Speaking of Prophets (23:9-40) 191
chaps. 27-29 (27:9, 14, 16, 17; 29:8), countering prophets who are telling
people not to submit to Nebuchadnezzar and that the Temple treasures taken
to Babylon in 597 B.C. will be speedily returned. In the next verse this message
is also said to be a comforting "It will be well for you."
who prophesy to you. Hebrew hannibbe>fm lakem. The phrase is lacking in the
LXX and is likely another loss due to haplography (homoeoteleuton: m ... m).
Many commentators (Duhm; Volz; Rudolph; Weiser; Bright; Thompson; Car-
roll; Holladay; McKane) omit for metrical reasons (assuming this to be poetry);
Janzen (1973: 44) says the phrase comes from 27:15-16; Thiel (1973: 250) at-
tributes it to the "Deuteronomist" or a later hand.
they make you nothing. Hebrew mahbilfm hemma >etkem. The verb is a de-
nominative H-stem of hebe!, the familiar Ecclesiastes word meaning "vanity"
(see Note for 2:5; cf. BOB: "to cause to become vain"; KB^3 "to delude"). In 2:5
Jeremiah said the fathers "went after The Nothing (i.e., Baal) and became
nothing." Now Yahweh prophets are making others "nothing" by preaching
"nothing," which comes down to entertaining hopes that will come to
"nothing."
a vision of their own heart they speak, not from the mouth of Yahweh. One of
many antitheses in these verses. Hebrew Zeb ("heart") might better be rendered
"mind," as in 7:31 and 14: 14 (see Notes for 5:21 and 11:20), however the term
repeats in v 17. The AV has "heart" in both verses; the RSV has "minds" in v 16
and "heart" in v 17. The same problem of translation recurs in v 20. We learn
here also that visions can be spoken (Amos 1:1; Isa 2: 1 ), and later from v 18
that prophets can "see" Yahweh's word. Jones calls this the technical vocabu-
lary of Hebrew prophecy. These prophets, in any case, are not speaking from
Yahweh's mouth, as Jeremiah is doing (1:9; 15:19).
- continually saying. Hebrew >omerfm >am6r. The Versions omit the
infinitive absolute, which can, however, follow a participle for purposes of
intensification (Calvin; GKC § l l 3r). In 41:6 the LXX omits an infinitive
absolute in the holek halok ("continued walking") construction. Rudolph
omits the infinitive too, citing metrical excess. But the MT reading can
stand. The idea here is that prophets are giving a false message without
letup.
to those who spurn me. The verb n>$ ("spurn") is associated with covenant-
breaking in 14:21 (Yahweh) and Deut 31:20 (people). In the latter, Yahweh
worries that once his people taste good things in the Land of Promise they will
turn to other gods, spurn him, and break the covenant he has with them. In
14:21 a sinful people, in confession, fear that Yahweh will spurn them and
break his covenant with them.
Yahweh has spoken. Hebrew dibber yhwh. The LXX reads the Hebrew conso-
nants as debar-yhwh, translating the whole phrase "to those who spurn the word
of the Lord." Many commentators (Giesebrecht; Duhm; Peake; Cornill; Volz;
Rudolph; Bright; Holladay) adopt this reading (cf. Isa 5:24). The T follows MT.
Either reading is acceptable. McKane's deletion of the words, however, is with-
out basis and should be rejected.
