Jeremiah 23
23
Hope for the Future
1How terrible will be the LORD's judgement on those rulers who destroy and scatter his people! 2This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the rulers who were supposed to take care of his people: “You have not taken care of my people; you have scattered them and driven them away. Now I am going to punish you for the evil you have done. 3I will gather the rest of my people from the countries where I have scattered them, and I will bring them back to their homeland. They will have many children and increase in number. 4I will appoint rulers to take care of them. My people will no longer be afraid or terrified, and I will not punish them again.#23.4 I will not punish them again; or not one of them will be missing. I, the LORD, have spoken.”
5 #
Jer 33.14–16
The LORD says, “The time is coming when I will choose as king a righteous descendant of David. That king will rule wisely and do what is right and just throughout the land. 6When he is king, the people of Judah will be safe, and the people of Israel will live in peace. He will be called ‘The LORD Our Salvation’.
7“The time is coming,” says the LORD, “when people will no longer swear by me as the living God who brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt. 8Instead, they will swear by me as the living God who brought the people of Israel out of a northern land and out of all the other countries where I had scattered them. Then they will live in their own land.”
Jeremiah's Message about the Prophets
9My heart is crushed,
and I am trembling.
Because of the LORD,
because of his holy words,
I am like a man who is drunk,
a man who has had too much wine.
10The land is full of people unfaithful to the LORD;
they live wicked lives and misuse their power.
Because of the LORD's curse the land mourns
and the pastures are dry.
11The LORD says,
“The prophets and the priests are godless;
I have caught them doing evil in the Temple itself.
12The paths they follow will be slippery and dark;
I will make them stumble and fall.
I am going to bring disaster on them;
the time of their punishment is coming.
I, the LORD, have spoken.
13I have seen the sin of Samaria's prophets:
they have spoken in the name of Baal
and have led my people astray.
14 #
Gen 18.20; Ezek 16.49 But I have seen the prophets in Jerusalem do even worse:
they commit adultery and tell lies;
they help people to do wrong,
so that no one stops doing what is evil.
To me, they are all as bad
as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.
15“So then, this is what I, the LORD Almighty, say about the prophets of Jerusalem:
I will give them bitter plants to eat
and poison to drink,
because they have spread ungodliness throughout the land.”
16The LORD Almighty said to the people of Jerusalem, “Do not listen to what the prophets say; they are filling you with false hopes. They tell you what they have imagined and not what I have said. 17To the people who refuse to listen to what I have said, they keep saying that all will go well with them. And they tell everyone who is stubborn that disaster will never touch him.”
18I said, “None of these prophets has ever known the LORD's secret thoughts. None of them has ever heard or understood his message, or ever listened or paid attention to what he said. 19His anger is a storm, a furious wind that will rage over the heads of the wicked, 20and it will not end until he has done everything he intends to do. In days to come his people will understand this clearly.”
21The LORD said, “I did not send these prophets, but even so they went. I did not give them any message, but still they spoke in my name. 22If they had known my secret thoughts, then they could have proclaimed my message to my people and could have made them give up the evil lives they live and the wicked things they do.
23“I am a God who is everywhere and not in one place only. 24No one can hide where I cannot see him. Do you not know that I am everywhere in heaven and on earth? 25I know what those prophets have said who speak lies in my name and claim that I have given them my messages in their dreams. 26How much longer will those prophets mislead my people with the lies they have invented? 27They think that the dreams they tell will make my people forget me, just as their ancestors forgot me and turned to Baal. 28The prophet who has had a dream should say it is only a dream, but the prophet who has heard my message should proclaim that message faithfully. What good is straw compared with wheat? 29My message is like a fire, and like a hammer that breaks rocks in pieces. 30I am against those prophets who take each other's words and proclaim them as my message. 31I am also against those prophets who speak their own words and claim they came from me. 32Listen to what I, the LORD, say! I am against the prophets who tell their dreams that are full of lies. They tell these dreams and lead my people astray with their lies and their boasting. I did not send them or order them to go, and they are of no help at all to the people. I, the LORD, have spoken.”
