Jeremiah 23:28 Meaning: Wheat or Straw

Two Hebrew nouns sit at the center of this verse. Chalom, “dream,” is the ordinary word for nighttime visions, nothing sacred in the word itself. False prophets in Jeremiah’s day used it to claim authority. The other noun is davar, “word,” specifically devar with the suffix “my”, God’s own word. This is the same davar that came to the true prophets as a living message.

The verb for speaking God’s word is dibber, “let him speak,” but the key adverb is emet, translated “faithfully” or “truthfully.” Emet carries the sense of firmness, reliability, something you can lean on. It is the opposite of the shifting ground of a self-made dream.

Then come the agricultural images. Teven, “straw,” is the hollow stalk left after the grain is harvested. It has no weight. Bar, “grain” or “wheat,” is the kernel that feeds. The question, “What is straw to the wheat?”, is not asking for a comparison. It is saying they belong to different orders of reality.

Christians have read this verse as a test for authentic prophecy. Calvin saw it as comfort for believers caught between true and false teachers: do not throw away faith when you cannot tell the difference; learn to judge by the word. Matthew Henry emphasized that the false prophets were mixing their own fancies with God’s truth. Adam Clarke warned not to treat a dream as equal to positive inspiration. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown pointed out that the metaphor of wheat and chaff invites discernment: do not reject the wheat because of the chaff mixed with it, but separate them. Across traditions, the core agreement is that God’s word stands alone in value and authority. The debate about whether some dreams still carry divine revelation today is handled differently among Christians, but all hold that Scripture is the primary standard by which everything else is measured.

A common misreading takes this verse to mean that all dreams are worthless. That is not what it says. The verse allows for dreams to be told, as dreams. The problem is not the dream itself but the claim that a dream carries divine authority equal to God’s word. In fact, the verse is about honesty: if you have a dream, call it a dream; if you have God’s word, speak it faithfully. The value judgment comes in the final question: straw and wheat are not the same, and they should not be treated as if they were.

This week, pay attention to what you accept as spiritual truth. A powerful impression, a vivid dream, a strong feeling, none of these automatically carry God’s authority. The verse asks you to test what you hear against what God has already made clear in Scripture. That does not mean you ignore your inner life. It means you treat it with honesty: “This is what I felt,” not “God told me.” And when you do speak God’s word, a promise from the Bible, a truth about Jesus, speak it plainly and without embellishment. Let its weight carry the force, not your own creativity.