Jeremiah 23:33-40

4. The mockery of the false prophets (Jeremiah 23:33-40)

TRANSLATION

(33) And when this people or the prophet or the priest shall ask you, What is the burden of the LORD? Then you shall say unto them, You are the burden and I will cast you off (oracle of the LORD). (34) And the prophet and the priest and the people who continuously say, The burden of the LORD, I will punish that man and his house. So shall each one say unto his neighbor and unto his brother, What is the answer of the LORD? and, What is the word of the LORD? (36) The burden of the LORD You shall not mention any more, for the burden to every man shall be his word; for you have perverted the words of the living God, the LORD of host our God. (37) Thus you shall say unto the prophet: What has the LORD answered and what has the LORD said? and if You say, Burden of the LORD, then thus says the LORD: Because you have said this word, Burden of the LORD, when I sent unto you saying, Do not say, Burden of the LORD, therefore behold, I will completely forget you and I will remove you and the city which I gave to you and to your fathers from before My face. (40) And I will make you eternal reproach and an eternal shame which shall not be forgotten.

COMMENTS

The people of Judah and their religious leaders constantly mocked Jeremiah by asking him, What is the burden of the Lord? The word burden in Hebrew can mean a heavy object or it can mean a weighty utterance. The apostates of Judah regarded every message from God as a heavy and wearisome burden. Wherever they would meet Jeremiah they would with a sneer ask the man of God, What new BURDEN do you have for us, you prophet of doom? The next time that question is put to him Jeremiah is instructed to say: You are the burden! This reading of the Hebrew is based on a slightly different division and vocalization of the consonants and is supported by the Septuagint and the Vulgate. An alternative translation is proposed by Keil: With reference to your question, What burden? I will unload you.

Since the term burden had been so misused by the people and their religious leaders Jeremiah is commanded to use it no longer in his prophetic utterances. Whoever continues to mockingly use the term burden will be punished by God (Jeremiah 23:34). If a person in the future wished to inquire concerning the word of the Lord he should adopt new terminology. He should ask, What is the answer or What is the word of the Lord? (Jeremiah 23:35). Apparently Jeremiah felt it was better to adopt a new phrase than to run the risk of misunderstanding or, even worse, profanity. Those who persist in using the term burden will find that their own words will be a burden which will crush them to the ground. By peddling their sugar-coated lies as being a burden from the Lord these prophets were not only guilty of mockery they were also guilty of perverting the word of God (Jeremiah 23:36).

After issuing his warning concerning the use of the term burden Jeremiah turns to the false prophets and challenges them with a question: What message do you have from the Lord? (Jeremiah 23:37). If in their reply these deceivers use the forbidden term burden Jeremiah is to pronounce sentence over them. God will utterly forget them and remove them from His presence, i.e., cause them to go into captivity (Jeremiah 23:38-39). The Hebrew here is very interesting. The word rendered in English utterly forget sounds very much like the forbidden word massa (burden). No doubt the prophet intended this as a pun or play on words. The scoffers and deceivers who made a reproach out of the word of God would themselves become an object of shame and reproach (Jeremiah 23:40). It is not hard to imagine the contempt with which these professing prophets were treated after their predictions of peace and prosperity failed to materialize.