Jeremiah 23

1What trouble is coming to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! declares the Lord.

2This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who were meant to look after my people: You have scattered my flock. You have chased them away. You didn't take care of them, so now I will take care of you for all the evil you've done, declares the Lord.

3I myself will gather what's left of my flock from all the countries where I exiled them, and I will bring them back to their pasture, where they will increase in number. 4I will put shepherds in charge of them who will take care of them, and they won't be afraid or discouraged anymore, and none of them will be missing, declares the Lord.

5Look, the time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will choose a descendant of David who does what is right. As king he will rule with wisdom and do what is just and right throughout the country. 6When he is king, Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety. This is the name he will be called: The Lord Who Makes Us Right.

7Look, the time is coming, declares the Lord, when people won't say anymore, “On the Lord's life, who led the Israelites out of Egypt.” 8Instead they'll say, “On the Lord's life, who led the Israelites back from the northern country and all the other countries where he had exiled them.” Then they'll live in their own country.

9When it comes to the prophets: I'm really disturbed—I'm shaking inside! I stagger like a drunk, like someone who's had too much wine, because of what the Lord is like, because of his holy words.#23:9. Jeremiah is alarmed at the contrast between what he knows of the Lord's nature and the degraded state of the nation—and what this means in terms of the coming disaster. 10For the country is full of people committing adultery so it's under a curse. The land mourns and the desert pastures have dried up. The people live evil lives, using their energy to do wrong. 11Both prophets and priests show no respect for me. I see wickedness even in my Temple, declares the Lord. 12That's why their path will become slippery; they will be chased away in the dark and fall down. I'm going to bring disaster on them at the time when they're punished, declares the Lord.

13I saw the prophets of Samaria doing something really offensive: They prophesied in the name of Baal and led my people Israel to sin.

14But now I see the prophets of Jerusalem doing something even more disgusting: They commit adultery and their lives are a lie. They support the wicked, so no one stops sinning. To me they're all like Sodom; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.

15So this is what the Lord Almighty says about the prophets: I will give them wormwood to eat and poisoned water to drink, because evil has spread across the country from the prophets of Jerusalem.

16This is what the Lord Almighty says: Don't pay attention to what these prophets say when they prophesy to you. They're fooling you with visions they make up in their own minds. They're not from me. 17They keep on telling people who don't respect me, “The Lord says that you'll live in peace,” and to everyone following their own stubborn attitude, “Nothing bad is going to happen to you.”

18But who of them has attended the Lord's council to hear and understand what he's saying? Who has paid attention to his instructions and followed them? 19Watch out! The Lord has sent out a furious storm, a tornado swirling around the heads of the wicked. 20The Lord's anger won't fade until he's finished doing everything he wants. Only then will you really understand.

21I didn't send these prophets, but they run to deliver their messages. I didn't tell them to say anything, but they still go on prophesying. 22Now if they had attended my council, they would have delivered my instructions to my people and brought them back from their evil way of life, from their evil actions.

23Am I only a local God and not a God who operates widely? asks the Lord. 24Can people hide in secret places where I can't see them? asks the Lord. Don't I operate everywhere in heaven and on earth? asks the Lord.

25I've listened to the prophets who prophesy lies in my name. They say, “I've had a dream! I've had a dream!” 26How long will this continue? How long will these prophets go on prophesying these lies which are just the product of their own deluded minds? 27They think the dreams that they repeat to one another will lead my people to forget me, just like their forefathers forgot me by worshiping Baal.

28A prophet who has a dream should say it's just a dream, but anyone I've spoken to should deliver my message faithfully. What is straw in comparison to grain? asks the Lord. 29Doesn't my word burn like fire? asks the Lord. Isn't it like a hammer smashing a rock?

30Pay attention to this, declares the Lord. I'm opposed to those prophets who steal words from one another and then say it's a message from me.

31Pay attention to this, declares the Lord. I'm opposed to those prophets who make up their own stories#23:31. “Make up their own stories”: literally, “take their own tongues.” and then announce, “This is what the Lord says.”

32Pay attention to this, declares the Lord, I'm opposed to those who prophesy fictional dreams. They tell them in order to lead my people into sin with their wild lies. I didn't send them or give them any instructions, and they don't do anybody any good, declares the Lord.

33So when a prophet or priest or anyone else comes and asks you, “What is ‘the burden of the Lord?’”#23:33. “The burden of the Lord” in the sense of some requirement that the Lord is imposing on the people. Clearly the people saw the various laws and regulations as “burdens” and related to the Lord as this legalistic “burden-giver.” Though they lived evil lives it seems they thought that if they observed such “burdens,” including new ones, then the Lord would be satisfied. tell them, I'm not giving you a burden. I'm giving up on you, declares the Lord.

34If a prophet or priest or anyone else claims, “This is the burden of the Lord,” I will punish that person and their family.

35This is what everybody should say to their friends and relatives: “What answer has the Lord given?” or, “What has the Lord said?” 36Don't talk about “the burden of the Lord” anymore, because everybody has different ideas about this “burden,” perverting the words of the living God, the Lord Almighty, our God.

37This is what you are to ask any prophet: “What message has the Lord given you?” and “What has the Lord told you?”

38If they say, “This is the burden of the Lord,” then this is the Lord's response: Because you said, “This is the burden of the Lord,” and I warned you not to, 39now I'm going to pick you up like a burden and throw you away, you and the city that I gave to you and your forefathers. 40I will disgrace you forever, your shame will never be forgotten.