The LORD's Burden
33The LORD said to me, “Jeremiah, when one of my people or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the LORD's message?’ you are to tell him, ‘You are a burden#23.33 The Hebrew word for message and burden is the same. to the LORD, and he is going to get rid of you.’ 34If any of my people or a prophet or a priest even uses the words ‘the LORD's burden’, I will punish them and their families. 35Instead, they should each ask their friends and relatives, ‘What answer has the LORD given? What has the LORD said?’ 36So they must no longer use the words ‘the LORD's burden’, because if anyone does, I will make my message a real burden to him. The people have perverted the words of their God, the living God, the LORD Almighty. 37Jeremiah, ask the prophets, ‘What answer did the LORD give you? What did the LORD say?’ 38And if they disobey my command and use the words ‘the LORD's burden’, then tell them that 39I will certainly pick them up#23.39 The Hebrew verb for pick up comes from the same root as the Hebrew word for message and burden. and throw them far away from me, both them and the city that I gave to them and their ancestors. 40I will bring on them everlasting shame and disgrace that will never be forgotten.”
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Jeremiah 23: GNBDC
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Jeremiah 23
23
The Lord and His Sheep
1“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture! ” # Ps 100:3; Ezk 34:2,31; Zch 11:5-7,15-17 This is the Lord’s declaration. 2“Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who shepherd My people: You have scattered My flock, # Jr 10:21; 50:6; Ezk 34:5,12,31 banished them, and have not attended to them. # Ps 8:4; Is 23:16; Ezk 34:3 I will attend to you because of your evil acts” — this is the Lord’s declaration. 3“I will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands where I have banished them, # Ezk 34:12-13 and I will return them to their grazing land. They will become fruitful and numerous. # Gn 1:26-28; 9:1-7; 35:11 4I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them. # Ezk 34:23; Mc 5:2-6 They will no longer be afraid or dismayed, nor will any be missing.” # Ezk 34:25; Mc 7:14 This is the Lord’s declaration.
The Righteous Branch of David
5“The days are coming” # Jr 7:32; 9:25; 16:14; 19:6; 23:5,7; 30:3; 31:27,31; 33:14-16; 48:12; 49:2; 51:47,52 — this is the Lord’s declaration —
“when I will raise up a Righteous Branch of David. # 1Kg 12:16; Is 4:2; 55:3-4; Jr 30:9; 33:15; Ezk 34:23; 37:24-25; Hs 3:5; Zch 3:8; 6:12
He will reign wisely as king
and administer justice and righteousness in the land. # 1Ch 18:14; Ps 99:4; Is 9:7; 11:1-9; 33:5; Jr 9:24; 22:15; 33:15
6In His days Judah will be saved,
and Israel will dwell securely. # Dt 33:12,28; Ps 16:9; Pr 1:33; Jr 33:16
This is what He will be named:
Yahweh Our Righteousness. # Ps 4:1; Jr 33:16; 1Co 1:30
7“The days are coming” # Jr 7:32; 16:14; 19:6; 48:12; 49:2; 51:47,52 — the Lord’s declaration — “when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives # Jdg 8:19; 1Sm 14:39,45; 2Sm 4:9; 1Kg 1:29; 2:24; Jr 4:1-2; 5:2; 16:14-15; 38:16; Hs 4:15 who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,’ 8but, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other countries where I # LXX reads He had banished them.’ They will dwell once more in their own land.” # Jr 16:15
False Prophets Condemned
9Concerning the prophets:
My heart is broken within me, # Hab 3:16
and all my bones tremble.
I have become like a drunkard,
like a man overcome by wine,
because of the Lord,
because of His holy words.
10For the land is full of adulterers; # Jr 9:2; Hs 7:4; Mal 3:5
the land mourns # Jr 12:4; Am 1:2; Rm 8:22 because of the curse, # Dt 11:29; 27:13; Gl 3:13
and the grazing lands in the wilderness have dried up.
Their way of life # Lit Their manner of running has become evil,
and their power is not rightly used
11because both prophet and priest are ungodly, # Jr 6:13; 14:18; Zph 3:4
even in My house # 1Ch 17:14; 28:6; Is 56:5,7; Jr 11:15; 12:7; Ezk 23:39; Hs 9:15; Hb 1:9; Zch 1:16; Mal 3:10 I have found their evil.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
12Therefore, their way will be to them
like slippery paths in the gloom. # Ps 35:6; 73:18
They will be driven away and fall down there,
for I will bring disaster on them,
the year of their punishment. # Jr 11:23; 48:44
This is the Lord’s declaration.
