Jeremiah 23:9 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 23:9
Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.
wine (as fermented) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
overcome
עֲבָ֣רוֹ'a.Va.rov
H5674
to cross over · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
because
מִפְּנֵ֣יmi.pe.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
LORD
יְהוָ֔הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
words
דִּבְרֵ֥יdiv.Rei
H1697
a word · noun, common masculine plural construct
holiness
קָדְשֽׁוֹka.de.Sho
H6944
a sacred place or thing · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
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
Habakkuk 3:16 When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might res…
Psalms 60:3 Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment.
Isaiah 51:21 Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
Lamentations 3:15 He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.
Daniel 8:27 And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king’s business; and I was astonished at the vision, but n…
2 Kings 22:19-20 Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and again…
Isaiah 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine…
Isaiah 28:1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys o…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 23:9-32
Here is a long lesson for the false prophets. As none were more bitter and spiteful against God's true prophets than they, so there were none on whom the true prophets were more severe, and justly. The prophet had complained to God of those false prophets (Jer 14:13), and had often foretold that they should be involved in the common ruin; but here they have woes of their own.
I. He expresses the deep concern that he was under upon this account, and what a trouble it was to him to see men who pretended to a divine commission and inspiration ruining themselves, and the people among whom they dwelt, by their falsehood and treachery (Jer 23:9): My heart within me is broken; I am like a drunken m…
because of the prophets--so the Masorites and Targum. But Vulgate, Septuagint, &c., make this the inscription of the prophecy, CONCERNING THE PROPHETS: as in Jer 46:2; Jer 48:1; Jer 49:1. Jeremiah expresses his horror at the so-called "prophets" not warning the people, though iniquity so fearfully abounded, soon to be followed by awful judgments.
bones shake-- (Hab 3:16).
drunken--God's judgments are represented as stupefying like wine. The effects of the Holy Spirit also are compared to those of wine (Act 2:17). In both cases ecstasy was produced. This accounts for the denial of wine to those likely to be inspired, Nazarites, &c. (Luk 1:15). It was necessary to put it out of men's power…
Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets,.... The false prophets, as the Targum rightly interprets it. The Vulgate Latin version renders it, "to the prophets"; and makes a stop there; which agrees with the original (l); so that it may be considered as the title of what follows; it being directed to them by the prophet, to let them know his concern for them; to expose their sin, and reclaim them; who was so affected with their case, that his "heart" within him was "broken" with grief and sorrow, because of their false doctrines and wicked lives; and because of the mischief they did the people, and the ruin they brought upon them, and themselves also:
all my bones shake; with dr…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 9) My heart is broken within me (or within myself), all my bones tremble (or are trembling); I have become like a drunken man, like a man drenched (or overwhelmed) with wine, before the face of the Lord, and before the face of His holy words (or and before the face of the beauty of His glory). When contemplating the countenance of the almighty God, that is, the Father, and when contemplating the countenance of the Son, who according to the Apostle is called the brightness of His glory, and the very image of His substance (Hebrews 1), the Prophet is filled with dread in both mind and body, and understands that he is nothing, as it is also said in another place: "I have become like a beast before you" (Psalm 73:22). Whether it offers to God a victim of conscience and humility, according to that which is read in the Psalms: A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. (Psalm 50:19). But let us understand that the shaking or movement of the bones is spoken of, of which the same David sings: All my bones shall say: Lord, who is like to thee? (Psalm 34:10) He was made like a drunken man, and like a wet person: having no understanding, nor sapience. For the Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain (Psalm 93:11) . But if this is so, where are those who preach perfect justice in man? And if they respond that they say this about the saints, not about themselves, certainly I believe there is no one holier than Jeremiah, who is a virgin, a Prophet, and sanctified in the womb, his very name foreshadowing the Lord Savior. For Jeremiah means 'exalted of the Lord.'
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Holiness Of God, The · Exhibited in his: Words — Exhibited in his: Words
Prophets · Sometimes received divine communications and uttered predictions under great bodily and mental excitement — Sometimes received divine communications and uttered predictions under great bodily and mental excitement
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Jeremiah 23:9
9. Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.
9. Propter prophetas (alii, ad prophetas, et potest legi ita ad verbum) contritum est (vel, confractum est) cor meum in medio mei; commota sunt (vel, concussa) omnia ossa mea (proprie, luxata sunt, quia de ossibus agitur; quantum ad verbum spectat, significat agitari, et moveri; sed quoniam nunc loquitur de ossibus, sermo erit aptior, luxata esse ossa;) fui tanquam vir ebrius super quem transiit vinum (hoc est tanquam vir obrutus vino) a facie Jehovae, et a facie sermonum…
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…
These short poems and interjections appear to be excerpts from a session in which the Lord prepared Jeremiah to prosecute the false prophets of Jerusalem. Because these leaders had misused the Lord’s name, they incurred his wrath (Exod 20:7).
23:9-10 Jeremiah stood in the Lord’s presence, shocked by the severity of the Lord’s decrees of doom on the religious leaders.
Rashi on Jeremiah 23:9
Because of the prophets my heart is broken within me Because of the words of the prophets who say, “You shall have peace,” my heart is broken. shake sway like the wings of a bird who hovers over his nest, (trenblent in O.F.) tremble.
because of the Lord For I heard from Him this evil decree.
