What Does Jeremiah 29:21 Mean?
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in my nature. Behold, I will give them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes.
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
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie unto you in my name; Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes;THE KEY
Those who speak “in my name” claim to speak from the LORD’s nature, yet the verse calls their message sheqer, falsehood.
THE MEANING
You hear the LORD’s name invoked as a claim to represent him, while the words are named a lie. The consequence is physical and public: the men are given into Nebuchadrezzar’s hand and killed before your eyes.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Invoking God’s name does not make a message true.
THE ROOT
שֶׁקֶר
sheqer
GROWS FROM
שׁקר
The root שׁקר (sh-q-r; shaqar) carries the sense of falsehood and dealing falsely.
The same word appears in “false witness,” so this lie is falsehood presented as testimony. Here, that testimony claims to carry the LORD’s name.
ALSO GROWS
shaqar: To lie or deal falsely
שָׁקַר
The verb shows falsehood as an act, not only as a mistaken statement.
ʿed sheqer: False witness
עֵד שֶׁקֶר
The same seed links the prophecy to testimony that presents falsehood as truth.
וְנָתַתִּים
wenatattim
GROWS FROM
נתן
נתן (natan) means to give, set, or place.
“give” in this verse is wenatattim. The verse’s verb presents the men as being given into Nebuchadrezzar’s hand. The transfer is concrete: the judgment places them within another ruler’s power, and their deaths happen in the hearers’ sight.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place
נָתַן
This is the verb behind the transfer into Nebuchadrezzar’s hand.
mattanah: Gift or thing given
מַתָּנָה
This noun shares the seed of giving and makes the root’s sense of transfer visible.
THE PATTERN
A voice claiming divine authority remains answerable to truth, and false speech meets exposure or judgment.
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.And my hand shall be upon the prophets who see emptiness and who divine lies. They shall not be in the assembly of my people, nor be written in the writing of the house of Israel, nor enter the ground of Israel; and you shall perceive that I am the Lord GOD.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
You shall not answer against your neighbor as a witness of falsehood.The same word, שֶׁקֶר (sheqer), names the “lie” in Jeremiah and appears in the Hebrew phrase עֵד שֶׁקֶר (ʿed sheqer), “false witness.” The shared root connects counterfeit prophecy with false testimony: both present a falsehood as something to be trusted.
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