Jeremias (Jeremiah) 23
23
1Woe to the pastors that destroy and tear the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord.
2Therefore, thus saith the Lord the God of Israel to the pastors that feed my people: You have scattered my flock and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you for the evil of your doings, saith the Lord.
3And I will gather together the remnant of my flock out of all the lands into which I have cast them out. And I will make them return to their own fields: and they shall increase and be multiplied.
4And I will set up pastors over them, and they shall feed them: they shall fear no more and they shall not be dismayed. And none shall be wanting of their number, saith the Lord.
5Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, and I will raise up to David a just branch. And a king shall reign, and shall be wise, and shall execute judgement and justice in the earth.
6In those days shall Juda be saved and Israel shall dwell confidently: and this is the name that they shall call him: The Lord, Our Just One.
7Therefore, behold, the days to come, saith the Lord, and they shall say no more: The Lord liveth, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt:
8But, The Lord liveth, who hath brought out and brought hither the seed of the house of Israel, from the land of the north and out of all the lands to which I had cast them forth: and they shall dwell in their own land.
9To the prophets: My heart is broken within me, all my bones tremble: I am become as a drunken man, and as a man full of wine, at the presence of the Lord and at the presence of his holy words.
10Because the land is full of adulterers, because the land hath mourned by reason of cursing. The fields of the desert are dried up, and their course is become evil, and their strength unlike.
11For the prophet and the priest are defiled: and in my house I have found their wickedness, saith the Lord.
12Therefore, their way shall be as a slippery way in the dark: for they shall be driven on and fall therein: for I will bring evils upon them, the year of their visitation, saith the Lord.
13And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: they prophesied in Baal and deceived my people Israel.
14And I have seen the likeness of adulterers and the way of lying in the prophets of Jerusalem: and they strengthened the hand of the wicked, that no man should return from his evil doings. That are all become unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrha.
15Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts to the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood and I will give them gall to drink: for from the prophets of Jerusalem corruption is gone forth into all the land.
16Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Hearken not to the words of the prophets that prophesy to you and deceive you. They speak a vision of their own heart. And not out of the mouth of the Lord.
17They say to them that blaspheme me: The Lord hath said, You shall have peace. And to every one that walketh in the perverseness of his own heart they have said: No evil shall come to you.
18For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord and hath seen and heard his word? Who hath considered his word and heard it?
19Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord's indignation shall come forth: and a tempest shall break out and come upon the head of the wicked.
20The wrath of the Lord shall not return till he execute it and till he accomplish the thought of his heart: in the latter days you shall understand his counsel.
21I did not send prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22If they stood in my counsel and had made my words known to my people, I should have turned them from their evil way and from their wicked doings.
23Am I, think ye, a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?
24Shall a man be hid in secret places and I not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?
25I have heard what the prophets said that prophesy lies in my name and say: I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
26How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies and that prophesy the delusions of their own heart?
27Who seek to make my people forget my name through their dreams, which they tell every man to his neighbour: as their fathers forgot my name for Baal.
28The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream: and he that hath my word, let him speak my word with truth. What hath the chaff to do with the wheat, saith the Lord?
29Are not my words as a fire, saith the Lord, and as a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
30Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord: who steal my words every one from his neighbour.
31Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord: who use their tongues and say: The Lord saith it.
32Behold, I am against the prophets that have lying dreams, saith the Lord, and tell them and cause my people to err by their lying and by their wonders: when I sent them not nor commanded them, who have not profited this people at all, saith the Lord.
33If therefore this people or the prophet or the priest shall ask thee, saying: What is the burden of the Lord? Thou shalt say to them: You are the burden: for I will cast you away, saith the Lord.
34And as for the prophet and the priest and the people that shall say: The burden of the Lord: I will visit upon that man and upon his house.
35Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbour, and to his brother: What hath the Lord answered and what hath the Lord spoken?
36And the burden of the Lord shall be mentioned no more, for every man's word shall be his burden: for you have perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts our God.
37Thus shalt thou say to the prophet: What hath the Lord answered thee and what hath the Lord spoken?
38But if you shall say, The burden of the Lord: therefore thus saith the Lord: Because you have said this word, The burden of the Lord: and I have sent to you, saying: Say not, The burden of the Lord:
39Therefore, behold, I will take you away, carrying you, and will forsake you and the city which I gave to you and to your fathers, out of my presence.
40And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you and a perpetual shame which shall never be forgotten.
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Jeremias (Jeremiah) 23: DRC1752
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Jeremiah 23
23
The Evil Leaders of Judah
1“How terrible it will be for the leaders of Judah, who are scattering and destroying my people,” says the Lord.
2They are responsible for the people, so the Lord, the God of Israel, says to them: “You have scattered my people and forced them away and not taken care of them. So I will punish you for the evil things you have done,” says the Lord. 3“I sent my people to other countries, but I will gather those who are left alive and bring them back to their own country. Then they will have many children and grow in number. 4I will place new leaders over my people, who will take care of them. And my people will not be afraid or terrified again, and none of them will be lost,” says the Lord.
