“I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’
Parallel translations
- KJV I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
- BSB “I have heard the sayings of the prophets who prophesy lies in My name: ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’
- NKJV “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’
- NASB “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, ‘I had a dream, I had a dream!’
- NLT “I have heard these prophets say, ‘Listen to the dream I had from God last night.’ And then they proceed to tell lies in my name.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God has heard the false prophets who claim 'I had a dream!' as divine revelation while really lying in His name. He is not deceived by their false claims to inspiration.
Overview
The lying prophets dressed up their own imaginations as God-given dreams to lend authority to their words. The LORD, who hears all, exposes the fraud. Scripture warns repeatedly against those who claim to speak for God while peddling their own message (Deut 13; cf. 2 Pet 2:1).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Jer 23:32Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams,” says Yahweh, “who tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting; yet I didn’t send them, nor command them; neither do they profit this people at all,” says Yahweh.
- Jer 29:8For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Don’t let your prophets who are among you, and your diviners, deceive you; neither listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.
- Jer 23:28The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat?” says Yahweh.
- Joel 2:28“It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions.
- Jer 8:6I listened and heard, but they didn’t say what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Everyone turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.
- 1 Cor 4:5Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each man will get his praise from God.
- Num 12:6He said, “Now hear my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, Yahweh, will make myself known to him in a vision. I will speak with him in a dream.
- Matt 1:20But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
- Jer 29:23because they have done foolish things in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I didn’t command them. I am he who knows, and am witness,” says Yahweh.
- Rev 2:23I will kill her children with Death, and all the assemblies will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.
- Ps 139:4For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether.
- Gen 37:5Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more.
- Gen 37:9He dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, “Behold, I have dreamed yet another dream: and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.”
- Ps 139:2You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.
- Jer 13:27I have seen your abominations, even your adulteries, and your neighing, the lewdness of your prostitution, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, Jerusalem! You will not be made clean; how long shall it yet be?”
- Jer 16:17For my eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from my face, neither is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.
- Jer 14:14Then Yahweh said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I didn’t send them, neither have I commanded them, neither did I speak to them. They prophesy to you a lying vision, divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart.
- Luke 12:3Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light. What you have spoken in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.
- Heb 4:13There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 23:25 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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