I have heard what the prophets say, who prophesy falsehood in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
God has been listening. Men were using His name to sell what came out of their own sleep, and the chapter asks how anyone can tell a dream from a word from God.
These men spoke with no commission from God. That did not keep their words out of His hearing.
They had no authority at all. If they had made His people hear His words, they would have turned them from their evil way. The Lord, who fills heaven and earth, was not inattentive, but noted those who prophesied lies in His name. If they had His word, let them speak it faithfully.
These men had an eager audience. People wanted comfort, and they wanted God's name on it.
It was more popular to prophesy smooth things and lies. Nothing is so dear to the human heart as having God's approval on its own desires. That is why the prophets who would say, "Thus says the Lord," when the Lord had not spoken, were so popular. These prophets were not always inventing lies. They corrupted the word of God and made it suit man's taste.
These dreams had a source, and it was not heaven. What came out of the man's own heart still went out under God's name.
They prophesied lies in the name of the Lord; they were prophets of the deceit of their own heart. They tried to make the people forget the Name of the Lord. This is still the work of teachers who have abandoned the truth. They speak out of the deceit of their hearts, they prophesy lies, and they aim at the Name which is above every Name. How different the word of the Lord is from the idle dreams of these false prophets! Three times the Lord declares that He is against these prophets.
These dream-claims were not isolated. False prophets grew in number at the very time God was raising up true witnesses.
This testimony of the Lord against the prophets increased as the falling away set in. The nearer the ruin came — and this is how His grace works — the more testimony He raised about it. But as God multiplied His witnesses, the prophets of the people multiplied too.
Later in the same chapter God gives the sorting question: chaff, or wheat? (Where older translations read "chaff," the ESV has "straw.") You weigh a dream and a word by what they hold, not by the standing of the speaker.
The false prophets, the godless priests, and all the other dreamers put forward their words to deceive. But the Lord stands by His own words. Why should anyone pay attention to His word? On one ground: its own power. "What is the chaff to the wheat?" Food value decides.
The same test falls on anyone who stands up to speak for God.
Preach the truth. Take care not to give your own dreams and fancies in God's name. All is chaff except the pure word of God. Oh, do not stamp God's image on your own coin!
A dream that comes true is still not proof. The law had already settled this, and the New Testament repeats the warning.
Such dreamers are grouped with false prophets. Possibly it was a hypnotic state that evil spirits could use, with the aim of turning the people from the Lord to idolatry. Even if what they prophesied came true, the people must not listen to them: God allowed it as a test, to prove whether Israel loved the Lord. Deuteronomy 13:1-5. We have the same caution in the New Testament about the gospel and the confession of Jesus Christ come in flesh. Galatians 1:8-9; 1 John 4:1.
- Heard. God is not a bystander when men speak in His name. He fills heaven and earth, so every such claim is already on His record.
- Homegrown. The dream did not come down from God; it came out of the speaker's own deceitful heart, and it left God's name forgotten.
- Wanted. Smooth things sell. Nothing is dearer to the human heart than God's approval on what it already wants. So the false prophet finds an easy audience.
- Weighed. The word is not judged by the speaker; the speaker is judged by the word. Chaff or wheat — food value decides.
- Faithfully. The man who has God's word has one job: speak it as it is. Never stamp God's image on your own coin.
How long shall [this] be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, and who are prophets of the deceit of their own heart?
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
who think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.
Judah's prophets kept telling each other their dreams. God says what those dreams are meant to do — make His people forget His name, just as their fathers lost that name for Baal.
These prophets never opposed God openly. One writer explains their popularity by what their hearers wanted to hear.
But the weight of that influence was quickly turned against God. It was more popular to prophesy smooth things and lies. Nothing is so dear to the human heart as having God's approval for its own desires. That is why the prophets who would say, "Thus says the Lord," when the Lord had not spoken, were so popular. We should not suppose these prophets were always inventing lies. They corrupted the word of God and made it suit man's taste (2 Cor. 2:17). They had to copy the real prophets in many of their phrases. Yet in the end they produced only their own empty ideas.
The dreams were not aimed at a doctrine. They were aimed at God's name, and one writer sees the same aim in teachers today.
