“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.’
Parallel translations
- WEB “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.’
- 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.
- 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 1:1This is the burden of the word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi:
- Isa 13:1This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received:
- Hos 9:12Even if they raise their children, I will bereave them of each one. Yes, woe be to them when I turn away from them!
- Deut 32:19–20When the LORD saw this, He rejected them, provoked to anger by His sons and daughters.
- Hab 1:1This is the burden that Habakkuk the prophet received in a vision:
- Jer 12:7I have forsaken My house; I have abandoned My inheritance. I have given the love of My life into the hands of her enemies.
- Nah 1:1This is the burden against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:
- Ps 78:59–60On hearing it, God was furious and rejected Israel completely.
- Jer 17:15Behold, they keep saying to me, “Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come now!”
- Jer 20:7–8You have deceived me, O LORD, and I was deceived. You have overcome me and prevailed. I am a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.
- Deut 31:17–18On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them. On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’
- 2 Chr 15:2So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.
- Isa 14:28In the year that King Ahaz died, this burden was received:
- Jer 23:39–40therefore I will surely forget you and will cast you out of My presence, both you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers.
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.