Person Old Testament
Shemaiah
Shemaiah, a false prophet who opposed Jeremiah during the Babylonian exile. Mentioned in 3 verses across 1 book, first at Jeremiah 29:24.
Why it matters. False prophet during the Babylonian exile
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Shemaiah
Shemaiah, also known as Shemaiah the Nehelamite, was a false prophet who lived among the exiles in Babylon during the time of Jeremiah. According to Jer.29.24-32, Shemaiah sent letters to the people and priests in Jerusalem, contradicting Jeremiah's prophetic messages and accusing him of being a false prophet. Shemaiah urged the priest Zephaniah to rebuke and imprison Jeremiah for his prophecies. However, the Lord revealed to Jeremiah that Shemaiah was a false prophet who was leading the people astray. As a result, Jeremiah prophesied that Shemaiah and his descendants would be punished, and none of them would see the good that God would do for His people. This incident underscores the conflict between true and false prophets during the Babylonian exile and the importance of discerning genuine prophetic messages.
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
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Appears in Scripture
Named in 3 verses across 1 book. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.