What Does Jeremiah 29:23 Mean in the King James?
Because they have committed villany in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know, and am a witness, saith the LORD.
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 lie does not become God’s word by borrowing God’s name; the one invoked as its authority is also its witness.
THE MEANING
The verse names both the adultery and the false words presented in God’s name. The LORD knows what happened and stands as witness to what was actually spoken.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that using God’s name makes a claim true or keeps hidden wrongdoing unseen.
THE ROOT
עֵד
ʿēd
GROWS FROM
עוּד
ʿ-w-d
To testify or solemnly affirm; the related verb also carries a sense of repeating or doing again.
The verse does not stop at God knowing; it names God as an attesting witness. The root connects that witness with testimony, making the false claim answerable to what is actually affirmed.
ALSO GROWS
ʿēdût: Testimony, attestation
עֵדוּת
It shares the root’s language of witness and shows that testimony is an affirmed account, not merely an impression.
hēʿîd: To testify, bear witness
הֵעִיד
This verbal form makes the witness active: the truth of the claim is being attested.
נְבָלָה
nebālāh
GROWS FROM
נבל
n-b-l
To act foolishly or become morally senseless; the same consonants also appear in a verb meaning to wither or fade.
“villany” in this verse is nebālāh. The word names conduct judged as deeply disordered, not merely impolite. The related image of withering adds a sense of collapse beside the verse’s contrast between their false speech and the LORD’s true witness.
ALSO GROWS
nābāl: A fool; a morally senseless person
נָבָל
The same root names both the disgraceful act and the person whose conduct lacks moral sense.
nāvēl: To wither or fade
נָבֵל
This related use of the consonants gives an image of collapse alongside the moral force of “villany.”
THE PATTERN
A claim made under divine authority remains answerable to whether God spoke it, because nothing is concealed from God’s sight.
But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.THE THREAD
But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.Deuteronomy gives the same test: a word spoken in God’s name is still false if God did not command it. Jeremiah adds that the one whose authority is invoked also knows and bears witness.
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