to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
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 29:31-32 Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unt…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 29:24–end
We have perused the contents of Jeremiah's letter to the captives in Babylon, who had reason, with a great deal of thanks to God and him, to acknowledge the receipt of it, and lay it up among their treasures. But we cannot wonder if the false prophets they had among them were enraged at it; for it gave them their true character. Now here we are told concerning one of them,
I. How he manifested his malice against Jeremiah. this busy fellow is called Shemaiah the Nehelamite, the dreamer (so the margin reads it), because all his prophecies he pretended to have received from God in a dream. He had got a copy of Jeremiah's letter to the captives, or had heard it read, or information was given to…
A second communication which Jeremiah sent to Babylon, after the messenger who carried his first letter had brought a letter from the false prophet Shemaiah to Zephaniah, &c., condemning Jeremiah and reproving the authorities for not having apprehended him.
Nehelamite--a name derived either from his father or from a place: alluding at the same time to the Hebrew meaning, "a dreamer" (compare Jer 29:8).
John Gill on Jeremiah 29:24
Thus shalt thou speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite,.... Or, "the dreamer" (h); because he pretended to have dreams from the Lord; or because what he delivered as prophecies were mere dreams; as that the captives should quickly return to their own land; so Kimchi: but Jarchi takes it to be the name of a place, from whence he was so called; perhaps the place of his birth, or habitation formerly; so the Targum, paraphrasing
"who was of Halem;''
he was, another of the false prophets in Babylon. This latter part of the chapter is of a later date than the former; and refers to what was done after the above letter of Jeremiah came to the captives in Babylon; and after, the return of the messengers…
(Verse 24 and following) And to Semeias the Nehelamite you shall say. And what follows: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Since you have sent in your name letters to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Sophonias the son of Maasias the priest. And again from the Hebrew: And to all the priests (the Vulgate adds saying). And then the story continues: The Lord made you a priest to Joiada the priest, so that you may be a leader (or teacher and bishop) in the house of the Lord over every man seized and prophesying, to send him into punishment and into prison (or custody) and into the trap, which Symmachus translated as μόχλος, but Aquila put the Hebrew word itself, Sinac. And why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who prophesies to you? For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying: 'Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their fruits.' So the priest Zephaniah read this book in the hearing of the prophet Jeremiah. Shemaiah of Nehelam, who was brought to Babylon with King Jehoiachin, also prophesied falsely to the people, saying that they would quickly return to Jerusalem. However, the following words of Jeremiah demonstrate that he was a false prophet: 'Thus says the Lord to Shemaiah of Nehelam, Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie, therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants. He shall not have anyone living among this people, and he shall not see the good that I will do to my people, declares the Lord, for he has spoken rebellion against the Lord.' It is evident, then, that Jeremiah sent letters to those who were in Babylon, instructing them to build houses and dwell in them, to plant gardens and eat their produce, to take wives and have sons and daughters, and to seek the welfare of the city where they were in exile. He warned them not to listen to the false prophets among them, who were prophesying lies in the name of the Lord. Jeremiah knew that Shemaiah was one of those false prophets, so he sent a letter to Jerusalem addressed to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to the rest of the priests. In the letter, Jeremiah asked why he was not being reprimanded by Zephaniah, whose responsibility it was to distinguish between true prophets and false prophets. Jeremiah requested that Shemaiah be put in prison…
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
Nehelamite — The name given to a false prophet Shemaiah, who went with the captives to Babylon (Jer. 29:24, 31, 32). The origin of the name is unknown. It is rendered in the marg, “dreamer.”
Nehelamite, The — the designation of a man named Shemaiah, a false prophet, who went with the captivity to Babylon. (Jeremiah 29:24,31,32) The name is no doubt formed from that either of Shemaiah’s native place or the…
Shemaiah — Whom Jehovah heard. (1.) A prophet in the reign of Rehoboam (1 Kings 12:22-24). (2.) Neh. 3:29. (3.) A Simeonite (1 Chr. 4:37). (4.) A priest (Neh. 12:42). (5.) A Levite (1 Chr. 9:16). (6.) 1 Chr.…
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 29:24-27
24. Thus shalt thou also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,
24. Et ad Semaiah Nehelamitem dices, dicendo, (sic dices,)
25. Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because thou hast sent letters in thy name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
25. Sic dicit Jehova exercituum, Deus Israel, dicendo, Propterea quod tu misisti in nomine meo literas ad totum populum, qui est Jerosolymae, et ad Zephaniam filium Maassiae, et ad cunctos sacerdotes, dicendo,
26. The LORD hath made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that ye should be officers in the hous…
Threatening against the false prophet Shemaiah. - Jeremiah's letter to the exiles (vv. 1-23) had excited great indignation among the false prophets in Babylon, who predicted speedy restoration. One of them, named Shemaiah, wrote accordingly letters to Jerusalem addressed to the people, and especially to the priest Zephaniah, who held the highest place in the management of the temple, insisting that he should immediately take steps to punish Jeremiah and check his labours (Jer 29:24-28). When Zephaniah read this letter to Jeremiah, the latter received from God the commission to tell the pseudo-prophet of the punishment awaiting him, that and his race should perish and not survive Israel's lib…
A prophet in Babylon named Shemaiah took issue with Jeremiah’s written advice that the exiles should accept a long exile (29:4-23). Shemaiah sent a letter to a leading priest in Jerusalem, urging him to take action against Jeremiah; Jeremiah responded with a letter to the exiles that condemned Shemaiah.
