translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: JER

label: NET study note

text: Heb This particle once again introduces a judgment speech. The indictment is found in v. 1 and the announcement of judgment in v. 2 . This leads into an oracle of deliverance in vv. 3-4 . See also the note on the word “judged” in 22:13 .


text: This has been the constant emphasis in this section. See 22:3 for the demand, 22:15 for its fulfillment, and 22:13 for its abuse. The ideal king would follow in the footsteps of his illustrious ancestor David ( 2 Sam 8:15 ) who set this forth as an ideal for his dynasty ( 2 Sam 23:3 ) and prayed for it to be true of his son Solomon ( Ps 72:1-2 ).


text: It should be noted that this brief oracle of deliverance implies the reunification of Israel and Judah under the future Davidic ruler. Jeremiah has already spoken about this reunification earlier in 3:18 and will have more to say about it in 30:3; 31:27, 31 . This same ideal was espoused in the prophecies of Hosea ( 1:10-11 [ 2:1-2 HT]), Isaiah ( 11:1-4, 10-12 ), and Ezekiel (37:15-28) all of which have messianic and eschatological significance.


text: Jeremiah has already had a good deal to say about the false prophets and their fate. See 2:8, 26; 5:13, 31; 14:13-15 . Here he parallels the condemnation of the wicked prophets and their fate ( 23:9-40 ) with that of the wicked kings ( 21:11-22:30 ).


text: A word that derives from this same Hebrew word is used in v. 11 at the beginning of the Lord ’s criticism of the prophet and priest. This is a common rhetorical device for bracketing material that belongs together. The criticism has, however, focused on the false prophets and the judgment due them.


text: To have had a dream was not an illegitimate means of receiving divine revelation. God had revealed himself in the past to his servants through dreams (e.g., Jacob [ Gen 31:10-11 ] and Joseph [ Gen 37:6, 7, 9 ]) and God promised to reveal himself through dreams ( Num 12:6 ; Joel 2:28 [ 3:1 HT]). What was illegitimate was to use the dream to lead people away from the Lord ( Deut 13:1-5 [ 13:2-6 HT]). That was what the prophets were doing through their dreams which were “lies” and “the delusions of their own minds.” Through them they were making people forget who the Lord really was which was just like what their ancestors had done through worshiping Baal.


text: See the parallel passage in Jer 14:13-15 .


text: 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.