“When this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask you, saying, ‘What is the message from Yahweh?’ Then you shall tell them, ‘“What message? I will cast you off,” says Yahweh.’
Parallel translations
- KJV And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD.
- BSB “Now when this people or a prophet or priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the LORD?’ you are to say to them, ‘What burden? I will forsake you, declares the LORD.’
- NKJV “So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, ‘What is the oracle of the Lord?’ you shall then say to them, ‘What oracle?’ I will even forsake you,” says the Lord.
- NASB “Now when this people or the prophet or a priest asks you, saying, ‘What is the pronouncement of the Lord?’ then you shall say to them, ‘What pronouncement?’ The Lord declares, ‘I will abandon you.’
- NLT “Suppose one of the people or one of the prophets or priests asks you, ‘What prophecy has the Lord burdened you with now?’ You must reply, ‘You are the burden! The Lord says he will abandon you!’
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
When people mockingly ask for 'the burden of the LORD,' God answers that they themselves are the burden He will cast off. Their flippant demand for oracles meets a word of rejection.
Overview
The Hebrew word for 'burden' (massa) also means a prophetic oracle, and the people abuse it as a sneer. God turns the wordplay back on them: they are the heavy load He will discard. The passage rebukes treating God's word as a casual or cynical commodity rather than a holy summons.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Mal 1:1A revelation, Yahweh’s word to Israel by Malachi.
- Isa 13:1The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:
- Hos 9:12Though they bring up their children, yet I will bereave them, so that not a man shall be left. Indeed, woe also to them when I depart from them!
- Deut 32:19–20Yahweh saw and abhorred, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
- Hab 1:1The revelation which Habakkuk the prophet saw.
- Jer 12:7“I have forsaken my house. I have cast off my heritage. I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.
- Nah 1:1A revelation about Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
- Ps 78:59–60When God heard this, he was angry, and greatly abhorred Israel;
- Jer 17:15Behold, they tell me, “Where is Yahweh’s word? Let it be fulfilled now.”
- Jer 20:7–8Yahweh, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded; you are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I have become a laughing-stock all day. Every one mocks me.
- Deut 31:17–18Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Haven’t these evils come on us because our God is not among us?’
- 2 Chr 15:2and he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin! Yahweh is with you, while you are with him; and if you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.
- Isa 14:28This burden was in the year that king Ahaz died.
- Jer 23:39–40therefore, behold, I will utterly forget you, and I will cast you off, and the city that I gave to you and to your fathers, away from my presence.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 23:33 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.