Jeremiah 28:15 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 28:15
Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The LORD hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie.
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
prophet
הַנָּבִ֛יאha.na.Vi'
H5030
a prophet or (generally) inspired man · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Jeremiah
יִרְמְיָ֧הyir.me.Yah
H3414
Jirmejah · proper noun, a man's name
Hananiah
חֲנַנְיָ֥הcha.nan.Yah
H2608
Chananjah · proper noun, a man's name
prophet
הַנָּבִ֖יאha.na.Vi'
H5030
a prophet or (generally) inspired man · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Hear
שְׁמַֽעshe.ma'-
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
Hananiah
חֲנַנְיָ֑הcha.nan.Yah
H2608
Chananjah · proper noun, a man's name
LORD
יְהוָ֔הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
sent
שְׁלָחֲךָ֣she.la.cha.Kha
H7971
to send away · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
people
הָעָ֥םha.'Am
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
trust
הִבְטַ֛חְתָּhiv.Tach.ta
H982
figuratively · verb, hiphil perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
lie
שָֽׁקֶרSha.ker
H8267
an untruth · noun, common masculine singular absolute
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
Jeremiah 14:14-15 Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them:…
Jeremiah 27:15 For I have not sent them, saith the LORD, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and…
Jeremiah 23:21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
Ezekiel 13:2-3 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the…
Ezekiel 22:28 And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when…
Lamentations 2:14 Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have s…
Jeremiah 29:23 Because they have committed villany in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives, and have spoken lying words in my n…
1 Kings 22:23 Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning the…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 28:10–end
We have here an instance,
I. Of the insolence of the false prophet. To complete the affront he designed Jeremiah, he took the yoke from off his neck which he carried as a memorial of what he had prophesied concerning the enslaving of the nations to Nebuchadnezzar, and he broke it, that he might give a sign of the accomplishment of this prophecy, as Jeremiah had given of his, and might seem to have conquered him, and to have defeated the intention of his prophecy. See how the lying spirit, in the mouth of this false prophet, mimics the language of the Spirit of truth: Thus saith the Lord, So will I break the yoke of the king of Babylon, not only from the neck of this nation, but from the neck…
makest . . . trust in a lie-- (Jer 29:31; Eze 13:22).
John Gill on Jeremiah 28:15
Then said Jeremiah the prophet unto Hananiah the prophet,.... The false prophet, as he is again called by the Targum, and in the Syriac version; where he went to him, and met with him, whether in the temple or elsewhere, is not mentioned; very probably in some public place, that there might be witnesses of what was said; for it was for the conviction of others, as well as for his own confusion, the following things are observed:
hear now, Hananiah, the Lord hath not sent thee; though he spoke in his name, and pretended a mission from him, when he had none, which was abominable wickedness:
but thou makest this people to trust in a lie: that the Lord would break off the yoke of the king of B…
Jeremiah 28:15
15. Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The LORD hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie.
15. Et dixit jeremias propheta Chananiae prophetae, Audi agedum Chanania, non misit to Jehova, et tu confidere fecisti populum hunc super mendacio (vel, in mendacio.)
There would not have been weight enough in the plain teaching of Jeremiah had he not confronted his adversary, as the case is at this day with us; when insolent and unprincipled men rise up and dare to vomit forth their blasphemies, by which they darken and degrade the doctrines of true religion, we are under the necessity to contend with them, otherwise…
The Church Fathers
When Jeremiah admonishes him, saying, "Listen, Hananiah, the Lord did not send you," he omits the title "prophet," for how could he call him a prophet who refused to be sent by the Lord? But the truth and order of history is preserved, as we said above, not according to what was but according to what was thought to be at the time. He says, in effect, "You have deceived the people with a falsehood, to prevent them from agreeing with the judgment of God. Hence, you know that this will be the year you die." But if, when we die, we are liberated from the prison of the body, according to that testimony that has been badly misinterpreted by heretics, "Free my soul from this prison," how is the death of a pseudo-prophet now imposed as a punishment? It also must be observed, however, that Jeremiah suffered injury from the false prophet and remained silent, the word of the Lord not yet having come to him. Afterwards, however, when sent by the Lord, he boldly convicted him of lying and announced his imminent death. And because he died in the seventh month, which was always customarily understood to represent "rest," due to the significance of the number, perhaps they were deceived that he died in the seventh month, so that he would be liberated from the evils of the body according to that passage they proffer from Scripture: "Death gives rest to a person." But we know that the bodies of believers are temples of God, if the Holy Spirit still dwells within them.
(Verse 5 onwards) And Jeremiah the prophet said to the prophet Hananiah: Listen, Hananiah: The Lord did not send you, and yet you have made this people trust in a lie. Therefore, thus says the Lord: Behold, I will send (or cast) you away from the face of the earth, you will die this year. And what follows: Because you have spoken against the Lord. And Hananiah the prophet died in that year, in the seventh month, which is not mentioned in the Septuagint. For as much as they have set him forth above: He died in the seventh month. And this Ananias is not spoken of in the Septuagint as a prophet, though the Holy Scripture of the Hebrews calls him a prophet, even though Jeremiah accuses him, saying: Hear, Ananias, the Lord has not sent you, yet thou have prophesied. For how could he call him a prophet, whom he denied to be sent by the Lord? But the truth and order of the history is preserved, as we have said, not according to what it was, but according to what it was thought to be at that time. You deceived, he says, the people with a lie, so that they would not submit to the judgments of God. Therefore, you know that you will die this year. When we die, we are released from the prisons of the body, according to that testimony, which heretics interpret wrongly: Bring my soul out of prison (Ps. 141:8): so how is death now imposed as a punishment on false prophets? But in this place it should be noted that Jeremiah, after suffering injury from a false prophet, and before receiving a direct message from the Lord, remains silent; later, however, sent by the Lord, he boldly accuses the liar and announces his impending death. And that he who usually translates the seventh month is said to rest under this number, perhaps they falsely claim that he died in the seventh month so that he may be freed from the evils of the body, according to what they quote from the writing. Death is rest for a man. But we know that the bodies of believers are temples of God, if indeed the Holy Spirit dwells in them (Sirach 22:11).
Dictionary and topics
Judgments · Hananiah, the false prophet — Hananiah, the false prophet
Lamentations · Of EzekielEze 19; — Of EzekielEze 19;
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).
The Lord's testimony against Hananiah. - Apparently not long after Jeremiah had departed, he received from the Lord the commission to go to Hananiah and to say to him: Jer 28:13. "Thus saith Jahveh: Yokes of wood hast thou broken, but hast made in place of them yokes of iron. Jer 28:14. For thus saith Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel: A yoke of iron I lay upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him; and the beasts of the field also have I given him." - When the prophet says: Yokes of wood hast thou broken, etc., we are not to understand him as speaking of the breaking of the wooden yoke Jeremiah had been wearing; he gives…
You must die: The Lord’s decree for Hananiah was the lawful penalty for false prophets (Deut 13:1-5). The Lord carried out the decree that very year; Jeremiah’s prophecy was validated when it was fulfilled two months later. In contrast, Hananiah’s prediction that the Temple treasures would be returned in two years was not fulfilled. The Lord demonstrated that he was still in control.
Rashi on Jeremiah 28:14
the beasts of the field have I given to him He rode on a lion and tied a serpent on its head.