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
1 WOE TO the shepherds (the civil leaders) who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasturing! says the Lord.
2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for and feed My people: You have scattered My flock and driven them away and have not visited and attended to them; behold, I will visit and attend to you for the evil of your doings, says the Lord.
3 And I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries to which I have driven them and will bring them again to their folds and pastures; and they will be fruitful and multiply.
4 And I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. And they will fear no more nor be dismayed, neither will any be missing or lost, says the Lord.
5 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch (Sprout), and He will reign as King and do wisely and will execute justice and righteousness in the land.
6 In His days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name by which He shall be called: The Lord Our Righteousness. [Matt. 1:21-23; Rom. 3:22.]
7 Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when they shall no more say, As the Lord lives, Who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt,
8 But, As the Lord lives, Who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries to which I had driven them. And they shall dwell in their own land. [Jer. 16:14-15].
9 Concerning the prophets: My heart [says Jeremiah] is broken within me, all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, a man whom wine has overcome, because of the Lord and because of His holy words [which He has pronounced against unfaithful leaders].
10 For the land is full of adulterers (forsakers of God, Israel's true Husband). Because of the curse [of God upon it] the land mourns, the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. They [both false prophets and people] rush into wickedness; and their course is evil, their might is not right.
11 For both [false] prophet and priest are ungodly and profane; even in My house have I found their wickedness, says the Lord.
12 Therefore their way will be to them like slippery paths in the dark; they will be driven on and fall into them. For I will bring evil upon them in the year of their punishment, says the Lord.
13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: they prophesied by Baal and caused My people Israel to err and go astray.
14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they encourage and strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that none returns from his wickedness. They have all of them become to Me like Sodom, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah.
15 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with [the bitterness of] wormwood and make them drink the [poisonous] water of gall, for from the [false] prophets of Jerusalem profaneness and ungodliness have gone forth into all the land.
16 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the [false] prophets who prophesy to you. They teach you vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility) and fill you with vain hopes; they speak a vision of their own minds and not from the mouth of the Lord.
17 They are continually saying to those who despise Me and the word of the Lord, The Lord has said: You shall have peace; and they say to everyone who walks after the stubbornness of his own mind and heart, No evil shall come upon you.
18 For who among them has stood in the council of the Lord, that he should perceive and hear His word? Who has marked His word [noticing and observing and giving attention to it] and has [actually] heard it?
19 Behold, the tempest of the Lord has gone forth in wrath, a whirling tempest; it shall whirl and burst upon the heads of the wicked.
20 The anger of the Lord shall not turn back until He has executed and accomplished the thoughts and intents of His mind and heart. In the latter days you shall consider and understand it perfectly.
21 I did not send these [false] prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in My council, then they would have caused My people to hear My words, then they would have turned them [My people] from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.
23 Am I a God at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off?
24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? says the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? says the Lord.
25 I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed [visions on my bed at night].
26 [How long shall this state of things continue?] How long yet shall it be in the minds of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even the prophets of the deceit of their own hearts,
27 Who think that they can cause My people to forget My name by their dreams which every man tells to his neighbor, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal?
28 The prophet who has a dream, let him tell his dream; but he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat [for nourishment]? says the Lord.
29 Is not My word like fire [that consumes all that cannot endure the test]? says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks in pieces the rock [of most stubborn resistance]?
30 Therefore behold, I am against the [false] prophets, says the Lord, [I am even now descending upon them with punishment, these prophets] who steal My words from one another [imitating the phrases of the true prophets].
31 Behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who use their [own deceitful] tongues and say, Thus says the Lord.
32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says the Lord, and tell them and cause My people to err and go astray by their lies and by their vain boasting and recklessness–when I did not send them or command them; nor do they profit these people at all, says the Lord.
33 And when these people, or a prophet or a priest, ask you, What is the burden of the Lord [the thing to be lifted up now]? then you shall say to them, What burden [indeed]! [You are the burden!] And I will disburden Myself of you and I will cast you off, says the Lord.
34 And as for the prophet, the priest, or [any of these] the people, whoever [in mockery calls the word of the Lord a burden and] says, The burden of the Lord, I will even visit in wrath and punish that man and his house.
35 [For the future, in speaking of the utterances of the Lord] thus 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?
36 But the burden of the Lord you must mention no more, for every man's burden is his own response and word [for as they mockingly call all prophecies burdens, whether good or bad, so will it prove to be to them; God will take them at their own word]; for you pervert the words [not of a lifeless idol, but] of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God!
37 Thus shall you [reverently] say to the prophet: What has the Lord answered you? Or, What has the Lord spoken?
38 But if you say, The burden of the Lord, therefore thus says the Lord: Because you said these words, The burden of the Lord, when I sent to you, saying, You shall not say, The burden of the Lord,
39 Therefore behold, I, even I, will assuredly take you up and cast you away from My presence, you and the city [Jerusalem] which I gave to you and to your fathers.
40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you and a perpetual shame which will not be forgotten.
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