1415 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran,.... They might be sent of men, and be encouraged by them; but they were not sent of God: it is not only necessary that men employed in religious affairs should have an external call, in an orderly way, from the church of God; but also an internal call from the Lord himself; he qualifying them with...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But if they had stood in my counsel,.... As they boasted they did; or, as they reproached the true prophets, and charged them with vanity and arrogance, in talking as if they had; had this been truly their case, as it was that of the prophets of the Lord: and had caused my people to hear my words; or, "then they would have caused my people to hear...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
[Am] I a God at hand, saith the Lord,.... Or "near" (f); that is, in heaven; and only sees, and hears, and observes persons and things there, being near unto him: and not a God afar off? that sees, and hears, and takes notice of persons and things at a distance, even on earth. The meaning is, that he certainly was; and that persons and things on...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord,.... If a man should hide himself in the most secret and hidden places of the earth, and do his works in the most private manner, so that no human eye can see him, he cannot hide himself or his actions from the Lord, who can see from heaven to earth, and through the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name,.... Or, "I hear what the prophets say" (g), c. though they thought God was at a distance from them, in the highest heavens, and neither saw, nor heard, nor took any notice of what was done on earth, they were greatly mistaken he heard and observed with indignation the false...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies?.... To invent such lies, and deceive the people, and turn them away from God; agreeably to the preceding and following verses: this shows that this was not through ignorance and inadvertence; it was a meditated and studied thing by them; they contrived it in their hearts, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Which think to cause my people to forget my name,.... The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "my law". The word and worship of God; from which men are drawn off by false teachers, and are in a fair way to be brought to atheism, and to forget that there is a God; for when once men are turned from the word of God to believe lies, and from the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream,.... These words are directed not to a true prophet of the Lord, that has a dream from him, or something communicated to him in a dream by the Lord, which he is to deliver as such; but to a false prophet, that says he has dreamed; and if he has dreamed a dream, let him tell it as a "dream" (l);...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
[Is] not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord,.... The legal part of it is as fire; it is called a "fiery law", Deuteronomy 33:2; like fire, it is quick and piercing, and penetrating into the hearts and consciences of men; and works wrath there, and raises a fearful expectation of fiery indignation; it threatens with everlasting fire; it...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore, behold, I [am] against the prophets, saith the Lord,.... The false prophets, with whom the Lord was displeased; he set himself against them, and was determined to bring wrath and ruin on them. So the Targum, "therefore, behold, I send my fury against the false prophets;'' that steal my word, or "words" (q), everyone from his neighbour;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Behold, I [am] against the prophets, saith the Lord,.... Not another sort of prophets distinct from the former, or those that follow; but the same under another character, and against whom he was, and set his face on another occasion; that use their tongues; at their pleasure, their lips being their own. So the Targum, "who prophesy according to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Behold, I [am] against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord,.... And not true ones, such as the Lord spoke in to his prophets, and which they communicated from him to his people; see Numbers 12:6; and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; by the false doctrines and prophecies which they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when this people, or a prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee,.... Any of the people, who were grown very profane; or any of the false prophets, who encouraged them in their irreligion and impiety; or any of the priests, who were in combination with them against the true prophets of the Lord; when any of these, in a scoffing jeering manner,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And [as for] the prophet, and the priest, and the people,.... Be they one or the other, or all of them; no regard will be had to their character and office, rank and dignity: that shall say, the burden of the Lord; using that phrase in a bantering and ludicrous manner: I will even punish that man and his house; not only he, but his family, shall...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thus shall ye say everyone to his neighbour, and everyone to his brother,.... When conferring about religious things, and the word of God in particular; when any inquiry is made of another, whether any message from the Lord by his prophets? or what is it? that it should not be put in such deriding and calumniating words, "what is the burden of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the burden of the Lord shall be mentioned no more,.... Or the word of the Lord under that name, speaking of it in a ludicrous and scoffing manner: for every man's word shall be his burden; every flout, scoff, and jeer of his, at the word of God, shall fall heavily upon him, with weight upon his conscience, and press him with guilt to the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thus shall thou say to the prophet,.... To Jeremiah, or any true prophet of the Lord; after the following manner should everyone address him, that made any inquiry of the will of the Lord by him: what hath the Lord answered thee? and what hath the Lord spoken? this is repeated from Jeremiah 23:35; for the confirmation of it, and for the direction...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But since ye say, the burden of the Lord,.... Seeing, notwithstanding all prohibitions of it, and directions to the contrary, they still persisted to call prophecy by this name, and that in a jocose and bantering way, and asked for it, and what it was, in a scoffing manner: therefore thus saith the Lord, because you say this word, the burden of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you,.... That is, so behave towards them, as though they were entirely out of his sight and mind; show no affection to them; take no care of them; bestow no favours upon them; and no more have them under his protection. In the word here used, and rendered "forget", and the word before used for a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you,.... Which was a just retaliation for reproaching, vilifying, and bantering his word: they who had been honoured so much and so long as the people of God, and their city counted the glory of the earth; yet now both they and that should be the byword of the people, and had in the utmost contempt,...