JeremiahChapter 23

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¹"How terrible for the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" says the LORD. ²So this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who care for his people: "You have scattered my flock and driven them away. You have not taken care of them. So look, I will take care of punishing you for the evil things you have done, says the LORD. ³Then I myself will gather the rest of my flock from all the lands where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their pasture. There they will have many young and grow in number. ⁴I will give them shepherds who will take care of them. They will not be afraid or terrified anymore. Not one of them will be lost, says the LORD. ⁵Look, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up a righteous Branch for David. He will rule wisely as King. He will do what is fair and right in the land. ⁶In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness. ⁷So look, the days are coming, says the LORD, when people will no longer say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of Egypt.' ⁸Instead they will say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the children of Israel up out of the land of the north. He led them out of all the other lands where he had driven them.' Then they will live again in their own land." ⁹About the prophets:
My heart is broken inside me.
All my bones shake.
I am like a drunk man,
like a man who has had too much wine.
This is because of the LORD
and because of his holy words. ¹⁰For the land is full of people who commit adultery.
Because of the curse, the land mourns.
The pastures in the wilderness have dried up.
The people live in evil ways.
They use their power in wrong ways. ¹¹"Both prophet and priest do not honor God.
Even in my house I have found their evil," says the LORD. ¹²"So their path will become slippery.
They will be driven out into the darkness,
and there they will fall.
For I will bring disaster on them
in the year I punish them," says the LORD. ¹³"I saw a disgusting thing among the prophets of Samaria.
They prophesied by Baal.
They led my people Israel the wrong way. ¹⁴And I have seen a horrible thing among the prophets of Jerusalem.
They commit adultery and live by lies.
They help evil people be strong,
so that no one turns away from evil.
To me they are all like Sodom.
The people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah." ¹⁵So this is what the LORD of Hosts says about the prophets:
"I will feed them bitter wormwood.
I will give them poisoned water to drink.
For from the prophets of Jerusalem
evil that dishonors God has spread through all the land." ¹⁶This is what the LORD of Hosts says: "Do not listen to what the prophets are telling you. They fill you with false hopes. They tell visions from their own minds. Their words do not come from the mouth of the LORD. ¹⁷They keep telling those who hate me, 'The LORD says you will have peace.' They tell everyone who follows his own stubborn heart, 'No harm will come to you.' ¹⁸But which of them has stood in the LORD's council to see and hear his word? Who has paid attention to his word and obeyed it? ¹⁹Look, the storm of the LORD has burst out in fury.
A whirlwind is swirling down
on the heads of the wicked. ²⁰The anger of the LORD will not turn back
until he has done all that his heart has planned.
In the days to come
you will understand this clearly. ²¹I did not send these prophets,
yet they have run with their message.
I did not speak to them,
yet they have prophesied. ²²But suppose they had stood in my council.
Then they would have told my words to my people.
They would have turned them back
from their evil ways and evil actions." ²³"Am I only a God who is close by," says the LORD,
"and not a God who is far away?" ²⁴"Can anyone hide in secret places where I cannot see him?" says the LORD.
"Don't I fill the heavens and the earth?" says the LORD. ²⁵"I have heard what the prophets say. They prophesy lies in my name. They say, 'I had a dream! I had a dream!' ²⁶How long will this go on in the hearts of these lying prophets? They prophesy the false ideas of their own minds. ²⁷They think the dreams they tell each other will make my people forget my name. It is just as their fathers forgot my name by worshiping Baal. ²⁸Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream. But let the one who has my word speak it truly. What does straw have to do with grain?" says the LORD. ²⁹"Isn't my word like fire?" says the LORD. "Isn't it like a hammer that smashes a rock to pieces?" ³⁰"So look," says the LORD, "I am against the prophets who steal words from each other. Then they say those words came from me." ³¹"Yes," says the LORD, "I am against the prophets who just move their own tongues. Then they say, 'This is what the LORD says.'" ³²"Yes," says the LORD, "I am against those who prophesy false dreams. They tell them to lead my people the wrong way with their careless lies. I did not send them or command them. They do these people no good at all," says the LORD. ³³"These people or a prophet or a priest may ask you, 'What is the burden of the LORD?' Then say to them, 'What burden? I will leave you, says the LORD.'a ³⁴A prophet or priest or anyone else may claim, 'This is the burden of the LORD.' I will punish that man and his family. ³⁵This is what each of you should say to his friend and to his brother: 'What has the LORD answered?' or 'What has the LORD said?' ³⁶But do not speak about the burden of the LORD anymore. For each man's own word becomes his burden. In this way you twist the words of the living God, the LORD of Hosts, our God. ³⁷This is what you should say to the prophet: 'What has the LORD answered you?' and 'What has the LORD said?' ³⁸But you might claim, 'This is the burden of the LORD.' Then this is what the LORD says: You have said, 'This is the burden of the LORD.' I clearly told you not to say this. ³⁹So I will surely forget you. I will throw you out of my presence. I will throw out both you and the city I gave to you and your fathers. ⁴⁰I will bring on you shame that lasts forever. You will be put to shame for all time, and it will never be forgotten."