Do Not Preach
6 “Don’t prophesy!”—they prophesy— “Don’t prophesy about these things. Disgrace won’t overtake us.” 7 Shall it be said, O house of Jacob, “Is Yahweh’s Spirit angry? Are these his doings? Don’t my words do good to him who walks blamelessly?” 8 But lately my people have risen up as an enemy. You strip the robe and clothing from those who pass by without a care, returning from battle. 9 You drive the women of my people out from their pleasant houses; from their young children you take away my blessing forever. 10 Arise, and depart! For this is not your resting place, because of uncleanness that destroys, even with a grievous destruction. 11 If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies, saying, “I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink,” he would be the prophet of this people.
The audience is quoted, and the objection turns out to be about the subject rather than about preaching.
Verse 6 hands the sentence to the opposition, and it is difficult in every version because it is a shouted interruption. The sense is plain enough: stop preaching, they should not preach of such things, disgrace will not overtake us. That last clause is the real content — a confidence that the announced ruin cannot happen here.
The reply in verse 7 does not defend the prediction. It asks whether the Spirit of Yahweh has grown short of patience, and then turns the question around: do not my words do good to the one who walks uprightly? The message is not adjusted. The hearer is put into the frame instead.
Verses 8 and 9 supply the evidence, and it is domestic. A cloak is stripped from men passing by with no thought of war; women are driven from the houses they took pleasure in, and from their children something is taken permanently, which the text calls God's own splendor.
Verse 10 delivers the sentence in a phrase: get up and go, because this is not the resting place. Rest is what the land was given to be Deuteronomy 12:9, so the loss is described as losing rest rather than losing acreage. Verse 11 then names the preacher they would have kept — a man walking in wind and falsehood who promised them wine and strong drink.
settled What this mark means