13Among the prophets of Samaria
I saw something disgusting:
They prophesied by # = in the name of Baal
and led My people Israel astray. # Pr 12:26; Is 3:12; Jr 50:6; Mc 3:5
14Among the prophets of Jerusalem also
I saw a horrible thing: # Jr 5:30; Hs 6:10
They commit adultery and walk in lies.
They strengthen the hands of evildoers,
and none turns his back on evil.
They are all like Sodom # Gn 13:10-13; 18:16–19:28; Is 1:10-17 to Me;
Jerusalem’s residents are like Gomorrah.
15Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says concerning the prophets:
I am about to feed them wormwood # Am 5:7; 6:12
and give them poisoned water to drink, # Jr 8:14; 9:15
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness # Or pollution has spread throughout the land.
16This is what the Lord of Hosts says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are making you worthless. They speak visions from their own minds, # Jr 14:14; Ezk 7:26; 12:24; 13:16; Mc 3:6; Lm 2:9 not from the Lord’s mouth. # Is 1:20; 40:5; 58:14; 62:2; Jr 9:12; Mc 4:4 17They keep on saying to those who despise Me, ‘ # Is 5:24The Lord has said: You will have peace.’ # Jr 4:10 They have said to everyone who follows the stubbornness of his heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’ ”
18For who has stood in the council # Jb 15:8; Ps 25:14; 89:7 of the Lord
to see and hear His word?
Who has paid attention to His word and obeyed?
19Look, a storm from the Lord! # Ps 83:15; Is 29:6; Zch 9:14
Wrath has gone out,
a whirling storm.
It will whirl about the heads of the wicked.
20The Lord’s anger will not turn back # Gn 27:45; Is 5:25; 9:12,17,21; 10:4; Jr 2:35
until He has completely fulfilled the purposes of His heart.
In time to come you will understand it clearly. # Jr 30:23-24
21I did not send these prophets, # Jr 14:14
yet they ran with a message.
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.
22If they had really stood in My council,
they would have enabled My people to hear My words
and would have turned them back from their evil ways
and their evil deeds. # Jr 4:18
23“Am I a God who is only near” # Ps 139:1-10; Am 9:2-3 — this is the Lord’s declaration — “and not a God who is far away? 24Can a man hide himself in secret places where I cannot see him? ” # Gn 3:8; 4:14; Jb 34:22 — the Lord’s declaration. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? ” # Ps 139:7-12; Am 9:2-4 — the Lord’s declaration.
25“I have heard what the prophets who prophesy a lie in My name have said, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ # Jr 5:31; 14:14; 20:6; 23:32; 27:10,14-16; 29:9,21,31 26How long will this continue in the minds of the prophets prophesying lies, prophets of the deceit of their own minds? 27Through their dreams that they tell one another, they plan to cause My people to forget My name as their fathers forgot My name through Baal worship. # Jdg 3:7; 8:33-34 28The prophet who has only a dream should recount the dream, but the one who has My word should speak My word truthfully, for what is straw compared to grain? ” — this is the Lord’s declaration. 29“Is not My word like fire” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “and like a hammer that pulverizes rock? 30Therefore, take note! I am against the prophets” # Dt 18:20; Jr 14:14-15; Ezk 13:8 — the Lord’s declaration — “who steal My words from each other. 31I am against the prophets” — the Lord’s declaration — “who use their own tongues to make a declaration. 32I am against those who prophesy false dreams” # Dt 18:20 — the Lord’s declaration — “telling them and leading My people astray with their falsehoods and their boasting. It was not I who sent or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all # Is 30:5-6; Jr 2:8,11 to these people” — this is the Lord’s declaration.
The Burden of the Lord
33“Now when these people or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Lord? ’ you will respond to them: What is the burden? I will throw you away” — this is the Lord’s declaration. 34“As for the prophet, priest, or people who say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ I will punish that man and his household. 35This is what each man is to say to his friend and to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 36But no longer refer to # Or longer remember the burden of the Lord, for each man’s word becomes his burden and you pervert the words of the living God, the Lord of Hosts, our God. 37You must say to the prophet: What has the Lord answered you? and What has the Lord spoken? 38But if you say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ then this is what the Lord says: Because you have said, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ and I specifically told you not to say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ 39I will surely forget you # Some Hb mss; other Hb mss, LXX, Syr, Vg read surely lift you up and throw away from My presence both you and the city that I gave you and your fathers. 40I will bring on you everlasting shame and humiliation # Ps 78:66; Jr 20:11 that will never be forgotten.”
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