Speaking of Prophets (23:9-40) 207
sort therefore to emendation or a redivision of ha.yes beleb ("will there be in the
mind") beginning v 26, neither of which yields a happy solution. The general
idea, however, is clear: Prophets with their lying dreams are causing people to
forget Yahweh's name. Hebrew habosebfm ("the ones planning") here denotes
people who are devising evil plans (cf. 11: 19; Ezek 11 :2), whether or not they
realize what they are doing.
- How long? Hebrew <ad-matay is a term of lament, appearing elsewhere
in 4:14, 21; 12:4; 13:27; 31:22; 47:5; and with particular frequency in the
Psalms (see Note for 4:21).
in the mind of the prophets. Hebrew has "in the heart" (beleb ), which in an-
cient thought is the seat of thought and the will (see Note for 11 :20). In the NT,
it is said that evil thoughts and evil speech issue from the heart (Matt 12:34-35;
15:18-19).
yes, prophets of their deceitful mind. Reading ilnebf>e tarmit libbam with MT
as a triple construct chain (cf. NJV), although emending and revocalizing with
the T, S, and Vg to the participle ilnibbe>e, which occurs in vv 26 and 32, would
give the smoother reading: "yes, prophesying a deceit of their mind." Giese-
brecht, Cornill, Rudolph, Weiser, and Holladay emend and revocalize. For
tarmft libbam ("deceit of their mind") in a polemic much the same as the
present one, see 14: 14 (Q).
forget my name with their dreams. The LXX has "forget my law," although at
the end of the verse it has "forgot my name." The T and Vg support MT with
"my name" in both places. The LXX reading could be indebted to "they have
forsaken my law" in 9:12[Eng 9:13], although there the verb is <zb ("forsake");
here it is skb ("forget"). The unstated assumption in the verse is that dreams
conveying a false message result in people forgetting Yahweh.
they recount each person to his fellow. Hebrew yesapperil >rs lere<ehil. The
phraseology in Judg 7: 13 is the same. The expression, "each person to his fel-
low," is common in Jeremiah (22:8; 23:27, 30, 35; 31:34; 34:15, 17; 46:16; cf.
7:5; 9:3, 4[Eng 9:4, 5]). Inv 30, it means one prophet to another; here it means
a prophet to anyone who will listen (Giesebrecht; Peake). In "The Epic of Gil-
gamesh" (VII 4: 14; ANET^3 87), Gilgamesh says to Enkidu after having
dreamed a dream: "My friend, I saw a dream last night." Pharaoh's chief butler
and baker related dreams to Joseph when the three of them were in prison
(Gen 40:9-19).
as their fathers forgot my name through Baal. A comparison using ka> aser, on
which see Note for 7: 14. For the association of the "fathers" with Baal, see 2: 5-
8; 9:13[Eng 9:14]; and 19:3-5.
- The prophet who has with him a dream, let him recount his dream; and the
one who has my word with him, let him speak my word faithfully. A distributio,
the purpose of which is to argue for faithful preachers of Yahweh's word. For
other distributios, see 23: 13-14 and 28:8-9. Jeremiah's willingness to let proph-
ets recount their dreams is condescending irony (compare "They have their re-
ward!" in Matt 6: 2, 5, 16). His point is that recounting dreams must not be