They prophesied lies in the name of the Lord; they were prophets of the deceit of their own heart. They tried to make the people forget the Name of the Lord. That is still the work today of teachers who have abandoned the faith. They speak out of the deceit of their hearts, they prophesy lies, and they aim at the Name which is above every name. How different the word of the Lord is from the idle dreams of these false prophets.
The verse points back to a generation that lost the Name for an idol. One writer notes the test God allowed for such dreamers — a test that ignores whether the dream comes true.
Such dreamers are classed with false prophets. It may have been a hypnotic state that evil spirits could use, with the aim of turning the people from the Lord to idolatry. Even if what they prophesied came true, no one was to listen to them on that account. God allowed the test to prove whether Israel loved the Lord (Deut. 13:1-5). The New Testament gives us the same caution about the gospel and about confessing that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (Gal. 1:8-9; 1 John 4:1). In Jer. 27:9 the dreamers are grouped with diviners.
So accuracy was never the test.
God calls these men prophets of the deceit of their own heart. One writer shows what they gave people instead of God's Word.
Instead of passing on the Word of the Lord to their hearers, "They speak a vision of their own heart." They should have stood in the council of God and made His people hear His Word (v.22). Instead they go out with their own thoughts. How dangerous is that unfaithfulness! It twists, or even falsifies, the message of God's Word by bringing in a person's own opinions.
Two verses later God asks what straw has in common with wheat. One writer takes that question as the answer to a practical one: why trust God's word over a striking dream?
The false prophets, the ungodly priests, and all the other dreamers put forward their words to deceive. But the Lord stands by His own words. How? Why should they pay attention to it? On what ground? On the power it has in itself. "What is the chaff to the wheat?" (verse 28). Food value decides.
The same writer measures what he has read by that test.
I have never read a tradition that was not obviously chaff. I have never read a thought that came from man that was not worthless in the things of God. Give me something of God, and the moment my faith lays hold of the mind of God I have the wheat. In other words, the truth of God is not a matter of historical research. It is something that suits a plain man much better, and right away. What would become of the poor and the simple if they had to make long investigations to find out what the word of God was?
- Taste — Smooth words sell. Nothing is dearer to the human heart than God's approval on its own desires. That appetite gave the dream-prophets their platform.
- Source — They spoke a vision of their own heart. Bringing your own opinions into God's message does not add to it; it falsifies it.
- Target — The aim was never a mistaken doctrine but a forgotten Name. Writers see the same aim in teachers today who strike at the Name above every name.
- Test — A dream coming true proves nothing. God allowed such things to prove whether His people loved Him. Judge a message by where it takes you, not by how impressive it looks.
- Table — Feeding value tells straw from wheat, no research needed. God's word carries its own power, so the poor and the simple can hold it as firmly as anyone.
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell the dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith Jehovah.
Jeremiah 23 sets two speakers side by side: men who tell their own dreams in God's name, and the man who has God's word. What tells them apart is not confidence but food value: straw, or wheat (older translations say "chaff," the word the writers below use).
These prophets promised peace while judgment was on its way. They spoke from their own heart, and the result proved it: no one turned from evil.
Jehovah of hosts therefore commanded His people not to listen to the prophets who made them empty. These men spoke a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. Peace, and no evil, they cried; when a whirlwind of Jehovah has gone out in fury, to fall heavily on the head of the wicked. They had no authority at all. If they had caused His people to hear His words, they would have turned them from their evil way. Jehovah, who fills heaven and earth, marked those who prophesied lies in His name. If they had His word, let them speak it faithfully.
God does not argue for His word here. He points to what it does: it feeds.
The false prophets, the profane priests, and all the other dreamers brought forward their words to deceive. But the Lord stands by His own utterances. And how? Why should they take heed to it? On what ground? On its own intrinsic power. "What is the chaff to the wheat?" (verse 28). Nutritive value decides.
The test needs no training — only hunger.
There is one excellent way of meeting a man when he is hungry. Give him a piece of bread, and he knows it is bread. He may never have seen that kind of bread before, and may never have tasted it, but he is convinced it is bread. Give him a piece of board, and he knows this is not bread. By human learning a man may be very ignorant. Yet God guards even the simplest of His people with a practical test. "What is chaff to the wheat?" The truth of God always commends itself to the consciences of those who hear it.
