What Does Jeremiah 23:26 Mean?
How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;
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
How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;THE KEY
A prophet’s own heart can become the source of a message that sounds like revelation while carrying deceit.
THE MEANING
A voice can carry sacred certainty while still rising from the speaker’s own distortion. This verse names the heart as a source: what is spoken outwardly can be shaped by what is hidden within. Its “How long?” holds such deception open as an ongoing condition, not a harmless mistake.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A prophetic title does not make a message truthful; this verse names prophets whose speech rises from the deceit of their own heart.
THE ROOT
תַּרְמִת
tarmit
GROWS FROM
רמה
r-m-h
to deceive, trick, or deal treacherously
“deceit” in this verse is tarmit. The word belongs to a family for active deception, not merely an inaccurate thought. It portrays a heart generating a misleading message and giving it prophetic voice.
ALSO GROWS
mirmah: deceit, fraud
מִרְמָה
This noun makes the deceptive act in the verse part of a wider Hebrew word family.
ramah: to deceive, deal treacherously
רָמָה
The verb shows deceit as something done, not simply a mistaken idea held.
נְבִיאִים
nevi’im
GROWS FROM
נבא
n-b-ʾ
to prophesy or speak as a prophet
“Prophets” and “prophesy” in this verse share the same root: the title and the act of speaking grow from one seed. Yet their speech is called falsehood and deceit, so the role itself does not guarantee the message’s source is true.
ALSO GROWS
navi: prophet
נָבִיא
This is the singular form of the title repeated in the verse.
nevuah: prophecy
נְבוּאָה
This noun names the prophetic speech whose source the verse calls into question.
THE PATTERN
A spiritual title or voice does not authenticate its source; the message must be seen in relation to what generates it.
Thus says the LORD of hosts, Do not hear and respond to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you; they make you vapor. They speak a sight of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, and say to the prophets who prophesy from their own hearts, Hear and respond to the word of the LORD.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
Then the LORD said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my nature. I did not send them, nor have I commanded them, nor have I spoken to them. They prophesy to you a false seeing and a divining, and a hollow thing, and the daubing of their heart.Jeremiah 14:14 uses שֶׁקֶר (sheqer, falsehood), the same word family behind “lies” here, and also names “the deceit of their heart.” It sharpens the present verse: a claim spoken in God’s name can still arise from speakers who have not been sent or addressed by God.
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