What is the meaning of Jeremiah 23:37? Thus you are to say to the prophet: ‘What has the LORD answered you?’ “Thus you are to say to the prophet: ‘What has the LORD answered you?’” (Jeremiah 23:37) • The Lord tells Jeremiah to confront every self-proclaimed prophet with one simple demand: produce the genuine answer God has already given. • God’s answer is fixed; it does not bend to popular opinion. Compare Jeremiah 23:35, where the same prophets are trading private opinions instead of reporting God’s verdict. • Earlier, the Lord said, “I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message” (Jeremiah 23:21). His instruction in verse 37 exposes that independence. • God’s faithful servants have always asked for the real, verifiable word of the Lord—see Deuteronomy 18:20-22, where a prophet’s credibility stands or falls on whether the Lord actually spoke. • In the New Covenant the call is echoed: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1). The principle remains unchanged—God’s answer is authoritative and must be tested against His revealed truth. and ‘What has the LORD spoken?’ “…and ‘What has the LORD spoken?’” (Jeremiah 23:37) • The second demand reaches deeper: not merely “What answer did He give?” but “What exact words has He spoken?” Precision matters because every word of God is pure (Proverbs 30:5). • True prophets are mouthpieces, not editors; Balaam admitted, “Must I not speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?” (Numbers 22:38). • God condemns those who fabricate messages: “Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing” (Ezekiel 13:3). Jeremiah 23:37 forces them to lay bare whether they possess an authentic utterance or empty rhetoric. • The New Testament upholds the same standard: “No prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever brought by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21). • The verse therefore calls for absolute fidelity to God’s spoken revelation, guarding the flock from deception and preserving the integrity of divine truth. summary Jeremiah 23:37 equips God’s people with a two-part safeguard: demand to know both the Lord’s settled answer and His exact spoken words. In an age crowded with self-appointed messengers, the verse insists on verifiable, word-for-word fidelity to divine revelation. Tested against prior Scripture and consistent with God’s character, the genuine message stands; everything else is exposed as counterfeit. |
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