Chaff is not only open lies. It is anything of a man's own that carries God's name.
Preach the truth. Take care not to give your own dreams and fancies in God's name. All is chaff except the pure word of God. Oh, do not stamp God's image on your own coin! We live in high-flown times. Many people are not content with truths that lie plainly in the Scriptures. To please their restless tastes, some have refined their notions so high that they have flown out of sight of the Scripture. Without realising it, they have run themselves and others into dangerous errors. Do not make experiments on the souls of people by delivering what is doubtful. Better to feed people with sound doctrine, even if it is a plain meal. The exotic dish may hit on a wild gourd that brings death into their pot.
"Faithfully" rules out more than lying. It also rules out vagueness, and language too fine for ordinary people to follow.
When teaching stops being definite, it stops being powerful; for it stops being truth that is taught. All truth is definite, or it stops being truth. Teaching that swerves from this may not stop being exciting or attractive, but it stops building people up. The man who deals out truth that is uncertain and undefined first takes the chaff for the wheat himself. Then he works the same deception on others. Every teacher who is in earnest has a plain duty: to present truth in the plainest, most unadorned dress, and to unfold it in words that ordinary minds can follow.
The verse separates God's word from man's. It does not invite anyone to sift God's word for human errors inside it.
They talk to us about a human element in inspiration. They speak of the divine truth and of the human instrument that carried it, as though truth and error were mixed together. Then, to use the illustration of a popular preacher, you would have to take your winnowing fan and fan the chaff out of the wheat. No, God's precious word is pure grain; there is no chaff there. It is the fan that separates the precious from the vile in our lives, ways and hearts, but man cannot judge it.
The command also reaches the quiet man. If God has given you something, keeping it to yourself is not faithful speaking.
Sometimes those who should speak and give out what they have of real profit are silent. To such the word is: "let him who has my word speak my word faithfully" (Jer. 23:28).
- Wheat has a source. The false prophets spoke a vision of their own heart, not out of the mouth of the Lord. God's own words would have turned the people from their evil way.
- Wheat feeds. God rests His word's claim on its own power. Food value decides which is chaff and which is grain.
- Wheat is obvious. A hungry man knows bread from a board. The same test guards the simplest believer, and it needs no learning.
- Wheat is not blended. All is chaff except the pure word of God. Do not stamp God's image on your own coin, or experiment on souls with what is doubtful.
- Wheat must be handed out. Speak it plainly and definitely — and if you have it, do not sit silent.
Is not my word like a fire, saith Jehovah; and like a hammer [that] breaketh the rock in pieces?
Jeremiah stands against a crowd of prophets who told their own dreams and called them a message from God. The Lord does not argue with them. He asks two questions instead, and points to what His word does.
This verse closes a long charge against men who spoke in God's name when God had not sent them. One writer sets the fire and the hammer against what those prophets were selling, and notes what the Lord says next:
They prophesied lies in the name of Jehovah; they were prophets of the deceit of their own heart. They tried to make the people forget the Name of Jehovah. Teachers who have abandoned the truth still do this work today. They speak out of the deceit of their hearts. They prophesy lies. They attack the Name that is above every name. How different is the word of the Lord from the idle dreams of these false prophets. "Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" (verse 29). Three times the Lord declares He is against these prophets (verses 30-32).
God offers no outside proof for His word. The question just before this one — chaff or wheat — makes the word its own evidence:
The false prophets, the godless priests, and all the other dreamers brought forward their words to deceive. But the Lord stands by His own words. And how? Why should they take heed to it? On what ground? On its own intrinsic power. "What is the chaff to the wheat?" (verse 28). Nutritive value decides.
The test is within reach of people with no training at all:
There is one very good way of meeting a man when he is hungry. Give him a piece of bread, and he knows perfectly well it is bread. He may never have seen that kind of bread before, and may never have tasted it, but he is convinced it is bread. Give him a piece of board, and he knows this is not bread. So, by the standards of human learning, a man may know almost nothing. Yet God guards even the simplest of His people with a practical test. "What is chaff to the wheat?" The truth of God always commends itself to the consciences of those who hear it.
