Jeremiah 29:8 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 29:8
For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָ֤הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
hosts
צְבָאוֹת֙tze.va.'Ot
H6635
a mass of persons (or figuratively · noun, common feminine plural absolute
God
אֱלֹהֵ֣י'e.lo.Hei
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
prophets
נְבִֽיאֵיכֶ֥םne.vi.'ei.Khem
H5030
a prophet or (generally) inspired man · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
diviners
וְקֹֽסְמֵיכֶ֑םve.ko.se.mei.Khem
H7080
properly · conjunction + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
midst
בְּקִרְבְּכֶ֖םbe.kir.be.Khem
H7130
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
deceive
יַשִּׁ֧יאוּya.Shi.'u
H5377
to lead astray · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
hearken
תִּשְׁמְעוּ֙tish.me.'U
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal jussive, 2nd person masculine plural
dreams
חֲלֹמֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔םcha.lo.Mo.tei.Khem
H2472
a dream · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
dreamed
מַחְלְמִֽיםmach.le.Mim
H2492
properly · verb, hiphil active participle, masculine plural 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
Ephesians 5:6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end th…
2 Thessalonians 2:9-11 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
Jeremiah 14:14 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 27:9 Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which…
Jeremiah 27:14-15 Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy…
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 tr…
2 Timothy 3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 29:8-14
To make the people quiet and easy in their captivity,
I. God takes them off from building upon the false foundation which their pretended prophets laid, Jer 29:8, Jer 29:9. They told them that their captivity should be short, and therefore that they must not think of taking root in Babylon, but be upon the wing to go back: "Now herein they deceive you," says God; "they prophesy a lie to you, though they prophesy in my name. But let them not deceive you, suffer not yourselves to be deluded by them." As long as we have the word of truth to try the spirits by it is our own fault if we be deceived; for by it we may be undeceived. Hearken not to your dreams, which you cause to be dreamed. He mean…
your dreams which ye caused to be dreamed--The Latin adage says, "The people wish to be deceived, so let them be deceived." Not mere credulity misleads men, but their own perverse "love of darkness rather than light." It was not priests who originated priestcraft, but the people's own morbid appetite to be deceived; for example, Aaron and the golden calf (Exo 32:1-4). So the Jews caused or made the prophets to tell them encouraging dreams (Jer 23:25-26; Ecc 5:7; Zac 10:2; Joh 3:19-21).
John Gill on Jeremiah 29:8
For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,.... See Gill on Jeremiah 29:4;
let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you; their false prophets, as the Targum; and there were many such in the captivity; see Ezekiel 13:2; and such who pretended to divine and foretell future things, and so impose upon the people, who were too apt to believe them; these insinuated, that in a little time they should have their liberty, and return to their own land again, contrary to the prophecies that came from the Lord himself:
neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed; for that of a speedy return to their own land was no other than a dream, which…
(Verse 8, 9) For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you, nor give heed to your dreams which you dream. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the Lord. The prophet Ezekiel testifies that there were prophets, or rather false prophets, and diviners and dreamers in Babylon, among those whom Nebuchadnezzar had brought with Jehoiachin and his mother, as he writes against them, to whom Jeremiah also commands not to believe (Ezekiel 13). However, at the time when this Epistle was being directed, Ezechiel had not yet begun to prophesy in Babylon. For this speech is sent in the beginning of the reign of King Sedeciae. But Ezechiel, in the fifth year of the exile of Jechonias, began to prophesy, which was also the same year of the reign of Sedeciae. Furthermore, according to the allegory, we should consider as false prophets those who interpret the words of Scriptures differently than the Holy Spirit sounds. And we should consider as divine those who pronounce their own conjecture and uncertain future events as if they were true, without the authority of divine words. And also the dreamers, who do not heed that writing: Neither give sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids (Prov. VI, 4); of whom the apostle Judas speaks: Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion (Judae 8): whose mind is not awake, but is oppressed by the sleep of arrogance and error, and is surrounded by the horror of night, of whom the apostle Paul speaks: Awake, thou that sleepest? And arise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you (Ephes. V, 14).
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Doctrines, False · Should be avoided by: All men — Should be avoided by: All men
Dreams · False prophets: Pretended to — False prophets: Pretended to
Sorcery · .By false prophets — .By false prophets
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).
on Jeremiah 29:8
Jeremiah 29:8
8. For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.
8. Quoniam sic dicit Jehova exercituum, Deus Israel, Ne decipiant vos prophetae vestri, qui sunt in medio vestri, et divini vestri; et ne attendatis ad somnia vestra, quae vos somniatis.
As the minds of almost all were taken up, as we have seen, with that vain and false confidence which they had imbibed from false prophecies, that they should return after two years, the Prophet gives this answer, and reminds them to beware of such impostures. And thus we see that it is not suffi…
At Jer 29:4 the contents of the letter begin. Jeremiah warns the people to prepare for a lengthened sojourn in Babylonia, and exhorts them to settle down there. Jer 29:5. "Build houses and dwell (therein), and plant gardens and eat the fruit of them. Jer 29:6. Take wives and beget sons and daughters, and take for your sons wives and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and increase there and not diminish. Jer 29:7. And seek the safety of the city whither I have carried you captive, and pray for it to Jahveh, and in its safety shall be safety to you." The imperatives "increase and not diminish" give the consequence of what has been said just before. "The cit…
