Jeremiah 29:21

Jer 29:21 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie unto you in my name; Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes;

Ver. 21. Thus saith the Lord … of Ahab the son of Kolaiah.] These two - though not the two elders that assaulted Susanna, as some have fabled - are singled out, as arch-imposters and filthy adulterers, to be exemplarily punished; to whom also is added Shemaiah the Nehelamite. {Jer 29:24}

And he shall slay them before your eyes.] Vide autem iustam poenam martyrum diaboli, saith Oecolampadius. See here the just punishment of the devil’s martyrs: this evil couple had prophesied, like, the destruction of Babylon, bade the Jews put themselves in a posture to return home, promised to conduct them to Jerusalem, played many lewd pranks besides, and were therefore worthily put to a cruel death by Nebuchadnezzar, in the presence of their friends and followers.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

After having set forth the divine determination, the prophet's letter addresses itself specially against the false prophets and tells them their punishment from God. Jer 29:21. "Thus saith Jahveh, the God of hosts, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy to you in my name falsely: Behold, I give them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, that he may smite them before your eyes. Jer 29:22. And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the exiles of Judah that are in Babylon, saying: Jahveh make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire, Jer 29:23. Because they have done folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours' wives, and have spoken in my name lying words which I have not commanded them. But I know it and am witness, saith Jahveh." - Beyond what is here told, we know nothing of these two pseudo-prophets. The name אחאב is written in Jer 29:20 without א; thus the Kametz comes to be under the ח, and in consequence of this the Pathach is changed into a Seghol "Smite," i.e., slay. The manner of their death is called, probably with allusion to the name Kolaiah, קלה, roast, burn in a heated furnace; a mode of execution usual in Babylon, acc. to Dan 3:6. This punishment is to fall on them because of two kinds of sin: 1. Because they have done folly in Israel, namely, committed adultery with their neighbours' wives; 2. Because they have prophesied falsely in the name of Jahveh. Except in Jos 7:15, the phrase: commit folly in Israel, is always used of the grosser sins of uncleanness; see on Gen 34:7. So here also. - The Chet. הוידע is expounded in the Keri by היּודע, according to which there has been a transposition of the letters ו and י, as in Jer 2:25; Jer 8:6, etc. Still the article here is extraordinary, since עד has none. Therefore J. D. Mich., Ew., Hitz., Graf suppose we should read הוּ ידע, the א having been dropped from הוּא in scriptio continua, as it often is, especially after י, in הביא and other words, cf. Jer 19:15; Jer 39:16, Kg1 21:29, etc. הוּא is then the copula between subject and predicate, as in Isa 43:25; cf. Ew. 297, b.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Zedekiah--brother of Zephaniah (Jer 29:25), both being sons of Maaseiah; probably of the same family as the false prophet under Ahab in Israel (Kg1 22:11, Kg1 22:24).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 21. He shall slay them before your eyes.] Nebuchadnezzar would be led by political reasons to punish these pretended prophets, as their predictions tended to make his Israelitish subjects uneasy and disaffected, and might excite them to rebellion. He therefore slew them; two of them, it appears, he burnt alive, viz., Ahab and Zedekiah, who are supposed by the rabbins to be the two elders who endeavoured to seduce Susanna, see Jer 29:23. Burning alive was a Chaldean punishment, Da 3:6, and Am 2:1. From them other nations borrowed it.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

By saying, I will give (or deliver) them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the Prophet still more clearly expresses what I have just said, that they would be thus slain by the order of the king, because God had determined what was to be done to them. And he assigns the cause of their death or mentions its author, that the Jews might not fix their eyes on the king of Babylon. What had Nebuchadnezzar in view? to preserve a peaceable kingdom; he saw the danger of a tumult if he pardoned these two men, who had disturbed the people. Lest, then, the Jews should look only on the design of the king, God here sets before them another and a higher reason, even because they prophesied falsely in his name. A clearer explanation follows, —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(21, 22) Ahab the son of Kolaiah . . .—We know nothing, beyond what is here recorded, of either of these prophets. They would seem to have been the leaders of the party of revolt, and to have been conspicuous, like their brethren at Jerusalem (Jer_23:14), for base and profligate lives. The record of the prediction of their fate implies its fulfilment. They were punished by the Chaldæan king as traitors and rebels, and were burnt alive. The history of the “three children” in Dan_3:6; Dan_3:20, shows that this was a sufficiently familiar punishment. A strange legend in the Targum of Rabbi Joseph on 2Ch_28:3 records that the future high-priest Joshua, the son of Jozedek, was thrown into the furnace with them, and came out uninjured (Smith’s Dict, of the Bible, Art. “Zedekiah”). We may, perhaps, trace the source of the legend in the figurative language of Zec_3:2, “Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?” The name Kolaiah (which admits of being derived from a verb meaning “roasting”) possibly suggested the cruel mockery of a punishment which turned it into an omen of the false prophet’s fate.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. Of these two prophets nothing further is known. The LXX omit the fathers’ names, and the words “which prophesy … name.” Co. denies, while Du. and Gi. admit, the historical accuracy of the story, Du. pointing out that, had the prediction not been fulfilled, the passage would not have appeared in the Book.

Kolaiah, curse (kĕlâlâh) and roasted (kâlâh) are three such similar words that a play on them as used in these verses seems intended. The son of Kolaiah was to be called Kĕlâlâh (a curse) because the king of Babylon kâlâh (roasted) him in the fire. It may have been for sedition or for an attack on Babylonian worship that the two met their end.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,.... See Gill on Jer 29:4;

of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie unto you: two false prophets, of whom we have no account any where else but here; and are, no doubt, the prophets, or however two of them, that they of the captivity boasted of that God had raised unto them in Babylon, Jer 29:15. The Jews (c) say, and so Jerom relates, that these are the two elders that attempted the chastity of Susannah:

behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon: they should be suffered to commit some crime against the state, of which notice should be given, and they should be seized as seditious persons; which was so permitted in providence, that they might be brought to punishment for other sins they were guilty of:

and he shall slay them before your eyes; by roasting them with fire: as follows:

(c) R. Gedaliah Shalshelet Hakabala, fol. 80. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Of these two persons we read no more in holy writ: that they pretended to be prophets, that they abused the name of God, pretending to reveal his will, wheras what they said was not the will of God, but a falsehood, we learn out of this verse; and that they were both of them burnt by the king of Babylon we find in Jer 29:22. What the falsehoods they published were is not expressed, but it is most probable they were some of those that pretended that God had revealed to them, that within two years, or a short time, the captives carried away with Jehoiakim should return out of Babylon. God here tells those that were of the captivity, that those two wretches should themselves be slain by the king of Babylon.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. Ahab… Zedekiah — Of these men we have no knowledge outside of this passage. But the manner in which they are mentioned here attests their influence and their infamy. For two crimes, adultery and false prophesying, they would be roasted in the fire by the king of Babylon. The mention of prophesying a lie as one of the crimes for which they suffered may be explained by reference to Jehovah. The king of Babylon punished them for crimes against society; God, for rebellion and sacrilege. But it may be that even the king punished them for speaking lying words, because these words tended to produce uneasiness and incite to revolt.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Zedekiah. The name is into-resting; it shows that this prophet belonged to a family which took pleasure in the thought of Jehovah and his righteousness. Doubtless, too, he did so himself; but he under-estimated the demands of that righteousness, which extended to the heart as well as to the outward conduct.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.