The rock in the picture is a heart that will not yield. One writer sets two men side by side. One needed the blow. The other did not:
The heart of man is hard towards God by nature... Jeremiah 23:29 likens God's Word to a hammer. The jailer at Philippi needed the hammer when Paul and Silas first dealt with him. King Josiah did not. His heart was already tender.
Another writer describes that blow landing in his own life:
As I read, I said to myself: No one on earth knows me as I know myself. But the Author of this Book knows me far better than I know myself. I felt that God was speaking. I found myself under His all-seeing eye, and I fell at His feet. The hammer of His Word had broken the hard rock to pieces.
Wheat, fire and hammer are not rival pictures. They show one word doing different work on different ground:
Jeremiah 23:28-29 compares the word to wheat. Strangely, it also compares it to fire and to a hammer breaking the rock in pieces. God can use His word to feed or to break hard hearts!
Jeremiah himself had already felt the fire. One writer describes what kept him speaking under constant mockery:
He was the target of constant mockery. They watched for him to stumble, so he would gladly have kept silent. But the word of Jehovah was like fire in his bones... We understand how at such times the word in us is too strong to be shut up in our heart.
If the power is in the word itself, then the messenger's one duty is to hand it over unaltered:
It would be unfaithfulness and dishonesty, as well as a real breach of love, not to say what the Lord says. To modify or alter it would be dishonest. "Let him who has My word speak My word faithfully," He Himself says.
- Chaff — Weigh the dreams of false prophets against God's word and they turn out to be husks. Food value settles it, not credentials.
- Wheat — The word feeds, and it proves itself by feeding. A hungry man knows bread from a plank, so God guards even the simplest believer.
- Fire — The same word burns. It burned in Jeremiah until he had to speak, even when mockery made him want to stay silent.
- Hammer — Where a heart is rock, the word breaks it. Some, like Josiah, are already tender; others need the blow before they fall at God's feet.
- Faithfully — The power is in the word, not in the speaker. So changing it or watering it down is dishonesty. Hand it over as it stands.
Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.
In Jeremiah 23 the Lord turns on the men who claimed to speak for Him, and says He is against them for taking words He never gave them. So what is the difference between passing on God's word and helping yourself to someone else's?
Before the "I am against" comes a description of what these men were doing. They promised peace while God's judgment was already on the way.
So the Lord of hosts commanded His people not to listen to the prophets who made them empty. Those prophets spoke a vision of their own heart, not words from the mouth of the Lord. Peace, and no evil, they cried, when a whirlwind of the Lord has gone out in fury, to fall heavily on the head of the wicked. They had no authority at all. If they had made His people hear His words, they would have turned them from their evil way. The Lord, who filled heaven and earth, was not indifferent; He marked those who prophesied lies in His name. If they had His word, let them speak it faithfully.
Theft is a strange word for preaching. These men did not have to invent everything. They picked up the language of the true prophets and reused it for their own ends.
It was more popular to prophesy smooth and deceitful things. Nothing is so dear to the human heart as having God's approval for its own desires. That is why people loved the prophets who said, "Thus says the Lord," when the Lord had not spoken. These prophets were not always inventing lies. They corrupted the word of God and made it suit man's taste (2 Corinthians 2:17). They had to imitate the real prophets in many of their expressions. Yet in the end they only produced their own empty speculations.
Verse 30 is not the only "I am against" in this chapter. The same charge falls three times, and it still fits people who speak for God today.
They prophesied lies in the name of the Lord; they were prophets of the deceit of their own heart. They tried to make the people forget the name of the Lord. The same is true today of teachers who have abandoned the faith. They speak out of the deceit of their hearts, they prophesy lies, and they take aim at the Name that is above every name. How different is the word of the Lord from the idle dreams of these false prophets. Three times the Lord declares He is against these prophets (verses 30-32).
If borrowed words can sound identical to God's words, how would anyone tell them apart? God's word needs no one to vouch for it.
And this book, like every work of God, shows itself for what it is. It is its own witness. "Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" All other words stand in contrast — all words or writings that are not His. Of them the Lord says, "What is the chaff to the wheat?" (Jeremiah 23).
(Older translations read "chaff"; the ESV renders the same line, "What has straw in common with wheat?")
Being busy for God is not the same as being sent by Him.
