The Lord says that these false prophets say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, It shall be well with you, and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, No disaster shall come upon you.
It is clear that the people are not innocent victims of these false prophets. Rather the prophets have found an audience that is only too ready to hear what their itching ears long for. They are a people who have despised the Lord’s word as spoken by Jeremiah, and other prophets, who have been sent by the Lord. The Hebrew word naas is translated here as despise
and it means to reject as having no value.
1 The people of Judah stubbornly follow what is in their hearts and reject the word of the Lord as having no value when it confronts and contradicts what is in their hearts. These false prophets, however, have said exactly what the people want to hear. They have assured the people that the Lord is not coming against them in judgment. They have said that all will be well with the people of Judah. No foreign force will invade Judah to destroy it and take the people into exile. The Lord will protect them, despite the fact that they have ignored and broken the covenant (Jeremiah 6:14).
17 They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”