them and say: You are the burden, and you are the assumption. For I will take you and cast you away, and I will crush you and make you perish. But if anyone thereafter, whether a prophet, a priest, or a member of the people, dares to name the burden and…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Jeremiah 23:33
Jeremiah 23:33
33. And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD.
33. Quod si interrogaverint to populus hic, vel Propheta, vel Sacerdos, dicendo. Quod onus Jehovae? Tunc dices illis, Quod onus? Derelinquam vos, inquit Jehova.
It appears sufficiently evident from this passage, -- that the contumacy of the Jews was so great, that they sought from every quarter some excuse for their insensibility, as though they could with impunity despise God when they rejected his word. For the devil by his artifice fascinates the reprobate, when he renders God's…
Against the False Prophets. - Next to the kings, the pseudo-prophets, who flattered the people's carnal longings, have done most to contribute to the fall of the realm. Therefore Jeremiah passes directly from his discourse against the wicked kings to rebuking the false prophets; and if we may presume from the main substance, the latter discourse belongs to the same time as the former. It begins
Jer 23:9-11
With a description of the pernicious practices of these persons. - Jer 23:9. "Concerning the prophets. Broken is mine heart within me; all my bones totter. I am become like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of Jahveh and because of His holy words. Jer 23:10. Fo…
The Lord presented a hypothetical conversation to show Jeremiah how to handle the false prophets.
23:33 These false prophets might taunt Jeremiah by asking for the latest message the Lord had burdened him with. • You are the burden! This is a wordplay—it was common for a prophetic message to be called “a burden.” The false prophets were a heavy load that the Lord would throw off and abandon.
Rashi on Jeremiah 23:33
“What is the burden of the Lord?” This is an expression of derision, for his prophecy is a burden to them.
you shall say to them, “What burden? And I will forsake you, etc.” They say to you (sic), “What is the burden?” You are the burden of the Holy One, blessed be He, and He says that He will forsake you and cast you off His arms from heaven to earth. So I heard.
and I will forsake Heb. וְעָזַבְתִּי.
