The Bible Says
Jeremiah 29:21-23 Meaning

Addressing the exiles scattered along Babylon’s canal cities on the Euphrates plain, Jeremiah deliberately names those misrepresenting God's word: "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying to you falsely in My name" (v. 21). By identifying them as “prophesying… falsely in My name,” the LORD indicts their message and their mantle. They wore the LORD's credentials to contradict His word, promising quick relief rather than the seventy-year discipline Jeremiah had just written about (Jeremiah 29:8-10). To a homesick people hearing soothing timelines, God interjects reality: authority is not in volume or vision-casting but in fidelity to the word already given.

Jeremiah 29:21 continues, exposing who truly governs history in exile with what God truly spoke: “Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will slay them before your eyes” (v. 21). Nebuchadnezzar is not an independent actor but an instrument-God delivers the deceivers to him. A public execution “before your eyes” turns their platform into a warning. The same Babylon that the liars said would soon release the exiles becomes God’s rod to purge their deception. This is consistent with the biblical pattern in which false shepherds, who “make this people trust in a lie,” incur swift exposure for the flock’s sake (Jeremiah 28:15-16; James 3:1).

Because the fall of these men will be unforgettable, their names become a byword: “Because of them a curse will be used by all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon, saying, ‘May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire’” (v. 22). Curses in Scripture function as communal memory devices; they fix a moral lesson in the mouth of the people. Here the line “roasted in the fire” (v. 22) likely reflects a Babylonian method of execution, the grim counter-image to God’s deliverance of faithful servants from a furnace in that same empire (Daniel 3). The contrast is instructive: the LORD rescues those who refuse to bow to idols, but He does not shield leaders who trade truth for influence.

Such a curse protects the community. In a context where false optimism spreads quickly through letters, rumors, and gatherings, the formula becomes a guardrail: attach this outcome to anyone who engages in lies under God’s banner. The exiles are being catechized by hard providence-learn to distrust messages that promise blessing while disregarding the prior word of judgment and the call to patient obedience (Jeremiah 29:4-7).

The LORD states the grounds for the verdict in a tight triad: “because they have acted foolishly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have spoken words in My name falsely, which I did not command them; and I am He who knows and am a witness” (v. 23). “Acted foolishly” in biblical language is moral stupidity-despising the fear of the LORD. The charges pair private sin (adultery) with public sin (false prophecy). Scripture often links the two; when leaders abandon God’s truth, their ethics unravel, and when they indulge secret lusts, their doctrine bends to justify it (Hosea 4:6-9; 2 Peter 2:1-3, 14). God’s indictment reaches both hidden places and public stages equally.

The closing assertion-“I am He who knows and am a witness” (v. 23)-anchors judgment in divine omniscience. No platform can obscure, no distance from Jerusalem can hide. The covenant lawsuit does not rest on rumor but on the testimony of the LORD Himself. In New-Covenant terms, Jesus-the faithful and true witness (Revelation 1:5)-echoes this standard, warning of wolves in sheep’s clothing and insisting “you will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-23). The exiles’ safety, and ours, lies in testing every message by Scripture and every messenger by holiness.