What Does Jeremiah 23:13 Mean in the King James?
And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
A prophecy’s authority is exposed by whether it makes the people wander.
THE MEANING
This verse exposes a present danger: speech can sound prophetic while carrying no savor, and the authority shaping it can turn a whole people from their way. Its harm reaches beyond the speaker: the hearers are made to wander.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that spiritual certainty guarantees truth: a voice can speak in the language of prophecy and still lead hearers away.
THE ROOT
תָּעָה
ta'ah
GROWS FROM
תעה
To wander or stray; in this verse, to cause others to wander.
“err” in this verse is ta'ah. Jeremiah uses a causative form: the prophets make the people wander. The Hebrew pictures a people displaced from their path, not merely someone holding an incorrect opinion.
ALSO GROWS
ta'inu: We have wandered or strayed.
תָּעִינוּ
Isaiah uses this form for sheep going astray, making the path imagery in Jeremiah visible.
yit'u: They wander or stray.
יִתְעוּ
This form shows the root as movement away from a way, the same kind of disorientation the prophets produce.
בַּעַל
ba'al
GROWS FROM
בעל
Master, owner, or husband; to possess or rule.
Baal is a divine name that also carries the common meaning “master” or “owner.” “Prophesied in Baal” makes the authority beneath the speech audible: the source shaping the message is bound to the direction it produces.
ALSO GROWS
be'alim: Owners, masters, or husbands.
בְּעָלִים
The plural preserves the root’s sense of authority and possession, clarifying the weight carried by the name.
ba'al habbayit: Master or owner of a house; householder.
בַּעַל הַבַּיִת
The same root names the one who holds authority over a household, echoing the verse’s question of whose authority shapes the prophecy.
תִּפְלָה
tiphlah
GROWS FROM
תפל
Tastelessness or insipidity; by extension, folly.
“folly” in this verse is tiphlah. The word carries the sense of something without savor. The prophetic speech is exposed as empty of savor even as it moves a whole people.
ALSO GROWS
tāfēl: Tasteless or unsavory.
תָּפֵל
In Job 6:6 it describes food without savor, giving “folly” here a concrete sense of insipidity.
tiphlah: Tastelessness; folly.
תִּפְלָה
This form names the insipidity seen in the prophets, linking their folly to speech without savor.
THE PATTERN
A voice that claims divine authority is revealed by the direction and fruit it produces.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.THE THREAD
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.Jeremiah’s וַיַּתְעוּ (wayyatte’u, “they caused to wander”) and Isaiah’s תָּעִינוּ (ta’inu, “we have wandered”) share the root תעה. Isaiah makes the shape of Jeremiah’s “err” visible: a people are led off their path, like sheep straying.
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