The Good Branch Will Come
5“The days are coming,” says the Lord,
“when I will raise up a good branch in David’s family.
He will be a king who will rule in a wise way;
he will do what is fair and right in the land.
6In his time Judah will be saved,
and Israel will live in safety.
This will be his name:
The Lord Does What Is Right.
7“So the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when people will not say again: ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought Israel out of Egypt . . . ’ 8But people will say something new: ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the descendants of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where he had sent them away . . . ’ Then the people of Israel will live in their own land.”
False Prophets Will Be Punished
9A message to the prophets:
My heart is broken.
All my bones shake.
I’m like someone who is drunk,
like someone who has been overcome with wine.
This is because of the Lord
and his holy words.
10The land of Judah is full of people who are guilty of adultery.
Because of this, the Lord cursed the land.
It has become a very sad place,
and the pastures have dried up.
The people are evil
and use their power in the wrong way.
11“Both the prophets and the priests live as if there were no God.
I have found them doing evil things even in my own Temple,” says the Lord.
12“So they will be in danger.
They will be forced into darkness
where they will be defeated.
I will bring disaster on them
in the year I punish them,” says the Lord.
13“I saw the prophets of Samaria
do something wrong.
Those prophets prophesied by Baal
and led my people Israel away.
14And I have seen the prophets of Jerusalem
do terrible things.
They are guilty of adultery
and live by lies.
They encourage evil people to keep on doing evil,
so the people don’t stop sinning.
All of those people are like the city of Sodom.
The people of Jerusalem are like the city of Gomorrah to me!”
15So this is what the Lord All-Powerful says about the prophets:
“I will make those prophets eat bitter food
and drink poisoned water,
because the prophets of Jerusalem spread wickedness
through the whole country.”
16This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:
“Don’t pay attention to what those prophets are saying to you.
They are trying to fool you.
They talk about visions their own minds made up,
not about visions from me.
17They say to those who hate me:
‘The Lord says: You will have peace.’
They say to all those who are stubborn and do as they please:
‘Nothing bad will happen to you.’
18But none of these prophets has stood in the meeting of angels
to see or hear the message of the Lord.
None of them has paid close attention to his message.
19Look, the punishment from the Lord
will come like a storm.
His anger will be like a hurricane.
It will come swirling down on the heads of those wicked people.
20The Lord’s anger will not stop
until he finishes what he plans to do.
When that day is over,
you will understand this clearly.
21I did not send those prophets,
but they ran to tell their message.
I did not speak to them,
but they prophesied anyway.
22But if they had stood in the meeting of angels,
they would have told my message to my people.
They would have turned the people from their evil ways
and from doing evil.
23“I am a God who is near,” says the Lord.
“I am also a God who is far away.”
24“No one can hide
where I cannot see him,” says the Lord.
“I fill all of heaven and earth,” says the Lord.
25“I have heard the prophets who prophesy lies in my name. They say, ‘I have had a dream! I have had a dream!’ 26How long will this continue in the minds of these lying prophets? They prophesy from their own wishful thinking. 27They are trying to make the people of Judah forget me by telling each other these dreams. In the same way, their ancestors forgot me and worshiped Baal. 28Is straw the same thing as wheat?” says the Lord. “If a prophet wants to tell about his dreams, let him! But let the person who hears my message speak it truthfully! 29Isn’t my message like a fire?” says the Lord. “Isn’t it like a hammer that smashes a rock?
30“So I am against the false prophets,” says the Lord. “They keep stealing words from each other and say they are from me. 31I am against the false prophets,” says the Lord. “They use their own words and pretend it is a message from me. 32I am against the prophets who prophesy false dreams,” says the Lord. “They mislead my people with their lies and false teachings! I did not send them or command them to do anything for me. They can’t help the people of Judah at all,” says the Lord.
The Sad Message from the Lord
33“Suppose the people of Judah, a prophet, or a priest asks you: ‘Jeremiah, what is the message from the Lord?’ You will answer them and say, ‘You are a heavy load to the Lord, and I will throw you down, says the Lord.’ 34A prophet or a priest or one of the people might say, ‘This is a message from the Lord.’ That person has lied, so I will punish him and his whole family. 35This is what you will say to each other: ‘What did the Lord answer?’ or ‘What did the Lord say?’ 36But you will never again say, ‘The message of the Lord,’ because the only message you speak is your own words. You have changed the words of our God, the living God, the Lord All-Powerful. 37This is how you should speak to the prophets: ‘What answer did the Lord give you?’ or ‘What did the Lord say?’ 38But don’t say, ‘The message from the Lord.’ If you use these words, this is what the Lord says: Because you called it a ‘message from the Lord,’ though I told you not to use those words, 39I will pick you up and throw you away from me, along with Jerusalem, which I gave to your ancestors and to you. 40And I will make a disgrace of you forever; your shame will never be forgotten.”
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.