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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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.