“Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?”
My Notes
What Does Jeremiah 37:19 Mean?
"Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?" Jeremiah asks Zedekiah the devastating question: where are the false prophets NOW? The prophets who promised Babylon wouldn't come — where are they? The Babylonian army is at the gates. The prophecy of safety was false. The comfortable message proved wrong. And the prophets who delivered it are nowhere to be found.
The phrase "where are now" (ayyeh — where?) is the question that exposes the false prophets by their absence: when the crisis arrives, the false prophets disappear. The voices that were loudest during peacetime are silent during siege. The prophets who promised safety when safety existed have nothing to say now that the danger is real.
The specific false prophecy — "the king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land" — is now visibly, undeniably false: the king of Babylon IS here. He IS coming against the land. The prophecy of non-arrival has been disproved by the arrival. The comfortable lie has been exposed by the uncomfortable truth standing outside the walls.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Who told you the crisis wouldn't come — and where are they now?
- 2.What does false prophets disappearing during the crisis they denied teach about the reliability of comfortable messages?
- 3.How does 'where are now' expose the difference between peacetime prophecy and crisis reality?
- 4.What comfortable prediction in your life has been disproved by the arrival of the very thing it denied?
Devotional
Where are your prophets now? The ones who said Babylon wouldn't come? The ones who promised safety? Where are they NOW — while the Babylonian army camps outside your walls? Jeremiah's question is the vindication he never wanted: the false prophets are proven wrong, and the proof is an army.
The 'where are now' is the question every false prophet dreads: the comfortable message worked when comfort was available. The prophecy of 'Babylon won't come' sounded plausible when Babylon was far away. But NOW — with the army at the gates — where are the prophets who said this wouldn't happen? They've disappeared. The voices that were loudest in peacetime are silent in crisis. The prophets who promised safety have nothing left to say.
The specific lie — 'the king of Babylon shall not come' — is the easiest lie to disprove: he's HERE. He CAME. The prophecy is standing outside your walls in military formation. The false message is falsified by the presence of the very thing it denied. The comfortable prediction is contradicted by reality you can see from the ramparts.
Jeremiah doesn't ask this question to gloat: he asks it to clarify. The false prophets misled you. Their message felt better than mine. You chose comfort over truth. And now the truth is here — literally, physically, with siege equipment — and the comfort is gone. Where are the people who told you this wouldn't happen? They're gone. The message and the messengers have both disappeared.
Who told you the crisis wouldn't come — and where are they now that it's here?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Where are now your prophets that prophesied unto you,.... Your false prophets, as the Targum; what is become of their…
We have here a further account concerning Jeremiah, who relates more passages concerning himself than any other of the…
Where now are your prophets which prophesied unto you Jeremiah in this v. challenges the whole people through their king…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture