Heb. shalom, a word frequently used to comprehend all the good things of life. Shalom has been defined as meaning not only “peace,” but also “completeness,” “prosperity,” “welfare,” “health,” “friendship,” etc. Shalom, or its equivalent salaam, is even today the common word of greeting in many Eastern lands.

 The so-called prophets of Jeremiah’s day glossed over the sins of the nation, and drew flattering pictures of Judah’s future prospects (see Jer. 8:11; 14:13; 23:17; cf. Micah 3:5). By their smooth and deceitful teachings these faithless leaders lulled the souls of sinners into a fatal ease. They should have warned of impending calamity and the need for repentance, but instead they asserted there was nothing to fear (see Eze. 13:22).

 Prophets who proclaim peace and security in spite of transgression, when God has declared that sin is about to collect its inevitable wages, are echoing the satanic lie first spoken by the serpent in the Garden of Eden, “Ye shall not surely die” (Gen. 3:4). Through Jeremiah and other messengers God had announced that the day of Judah’s grace was about to close, and that the reward of evildoing could not be longer delayed (cf. Eze. 12:21-28). But the false prophets denounced Jeremiah and his Heaven-sent message (see Jer. 28; 29) and sought to calm the people’s fears that there would be any interruption in their evil course of action. The false prophets said, as it were, “To morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant” (Isa. 56:12).

Superficially, or lightly.

The corresponding expression was presumably not in the Hebrew text used by the translators of the KJV, as indicated by their use of italics.

 However, these words are found in a number of Hebrew MSS, the Greek version of Symmachus, the Syriac, the Targums, and the Vulgate, and are used elsewhere by Jeremiah (ch. 8:11, 21, 22).