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Jeremiah 23: FBV

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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com

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Jeremiah 23

The Coming Messiah: the Righteous Branch

1“Woe to the shepherds (civil leaders, rulers) who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lord. 2Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, in regard to the shepherds who care for and feed My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; hear this, I am about to visit and attend to you for the evil of your deeds,” says the Lord. 3“Then I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries to which I have driven them and bring them back to their folds and pastures; and they will be fruitful and multiply. 4I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. And they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing,” says the Lord.

5“Behold (listen closely), the days are coming,” says the Lord,

“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;

And He will reign as King and act wisely

And will do [those things that accomplish] justice and righteousness in the land.

6In His days Judah will be saved,

And Israel will dwell safely;

Now this is His name by which He will be called;

‘The Lord Our Righteousness.’

7“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8but [they will say], ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries to which I had driven them.’ Then they will live in their own land.”

False Prophets Denounced

9Concerning the prophets:

My heart [says Jeremiah] is broken within me,

All my bones shake;

I have become like a drunken man,

A man whom wine has overcome,

Because of the Lord

And because of His holy words [declared against unfaithful leaders].

10For the land is full of adulterers (unfaithful to God);

The land mourns because of the curse [of God upon it].

The pastures of the wilderness have dried up.

The course of action [of the false prophets] is evil and they rush into wickedness;

And their power is not right.

11“For both [false] prophet and priest are ungodly (profane, polluted);

Even in My house I have found their wickedness,” says the Lord.

12“Therefore their way will be to them like slippery paths

In the dark; they will be pushed and fall into them;

For I will bring disaster on them,

In the year of their punishment,” says the Lord.

13“And I have seen a foolish and an offensive thing in the prophets of Samaria:

They prophesied by Baal and caused My people Israel to go astray.

14Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem:

They commit adultery and walk in lies;

They encourage and strengthen the hands of evildoers,

So that no one has turned back from his wickedness.

All of them have become like Sodom to Me,

And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

15Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts in regard to the prophets,

‘Behold, I am going to feed them [the bitterness of] wormwood

And make them drink the poisonous water [of gall],

For from the [counterfeit] prophets of Jerusalem

Profaneness and ungodliness have spread into all the land.’ ”

16Thus says the Lord of hosts,

“Do not listen to the words of the [false] prophets who prophesy to you.

They are teaching you worthless things and are leading you into futility;

They speak a vision of their own mind and imagination

And not [truth] from the mouth of the Lord.

17They are continually saying to those who despise Me [and My word],

‘The Lord has said, “You will have peace” ’;

And they say to everyone who walks after the stubbornness of his own heart,

‘No evil will come on you.’

18But who [among them] has stood in the council of the Lord,

That he would perceive and hear His word?

Who has marked His word [noticing and observing and paying attention to it] and has [actually] heard it?

19Behold, the tempest of the Lord has gone forth in wrath,

A whirling tempest;

It will whirl and burst on the heads of the wicked.

20The anger of the Lord will not turn back

Until He has set in motion and accomplished the thoughts and intentions of His heart;

In the last days you will clearly understand it.

21I did not send [these counterfeit] prophets,

Yet they ran;

I did not speak to them,

Yet they prophesied.

22But if they had stood in My council,

Then they would have caused My people to hear My words,

Then they would have turned My people from their evil way

And from the evil of their decisions and deeds.

23“Am I a God who is at hand,” says the Lord,

“And not a God far away?”

24“Can anyone hide himself in secret places

So that I cannot see him?” says the Lord.

“Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord.

25“I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My Name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed [visions when on my bed at night].’ 26How long [shall this state of affairs continue]? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, 27who think that they can make My people forget My Name by their [contrived] dreams which each one tells another, just as their fathers forgot My Name because of Baal? 28The prophet who has a dream may tell his dream; but he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat [for nourishment]?” says the Lord. 29“Is not My word like fire [that consumes all that cannot endure the test]?” says the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks the [most stubborn] rock [in pieces]? 30Therefore behold (hear this), I am against the [counterfeit] prophets,” says the Lord, “[I am descending on them with punishment, these prophets] who steal My words from one another [imitating the words of the true prophets]. 31Hear this, I am against the prophets,” says the Lord, “who use their [own deceitful] tongues and say, ‘Thus says the Lord.’ 32Hear this, I am against those who have prophesied false and made-up dreams,” says the Lord, “and have told them and have made My people err and go astray by their lies and by their reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them nor do they benefit and enhance [the life of] these people in the slightest way,” says the Lord.

33“Now when this people or a prophet or a priest asks you [in jest], ‘What is the #I.e. an urgent message the true prophet of God is under compulsion to proclaim.oracle of the Lord [the burden to be lifted up and carried]?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘What oracle [besides the one that declares you people to be the burden]!’ The Lord says, ‘I will unburden Myself and I will abandon you.’ 34And as for the prophet, the priest, or [any of] the people, whoever says, ‘The oracle of the Lord,’ [as if he knows God’s will], I will punish that man and his household. 35[For the future, in speaking of the words of the Lord] thus each of you shall say to his neighbor and to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 36For you will no longer remember the oracle of the Lord, because every man’s own word will become the oracle, [for as they mockingly call all prophecies oracles, whether good or bad, so will it prove to be to them; God will take them at their own word]; and you have perverted the words [not of a lifeless idol, but] of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. 37Thus you will [reverently] say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 38For if you say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ surely thus says the Lord, ‘Because you said this word, “The oracle of the Lord!” when I have also sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ ” ’ 39Therefore behold, I, even I, will assuredly forget you and send you away from My presence, you and the city (Jerusalem) which I gave to you and to your fathers. 40And I will bring an everlasting disgrace on you and a perpetual humiliation (shame) which will not be forgotten.”

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