Jeremiah 23:15 is God’s warning that the prophets who were misleading Jerusalem would face a bitter judgment, because their false teaching had spread corruption across the whole land. The verse uses the language of poison and bitterness to describe the consequences of leading people away from God’s truth. The speaker is the LORD of Armies, who announces this through the prophet Jeremiah, and the words are aimed at the prophets who claimed to speak for God in Jerusalem.
Therefore the LORD of Armies says concerning the prophets: “Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”
Jeremiah 23:15 (WEB)
What Jeremiah 23:15 Means
The phrase “I will feed them with wormwood” describes a diet of something bitter and unpleasant. Wormwood was a plant known for its harsh taste, so the image is of prophets forced to swallow the very harm they caused others. “Make them drink the water of gall” adds to this picture with a second bitter substance, suggesting that the consequences of their words would be unavoidable and painful.
The verse explains the reason for this judgment in its final clause: ungodliness had spread from these prophets into the entire land. Their false messages did not stay contained; they shaped how ordinary people lived and thought about God. The verse does not promise a particular timetable or a specific punishment beyond the bitterness it describes, but it makes clear that God takes the misleading of his people very seriously.
The Context of Jeremiah 23:15
The book of Jeremiah was written by the prophet Jeremiah, who ministered in Judah in the years before Jerusalem fell to Babylon in 586 BC. His audience included the people of Jerusalem and the officials and religious leaders who shaped public life there. Chapter 23 is a sharp rebuke of prophets who told the people that peace and safety were coming, even as the nation was drifting far from God.
The verses just before this one describe the prophets of Jerusalem as having committed adultery and walked in lies, strengthening the hands of evildoers. The verses that follow warn the people not to listen to prophets who speak out of their own imagination rather than from the LORD. Seen in this setting, Jeremiah 23:15 is not a random outburst of anger but the announced result of a long pattern of deception that God had clearly observed.
Key Phrases in Jeremiah 23:15
Jeremiah 23:16
The LORD of Armies says, “Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They teach you vanity. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.
(WEB)
This verse continues the warning by telling the people not to listen to the prophets who speak visions from their own hearts. It shows that the earlier judgment connects directly to the false messages being spread, and it calls the people to discernment rather than blind trust.
Deuteronomy 18:20
But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.”
(WEB)
This verse sets out God’s standard for prophets, declaring that any prophet who speaks presumptuously in God’s name is to be held accountable. It provides the older legal background that helps explain why Jeremiah pronounces such severe judgment on the false prophets of his day.
A Short Prayer From Jeremiah 23:15
Lord, you see clearly the words we speak and the messages we receive, and nothing is hidden from your eyes. Protect me from teaching that sounds pleasant but leads away from your truth, and give me a heart that wants your word more than comforting words. Help me to speak carefully when I share what I believe about you, and to lead others toward you rather than away. Keep my family, my church, and my community rooted in what is true, and let the water we drink be life from you. Amen.