They should have stood in the council of God and made His people hear His word (v. 22). Instead, they go out according to their own thoughts. How dangerous is that unfaithfulness! It twists, or even falsifies, the message of God's word by bringing in one's own opinions. "I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied" (v. 21).
The same danger shows up whenever someone speaks for God out of borrowed material.
To talk about Him from what others say is to misrepresent Him, and to damage the soul of the speaker. To trade with what others write is dishonesty. To take the place of an "ambassador" without being long in His company is to be false to the One you claim to represent.
- Stolen, not invented. The sin is not new heresy but recycled language. They copied the true prophets and produced only their own ideas.
- Stolen because popular. Borrowed words fit man's taste, and the human heart loves to hear God approve what it already wants.
- Stolen means unsent. These men ran without being sent; energy and confidence are no proof of a commission.
- Stolen words cannot do God's work. His word is fire and hammer, wheat and not chaff. It is its own witness, and imitation has no such power.
- Stolen goods bring the owner. Three times over, the Lord says He is against them — the theft is personal, and He answers it Himself.
Behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah, that use their tongues, and say, He hath said.
In Jeremiah 23 God confronts the men who claimed to speak for Him. Here He names those who wag their own tongues and then stamp His name on what they say. The verse raises a practical question: what makes a message God's word and not a man's?
The offence is not always making things up. It is dressing your own opinion in God's language, because that language is popular.
It was more popular to prophesy smooth things and lies. Nothing is so dear to the human heart as having God's approval for its own desires. That is why people loved the prophets who would say, "Thus says the Lord," when the Lord had not spoken. We should not think these prophets were always inventing lies. Instead, they corrupted the word of God and made it suit man's taste (2 Cor. 2:17). They had to copy many of the real prophets' expressions. Yet in the end they only produced their own empty speculations.
A tongue that speaks without being sent is still busy. Activity is not the same as commission, and the same chapter says these men ran when God had not sent them.
God had to say of men who claimed to serve Him, "I did not send the prophets, yet they ran" (Jer. 23:21). Plenty of activity — yet the Lord had not sent them there. His will should have satisfied them. So they claimed to be His servants, but they did their own will. They dreamed their own dreams and chose their own messages. In truth they "forsook God who made" them.
God Himself takes up the case. He tells His people not to listen to men who speak from their own heart instead of from His mouth.
The Lord of hosts commanded His people not to listen to the prophets who made them empty — men speaking a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord. No one authorised these men. If they had made His people hear His words, they would have turned them from their evil way. The Lord, who fills heaven and earth, was not unaware but took note of those who prophesied lies in His name. If they had His word, let them speak it faithfully.
There is a test hidden in that sentence. A real word from God changes how people live. A message that leaves its hearers where it found them shows where it came from.
How can an ordinary listener tell the difference? The answer in the same chapter is a comparison: chaff against wheat.
The false prophets, the profane priests, and all the other dreamers brought forward their words to deceive. But the Lord stands by His own words. How? Why should they pay attention to it? On what ground? On its own inherent power. "What is the chaff to the wheat?" (verse 28). Nutritional value decides.
That test is within everyone's reach. Kelly says that knowing God's word is not a job for scholars.
I have never read a tradition that was not obviously chaff. I have never read a thought that came from man that was not worthless in the things of God. Give me something of God, and the moment my faith takes hold of the mind of God I have the wheat. In other words, the truth of God is not merely a question of historical investigation. What would become of the poor and the simple if they had to run long investigations to find out what the word of God was?
The pattern did not end with Jeremiah's generation. Ezekiel met it too, and the same charge fits any preaching that is the speaker's own mind with God's name attached.
Every man who prophesies out of his own heart is a false prophet, a blind leader of the blind. He speaks his own mind, and his preaching and teaching does not follow the word of God. What the Lord said through Ezekiel is true of all of them: "They have seen false visions and lying divinations. They say, 'Declares the LORD,' when the LORD has not sent them." They are self-called and self-sent.
And the defence is not suspicion but Scripture itself.
Suppose someone comes with a fresh revelation, some new truth that is not in the Bible. We must judge him and his message by the standard of Scripture and reject them completely. False prophets come with great pretensions, high-sounding words and a pious manner. But they cannot stand the searching power of the word of God.
- Source — The sin is not always inventing lies. It is dressing man's thoughts in God's language to suit what people want to hear.
- Sending — These men ran hard, but God never sent them. They did their own will, dreamed their own dreams, and chose their own messages.
- Standing — God makes this complaint Himself. He fills heaven and earth, and He takes note of every word spoken in His name.
- Sifting — The test is chaff against wheat. God's word feeds people and turns them from their evil way. Man's word, however polished, feeds nobody.
- Simplicity — The test is open to the poor and the simple. They need no long investigation, only Scripture, which strips false prophets of their high-sounding words.
Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith Jehovah, and that tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies and by their boasting; and I have not sent them, nor commanded them; and they profit not this people at all, saith Jehovah.
God's charge against these prophets is not that they spoke badly, but that He never sent them. So how did their lies pass for God's word, and what did that cost the people who listened?
These prophets spoke in the Lord's name. One writer shows what they lacked, and what God did about it.
They had no authority at all. If they had made His people hear His words, they would have turned them from their evil way. The Lord, who fills heaven and earth, was not ignoring it; He took note of those who prophesied lies in His name. If they had His word, let them speak it faithfully. … The Lord would forsake them. He would cast prophet, priest, and people out of His presence. He would bring on them a lasting reproach and a shame that would never be forgotten.
The verse traces the trouble back to the prophets themselves. Busyness was not the problem.
"I did not send the prophets, yet they ran" had to be said of those who claimed to serve Him. Plenty of activity, yet they were not sent there by the Lord, whose will should have satisfied them. So they claimed to be His servants. Yet they did their own will, dreamed their own dreams, chose their own messages, and in truth forsook the God who made them.
One writer gives two reasons: the message was pleasant, and it sounded like the real thing.
It was more popular to prophesy smooth things and deceptions. Nothing is so dear to the human heart as having God's approval on its own desires. That is why prophets who would say, "Thus says the Lord," when the Lord had not spoken, were so popular. We should not suppose that these prophets were always inventing lies. They corrupted the word of God and made it fit man's taste. They had to copy the real prophets in many of their expressions, and yet in the end produced only their own empty speculations.
The verse judges these prophets by what their hearers gained. One writer turns that test on anyone who stands up to speak.
If people gave these things proper attention, we would not have so many running unsent. So many rush into areas of ministry they were never designed for. Let everyone who stands up to preach, teach, encourage, or serve in any way ask a serious question. Is he truly fitted, taught and sent by God? If not, God will not own his work, and it will not be a blessing to people. The sooner he stops, the better — for himself, and for those on whom he has been laying the heavy burden of listening to him.
For the speaker, the safeguard starts with care about what he says in God's name.
Preach the truth. Take care about giving your own dreams and fancies in God's name. Everything is chaff except the pure word of God. Do not stamp God's image on your own coin! … Do not make experiments on people's souls by delivering what is doubtful. It is better to feed people with sound doctrine, even if it is a plain meal. That is better than serving some exotic dish and hitting on a wild gourd that brings death into their pot.
The hearer is not left helpless either. But the safeguard is not an official title.
There was no protection from these teachers in turning to another approved and recognised class of teachers. The teachers who mark the falling away would themselves be approved and recognised in the eyes of men. The only way to meet the difficulty and escape the trap would be personal faithfulness. In Israel, only the person who followed the Lord fully had the moral ability to tell the difference. He alone could tell the wheat from the chaff — the prophet of the Lord from the prophet of his own heart.
- Not sent. The fault named in the verse is a missing commission. They were busy, but the Lord had not sent them. So they did their own will and chose their own messages.
- Not His word. They did not invent every word. They copied the phrasing of true prophets and reshaped God's word to suit people's taste. They said, "Thus says the Lord," when the Lord had not spoken.
- Not authorised. They had no authority at all. If they had made the people hear God's own words, those words would have turned them from their evil way.
- No profit. God does not own work He never taught and sent. It blesses no one. It only lays on hearers the heavy burden of listening.
- The test. Everything is chaff except the pure word of God. No official standing protects the hearer — personal faithfulness does. The one who follows the Lord fully can tell the Lord's prophet from the prophet of his own heart.