What Does Jeremiah 23:25 Mean?
I have heard what the prophets said, those who prophesy lies in my nature, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.THE KEY
The lie borrows God’s name as its authority, then repeats a dream as if repetition proves the source.
THE MEANING
This verse exposes the gap between a message and the authority it claims: the speakers say they prophesy “in my name,” then point to a dream. The repeated words “I have dreamed” make the claim emphatic, but emphasis does not make its source true.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A message is true because its speaker invokes God’s name or insists that it came in a dream.
THE ROOT
שְׁמִי
shemi
GROWS FROM
שם
Name; recognized identity or reputation, including the character represented by a name.
“in my nature” in this verse is shemi. “In my name” carries more than a label: the speakers claim to represent the one whose name they invoke. The verse exposes the distance between that claimed representation and the lie they speak.
ALSO GROWS
shem: Name; reputation.
שֵׁם
This is the base form behind “my name,” showing that the prophecy borrows an identity and authority.
shemo: His name.
שְׁמוֹ
The same root appears with a different possessive ending; the name remains the identity or authority being represented.
חָלַמְתִּי
chalamti
GROWS FROM
חלם
To dream; a dream.
“dreamed” in this verse is chalamti. The speakers present an experience of dreaming as the warrant for their words. The repeated claim intensifies their assertion, while the verse leaves the claimed source open to question; it does not condemn dreaming itself.
ALSO GROWS
chalom: Dream.
חֲלוֹם
The noun names the experience the speakers cite as the basis for their prophecy.
cholem: One who dreams; dreamer.
חֹלֵם
This form names the person having the dream, keeping the focus on who is making the claim and what authority they assign to it.
THE PATTERN
Invoking divine authority does not make a speaker’s words true.
But the prophet, who boils over to speak a word in my nature, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the nature of other gods, that one dies.Watch for false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inside they are snatching wolves.Beloved, do not lean your weight on every breath, but test the breaths, whether they come out of God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.THE THREAD
When the prophet speaks in the nature of the LORD, if the word does not come to be, nor arrive, it is the word the LORD has not spoken, but the prophet has spoken it in a boiling over. You shall not cower from him.Both verses use שֵׁם (shem, name) for the authority a prophet claims to represent. Deuteronomy makes clear that invoking the LORD’s name does not authenticate the words; the claim remains answerable to truth.
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