“Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.”
My Notes
What Does Jeremiah 23:15 Mean?
God's judgment against the false prophets is uniquely appropriate: he will feed them wormwood (a bitter herb symbolizing suffering) and make them drink gall (poisonous water). The ones who fed the people sweet lies will be force-fed bitterness. The sustenance they provided was poisonous; now they'll taste poison themselves.
The specific charge: "from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land." The false prophets are the source of a nationwide spiritual epidemic. Their hypocrisy (the marginal reading of "profaneness") infected everything. The corruption didn't start with the common people — it started with the preachers.
Wormwood and gall appear together in Lamentations 3:19 and Deuteronomy 29:18 — always associated with the bitter consequences of unfaithfulness. The pairing represents the most unpleasant possible sustenance: food that punishes you while you eat it.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What does it mean that the corruption started with the prophets rather than the people?
- 2.How do you evaluate whether a spiritual leader is serving truth or 'sweet lies'?
- 3.What responsibility do spiritual leaders carry for the spiritual health of the broader culture?
- 4.How does the wormwood-and-gall judgment illustrate the principle of reaping what you sow?
Devotional
The prophets who fed sweet lies to the people will eat wormwood and drink gall. The meal they served — comfortable falsehood dressed as divine truth — will be returned to them as bitter, poisonous, indigestible reality.
The justice is precise: you fed poison disguised as nourishment. Now you'll eat poison without disguise. The false prophets made unfaithfulness palatable. They took God's name, wrapped it around comfortable messages, and served it to a people desperate for reassurance. And God says: you'll eat what you served, but without the packaging.
The charge that profaneness went forth from the prophets of Jerusalem into all the land identifies the source of the infection. The nationwide spiritual sickness didn't originate in the marketplace or the palace — it originated in the pulpit. The prophets' hypocrisy wasn't contained; it spread. What the preachers modeled, the people adopted. What the leaders normalized, the culture absorbed.
This is a permanent warning for anyone who speaks on God's behalf. Your words don't just affect the people in the room — they radiate outward. Profaneness from the pulpit becomes profaneness in the land. The false comfort you offer doesn't stay local; it infects everything it touches.
The wormwood and gall await every spiritual leader who feeds lies in God's name. The meal you serve to others will eventually be served to you.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets,.... Concerning the false prophets, as the Targum; their…
Here is a long lesson for the false prophets. As none were more bitter and spiteful against God's true prophets than…
Behold, I will.… identical with words in Jer 9:15, where see notes. Here it may be originally a marginal note by a…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture