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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Jeremiah 23: CPDV
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Jeremiah 23
23
The Righteous Branch
1 # ch. 6:3; 10:21; 22:22; 25:34, 36; Isa. 56:11; Ezek. 34:2; Zech. 11:17; [John 10:12, 13] “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning #[See ver. 1 above] the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. #ver. 22; ch. 4:4Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. 3#ch. 29:14; 32:37; Deut. 30:3; Ezek. 20:34, 41; 37:21; [Ps. 107:3]; See Ezek. 34:11-16 Then I will gather the remnant of my flock #[ch. 8:3] out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, #[Gen. 1:28]and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4#ch. 3:15I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.
5 # For ver. 5, 6, see ch. 33:14-16 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous #Isa. 4:2; 11:1 Branch, and #ch. 30:9; Isa. 32:1; Ezek. 37:24; Hos. 3:5; Zech. 9:9; Matt. 2:2; Luke 1:32; 19:38; John 1:49he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6In his days Judah will be saved, and #Deut. 33:28; [Zech. 14:11] Israel will #ch. 32:37 dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: #Rom. 10:4; 1 Cor. 1:30‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
7 # For ver. 7, 8, see ch. 16:14, 15 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 8but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he#23:8 Septuagint; Hebrew I had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”
Lying Prophets
9Concerning the prophets:
#
Ezek. 6:9 My heart is broken within me;
#
Hab. 3:16
all my bones shake;
I am like a drunken man,
like a man overcome by wine,
because of the Lord
and because of his holy words.
10 # ch. 5:7, 8; 9:2 For the land is full of adulterers;
#
Ps. 10:7; 59:12; Hos. 4:2, 3 because of the curse #ch. 4:28 the land mourns,
and #ch. 9:10; 12:4; Ps. 107:34 the pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
# [ch. 22:17] Their course is evil,
and their might is not right.
11 # [ver. 33, 34; Zeph. 3:4]; See ch. 6:13 “Both prophet and priest are ungodly;
even #ch. 7:30; 32:34; Ezek. 8:16; 23:39in my house I have found their evil,
declares the Lord.
12 #
Ps. 35:6; 73:18 Therefore their way shall be to them
like slippery paths #Prov. 4:19; [ch. 13:16] in the darkness,
into which they shall be driven and fall,
for I will bring disaster upon them
# ch. 11:23 in the year of their punishment,
declares the Lord.
13In the prophets of #Isa. 7:9; Ezek. 16:46, 51, 53, 55; 23:4, 33 Samaria
#
Lam. 2:14 I saw an unsavory thing:
# ch. 2:8 they prophesied by Baal
#
Isa. 9:16; Mic. 3:5 and led my people Israel astray.
14But in the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen a horrible thing:
# ch. 29:23 they commit adultery and walk in lies;
#
Ps. 64:5; Ezek. 13:22 they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns from his evil;
#
Isa. 1:9, 10; 13:19 all of them have become like Sodom to me,
#
Isa. 1:9, 10; 13:19 and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
15Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:
# ch. 9:15; Prov. 5:4 “Behold, I will feed them with bitter food
# ch. 9:15; Prov. 5:4 and give them #ch. 8:14poisoned water to drink,
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”
16Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, #[Ps. 12:2] filling you with vain hopes. #[ver. 21, 26; Num. 16:28]They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. 17They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, #[Zech. 10:2]; See ch. 6:14 ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who #See ch. 3:17 stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, #ch. 5:12; Mic. 3:11‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”
18For #ver. 22; Isa. 40:14who among them has stood in the council of the Lord
to see and to hear his word,
or who has paid attention to his word and listened?
19 # ch. 30:23 Behold, the storm of the Lord!
Wrath has gone forth,
# ch. 25:32 a whirling tempest;
it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
20 # ch. 30:24; [Isa. 55:11] The anger of the Lord will not turn back
until he has executed and #ch. 30:24; [Isa. 55:11] accomplished
the intents of his heart.
# ch. 30:24 In the latter days you will understand it clearly.
21 # See ch. 14:14 “I did not send the prophets,
yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.
22 # ver. 18 But if they had stood in my council,
then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
# ch. 25:5; [Luke 1:17] and they would have turned them from their evil way,
and #ver. 2from the evil of their deeds.
23 # [Ps. 94:7, 9; Amos 9:2, 3]; See Ps. 139:7-12 “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? 24#[See ver. 23 above] Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. #Isa. 66:1; Acts 7:49Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. 25I have heard what the prophets have said #See ch. 5:31 who prophesy lies in my name, saying, #[Zech. 10:2]‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ 26How long shall there be lies in the heart of #[ver. 16, 21; Num. 16:28]the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, 27who think to make my people forget my name #[See ver. 25 above] by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their #Judg. 3:7; 8:33, 34fathers forgot my name for Baal? 28#[Num. 12:6] Let the prophet who has a dream #ver. 25 tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. #[Luke 3:17]What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. 29#[See ver. 28 above] Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and #[Dan. 2:34, 45]like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? 30#Ezek. 13:8; [ch. 14:15; Deut. 18:20]Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another. 31Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the Lord.’ 32Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and #ver. 13 lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when #ver. 21; See ch. 14:14I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.
33 # See Ezek. 14:1-11 “When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ you shall say to them, ‘You are the burden,#23:33 Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew What burden? and #[Hos. 4:6]I will cast you off, declares the Lord.’ 34And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ #[See ver. 33 above]I will punish that man and his household. 35Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 36But ‘the burden of the Lord’ you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man’s own word, and #[Matt. 15:6] you pervert the words of #Ps. 42:2the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. 37Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 38But if you say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have said these words, “The burden of the Lord,” when I sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’” 39therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up#23:39 Or surely forget you and #[See ver. 33 above]cast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers. 40#ch. 20:11And I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and #ch. 20:11perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’”
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