What Does Jeremiah 29:31 Mean?
Send to all the exiles, saying, Thus says the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite. Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I did not send him, and he caused you to lean your full weight upon a lie.
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
Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie:THE KEY
The command to send this warning exposes the counterfeit at its center: the LORD sends the message, but he has not sent the prophet.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s message reaches people in captivity and draws a clear line between a word he sends and a prophecy he does not. Shemaiah’s speech makes them trust what is false; the danger is trust being steered into a lie. The verse speaks now wherever divine authority is claimed: prophetic sound alone does not prove divine sending.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A prophecy does not become God’s word simply because it is delivered with sacred certainty; the verse shows that an unsent message can draw trust into a lie.
THE ROOT
שְׁלַחְתִּיו
shelaḥtiv
GROWS FROM
שלח
Send, send forth, release, let go.
The verse repeats this root: the message is to be sent to the captives, while the LORD says he did not send Shemaiah. The contrast exposes the difference between a message that is released from its true source and a voice that claims authority without being sent.
ALSO GROWS
shaluach: Sent; one who is sent.
שָׁלוּחַ
It makes the prophet’s claim measurable against the simple idea of being sent.
shilluach: Sending, dispatch, or sending away.
שִׁלּוּחַ
It shows that שלח can describe both the act of sending and of releasing something outward.
Shiloach: Shiloah, “Sent,” the name associated with the waters of Siloam.
שִׁלֹחַ
In John 9:7, a man washes in the pool named “Sent” and comes seeing, giving this sending root a striking connection to restored sight.
וַיַּבְטַח
vayyavtaḥ
GROWS FROM
בטח
Feel secure, trust, rely confidently.
“lean your full weight upon” in this verse is vayyavtaḥ. The verb describes more than hearing a claim: Shemaiah’s words cause the hearers to place their confidence somewhere. The lie takes on the feel of security, showing how false speech can capture trust from within.
ALSO GROWS
bataḥ: Trust, rely on, feel secure.
בָּטַח
This verb carries the basic action behind the confidence Shemaiah’s words produce.
mivtaḥ: Confidence, security, or refuge.
מִבְטָח
It shows how the same root can name the place or condition where trust settles.
שָׁקֶר
sheqer
GROWS FROM
שקר
Falsehood or deceit; dealing falsely.
“a lie” in this verse is sheqer. The word points to falsehood and deceit, not merely an idea that happens to be mistaken. Paired with an unsent voice, it shows how a claim can present itself as trustworthy while dealing falsely with those who hear it.
ALSO GROWS
shiqēr: To lie or deal falsely.
שִׁקֵּר
The verb shows the lie as an action that deceives, not only a false statement.
sheqarim: Lies, falsehoods.
שְׁקָרִים
The plural form shows the root extending across multiple deceptive claims.
THE PATTERN
A claim to speak for God is tested by whether its source and sending align with the one it represents.
I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.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.The one who speaks from himself seeks weight for himself; but the one who seeks the weight of the one who sent him, this one is true, and there is no crookedness in him.THE THREAD
And he said to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, the Sent. So he went and washed, and came seeing.Jeremiah repeats שָׁלַח (shalach, “send” or “release”) to distinguish the LORD’s sent message from a speaker he did not send. John gives Siloam’s name as “Sent,” and there the blind man washes and sees, a striking counterpoint between speech that misdirects trust and the sent waters associated with restored sight.
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