Jeremiah 23:30Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

For this reason, observe that I am a messenger of God. It appears to me that some individuals who receive the message of the prophets, and heed the accounts shared by others, mimic them in the same way a serpent would. Thus, as Ezekiel states, "And the prophet shall come" (Ezekiel 14:9), as the Lord will allow deception to occur, for He has declared that teaching will cease; hence, it is proclaimed that He will eliminate the burden.

For this reason, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who take my words. This statement refers to those false prophets who appropriated the genuine revelations of the true prophets and shared them privately with select individuals, prohibiting their dissemination to others. If the prophecy came to pass, they would proclaim: ‘Look, we have proof that we foretold this,’ and if it did not come to fruition, they aimed to blame Jeremiah and the other authentic prophets, suggesting they had misled everyone.

A falsehood consistently mimics the truth, and without some semblance of credibility, it would fail to mislead the unsuspecting. Similarly, just as the ancient prophets falsely proclaimed, "Thus saith the Lord," and claimed, "I have seen the Lord," and recited, "The word of the Lord that was directed to this or that," so too do heretics misappropriate the testimonies of the Scriptures from both the Old and New Testaments. They misappropriate the words of the Savior from others, drawing from the prophets, apostles, and evangelists, using their tongues to proclaim the venom that dwells in their hearts.