Yeremia 23:21

23:21 I did not send those prophets.

Yet they were in a hurry to give their message. ¹ 

I did not tell them anything.

Yet they prophesied anyway.

Yeremia 23:32

23:32 I, the Lord, affirm ²  that I am opposed to those prophets who dream up lies and report them. They are misleading my people with their reckless lies. ³  I did not send them. I did not commission them. They are not helping these people at all. ⁴  I, the Lord, affirm it!” ⁵ 

[23:21]  ¹ tn Heb “Yet they ran.”

[23:21]  sn The image is that of a messenger bearing news from the king. See 2 Sam 18:19-24; Jer 51:31; Isa 40:9; 52:7; Hab 2:2 (the tablet/scroll bore the message the runner was to read to the intended recipients of his message). Their message has been given in v. 17 (see notes there for cross references).

[23:32]  ² tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[23:32]  ³ tn Heb “with their lies and their recklessness.” This is an example of hendiadys where two nouns (in this case a concrete and an abstract one) are joined by “and” but one is intended to be the adjectival modifier of the other.

[23:32]  ⁴ sn In the light of what has been said this is a rhetorical understatement; they are not only “not helping,” they are leading them to their doom (cf. vv. 19-22). This figure of speech is known as litotes.

[23:32]  ⁵ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”