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.
Yirmeyah 23
23
1Woe be unto the ro'im that destroy and scatter the tzon of My pasture! saith Hashem.
2Therefore thus saith Hashem Elohei Yisroel against the ro'im that shepherd My people; Ye have scattered My tzon, and driven them away, and have not attended to them; hineni, I will attend to you for the rah of your doings, saith Hashem.
3And I will gather the she'erit (remnant) of My tzon out of all countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
4And I will set up ro'im (shepherds) over them which shall shepherd them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith Hashem.
5Hinei, the days come, saith Hashem, that I will raise up unto Dovid a Tzemach Tzaddik,#23:5 i.e., Moshiach Ben Dovid Yehoshua, see 30:9; 33:15; Zech 3:8; Ezra 3:8; Zech 6:11-12; Mt 2:23; Isa 4:2; 9:2-7; 11:1-12; 53:2,11; Moshiach the new “Joshua” Isa 49:8 and a Melech shall reign and act wisely, and shall execute mishpat and tzedakah in ha'aretz.
6In his days Yehudah shall be saved, and Yisroel shall dwell safely; and this is Shmo whereby he shall be called Adonoi (Hashem) Tzidkeinu.
7Therefore, hinei, the days are coming, saith Hashem, that they shall no more say, Hashem liveth, which brought up the Bnei Yisroel out of Eretz Mitzrayim;
8But, Hashem liveth, which brought up and which led the zera Bais Yisroel out of the eretz tzafonah, and from all countries to where I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.
9Mine lev within me is broken because of the nevi'im; all my atzmot shake; I am like an ish shikkor, and like a gever (man) whom yayin hath overcome, because of Hashem, and because of Divrei Kadsho (His Holy Devarim).
10For ha'aretz is full of mena'afim; for because of a curse ha'aretz mourneth; the pleasant places of the midbar are dried up, and their course is ra'ah, and their gevurah is not right.
11For both navi and kohen are profane; indeed, in My Beis have I found their wickedness, saith Hashem.
12Therefore their derech shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness; they shall be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring ra'ah upon them, even the year of their visitation [for punishment], saith Hashem.
13And I have seen a repulsive thing in the nevi'im of Shomron; they prophesied by Ba'al, and caused My people Yisroel to err.
14I have seen also in the nevi'im of Yerushalayim a horrible thing; they commit ni'uf and walk in sheker; they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth turn back from his wickedness; they are all of them unto Me as Sodom and the inhabitants thereof as Amora (Gomorrah).
15Therefore thus saith Hashem Tzva'os concerning the nevi'im; Hineni, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the bitter water of gall; for from the nevi'im of Yerushalayim is chanupah (profaneness) gone forth into kol ha'aretz.
16Thus saith Hashem Tzva'os, Pay no heed unto the devarim of the nevi'im that prophesy unto you; they are deluding you; they speak a chazon (vision) of their own lev, and not out of the mouth of Hashem.
17They say continually unto them that despise Me, Hashem hath said, Ye shall have shalom; and they say unto everyone that walketh after the sherirut (stubbornness) of his own lev, No ra'ah shall come upon you.
18For who hath stood in the sod (council) of Hashem, and hath perceived and heard His Devar? Who hath marked His word, and heard it?
19Hinei, a whirlwind of Hashem is gone forth in fury, even a violent whirlwind; it shall fall grievously upon the rosh of the resha'im.
20The anger of Hashem shall not turn back, until He have executed, and until He have performed, the mezimmot (designs) of His lev; in the acharit hayamim ye shall understand it perfectly.
21I have not sent these nevi'im, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22But if they had stood in My sod (council), and had caused My people to hear My Devarim, then they should have turned them from their derech harah, and from the ra'ah of their doings.
23Am I Elohei mikarov, saith Hashem, and not Elohei merachok?
24Can any ish hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith Hashem. Do not I fill Shomayim and Ha'Aretz? saith Hashem.
25I have heard what the nevi'im said, that prophesy sheker (lies) biShmi (in My Name), saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
26How long shall this be in the lev of the nevi'im that prophesy sheker? Indeed, they are nevi'im of the delusion of their own lev;
27Which think to cause My people to forget My Shem by their chalomot (dreams) which they tell every ish to his neighbor, as their avot have forgotten My Shem through Ba'al [worship].
28The navi that hath a chalom, let him tell a chalom; and he that hath My Devar, let him speak My Devar emes (faithfully). What is the chaff to the wheat? saith Hashem.
29Is not My Devar like an eish? saith Hashem. And like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
30Therefore, hineni, I am against the nevi'im, saith Hashem, that steal My devarim every ish from his neighbor.
31Hineni, I am against the nevi'im, saith Hashem, that use their [own] lashon, and say, He saith.
32Hineni, I am against them that prophesy chalomot sheker, saith Hashem, and do tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies, and by their recklessness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith Hashem.
33And when this people, or the navi, or a kohen, shall ask thee, saying, What is the massa (burden, prophecy) of Hashem? Thou shalt then say unto them, What massa (burden)? I will even forsake you, saith Hashem.
34And as for the navi, and the kohen, and HaAm, that shall say, The massa (burden) of Hashem, I will even punish that ish and his bais.
35Thus shall ye say every ish to his neighbor, and every ish to his brother, What hath Hashem answered? And, What hath Hashem spoken?
36And the massa (burden) of Hashem shall ye mention no more; for every manʼs word shall be his massa (burden); for ye have perverted the Devarim of the Elohim Chayyim, of Hashem Tzva'os Eloheinu.
37Thus shalt thou say to the navi, What hath Hashem answered thee? And, What hath Hashem spoken?
38But since ye say, The massa (burden) of Hashem; therefore thus saith Hashem, Because ye say this word, The massa (burden) of Hashem, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The massa (burden) of Hashem;
39Therefore, hineni, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the Ir that I gave you and avoteichem, and cast you out of My presence;
40And I will bring a cherpat olam (everlasting disgrace) upon you, and a kelimut olam (perpetual dishonor), which shall not be forgotten.
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