What is the meaning of Jeremiah 5:13? The prophets are but wind “The prophets are but wind” (Jeremiah 5:13a) paints a vivid picture of men whose claims are empty and weightless. • Wind feels real for a moment, then slips through the fingers—so do messages that lack God’s authority. • Jeremiah earlier exposed such voices: “The prophets are prophesying lies in My name” (Jeremiah 14:14). • Isaiah described idols the same way—“their deeds are nothing; their images are empty wind” (Isaiah 41:29)—showing that hollow religion always carries the same signature: sound without substance. • Jesus warned about teachers who build on sand (Matthew 7:26–27); their promises collapse because they rest on nothing stronger than a breeze. for the word is not in them God gives the reason for their hollowness: “for the word is not in them” (Jeremiah 5:13b). • True prophets speak because God has “put My words in your mouth” (Jeremiah 1:9); these men speak because they have nothing from Him. • Deuteronomy 18:18–22 sets the test—if the message does not come to pass, it never came from God. The Lord Himself declares that criterion here. • Paul later echoes this standard: Scripture is “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16), but human imagination is merely self-breathed. • Without the implanted Word, even eloquence is powerless (1 Corinthians 2:4–5). In contrast, when God’s Word dwells richly, it carries transforming weight (Colossians 3:16). So let their own predictions befall them The Lord concludes with irony and justice: “So let their own predictions befall them” (Jeremiah 5:13c). • False seers had been promising peace and safety (Jeremiah 6:14), denying God’s warnings of sword and famine. God now says, in effect, “May the very things they deny fall on their own heads.” • This same verdict appears later: “By sword and famine those prophets will be consumed” (Jeremiah 14:15). • The pattern repeats throughout Scripture—Haman is hanged on his own gallows (Esther 7:10); the pit the wicked dig traps themselves (Psalm 7:15). • Revelation 22:18–19 issues the final caution: tampering with prophecy invites the plagues written in the book. God ensures His Word vindicates itself. summary Jeremiah 5:13 declares that voices lacking God’s Word are nothing but wind, exposing their emptiness, explaining their deficiency, and announcing poetic justice. God’s authentic Word carries weight, authority, and inevitable fulfillment; everything else disperses like a passing breeze—and those who trade in such air will reap the whirlwind they create. |
    |