Jeremiah 23
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
Jeremiah 23
23
1 "Woe to the shepherds who scatter and tear apart the sheep of my pasture, says the Lord.
2 Because of this, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to the shepherds who pasture my people: You have scattered my flock, and you have driven them away, and you have not visited them. Behold, I will visit upon you because of your evil pursuits, says the Lord.
3 And I will gather together the remnant of my flock from the entire earth, from the places to which I had cast them out. And I will return them to their own fields. And they will increase and be multiplied.
4 And I will raise up shepherds over them, and they will pasture them. They will no longer dread, and they will no longer fear. And no one among their number will be seeking more, says the Lord.
5 Behold, the days are approaching, says the Lord, when I will raise up to David a righteous branch. And a king will reign, and he will be wise. And he will exercise judgment and justice upon the earth.
6 In those days, Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in confidence. And this is the name that they will call him: 'The Lord, our Just One.'
7 Because of this, behold, the days are approaching, says the Lord, when they will no longer say, 'As the Lord lives, who led the sons of Israel away from the land of Egypt,'
8 but instead, 'As the Lord lives, who led away and brought back the offspring of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from the entire earth,' from the places to which I had cast them out. And they will live in their own land."
9 To the prophets: "My heart is crushed within me. All my bones are trembling. I have become like an inebriated man, and like a man maddened by wine, before the face of the Lord, and before the face of his holy words.
10 For the earth is full of adulterers! And the earth has mourned before the face of evil talk. The plains of the desert have dried up, and their course has become hazardous, and their firmness has become uneven."
11 "For both the prophet and the priest have become polluted, and I have found their wickedness within my own house, says the Lord.
12 For this reason, their way will be like a slippery path in the dark. For they will be impelled forward, and they will fall in it. For I will bring evils over them, in the year of their visitation, says the Lord.
13 And I have seen the foolishness of the prophets of Samaria. They have prophesied in Baal, and they have deceived my people Israel.
14 And in the prophets of Jerusalem, I have seen the likeness of adulterers and the path of falsehood. And they have strengthened the hands of the wicked, so that each one would not convert from his malice. They have all become to me like Sodom, and its inhabitants have become like Gomorrah."
15 Because of this, thus says the Lord of hosts to the prophets: "Behold, I will feed them absinthe, and I will give them gall to drink. For from the prophets of Jerusalem corruption has gone forth over the entire earth."
16 Thus says the Lord of hosts: "Do not choose to listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you and deceive you. They speak a vision from their own heart, and not from the mouth of the Lord.
17 To those who blaspheme me, they say: 'The Lord has said: You shall have peace.' And to every one who walks in the depravity of his own heart, they have said: 'No evil will overwhelm you.' "
18 For who has been present in the counsel of the Lord, and who has seen and heard his word? Who has considered his word and heard it?
19 Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord's indignation will go forth, and a tempest will break out; it will overwhelm the head of the impious.
20 The fury of the Lord will not return until it succeeds, and until it completes the plan of his heart. In the last days, you will understand this counsel.
21 "I did not send these prophets, yet they hurry forward. I was not speaking to them, yet they were prophesying.
22 If they had stood in my counsel, and if I had made my words known to my people, certainly I would have turned them away from their evil ways and from their most wicked plans.
23 Do you not realize that I am a God close by, says the Lord, and not a God far away?
24 If a man is hidden in concealed places, do I not see him, says the Lord? Do I not fill up heaven and earth, says the Lord?
25 I have heard what the prophets have said, prophesying falsehoods in my name, and also saying: 'I have dreamed! I have dreamed!'
26 How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who predict what is false, and who prophesy deceptions from their own heart?
27 They want to cause my people to forget my name, by means of their dreams, which each of them describes to his neighbor, just as their fathers forgot my name for the sake of Baal.
28 The prophet who has had a dream, let him describe the dream. And he who receives my word, let him speak my word in truth. For what has the chaff to do with the wheat, says the Lord?
29 Are not my words like a fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer crushing rock?
30 Therefore, behold: I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who steal my words, each one from his neighbor.
31 Behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who take up their tongues and say: 'The Lord says it.'
32 Behold, I am against the prophets, who dream what is false, says the Lord; who explain and so seduce my people with their falsehoods and with their miracles, though I did not send them, nor did I command them. They have offer nothing beneficial to this people, says the Lord.
33 Therefore, if this people, or a prophet, or a priest questions you, saying, 'What is the burden of the Lord?' you shall say to them, 'You are the burden. And certainly I will cast you away, says the Lord.'
34 And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people who say, 'The burden of the Lord!' I will visit upon that man and upon his house.
35 And then you will speak in this way, each one to his neighbor and to his brother: 'What has the Lord answered? And what has the Lord said?'
36 And the burden of the Lord will be no longer be called to mind. For each one's own word will be a burden. For you have perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts, our God.
37 And then you will speak in this way to the prophet: 'What has the Lord answered you? And what has the Lord spoken?'
38 But if you say, 'The burden of the Lord!' then because of this, thus says the Lord: Since you have spoken this word, 'The burden of the Lord!' though I sent to you telling you not to say: 'The burden of the Lord,'
39 because of this, behold, I will take you away, like a burden, and I will forsake you, as well as the city that I gave to you and to your fathers, before my face.
40 And I will give you over to an everlasting reproach and an eternal disgrace, which shall never be wiped away into oblivion."
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