Jeremiah 23
23
The Lord and His Sheep
1“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture! ” # Ps 100:3; Ezk 34:2,31; Zch 11:5-7,15-17 This is the Lord’s declaration. 2“Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who shepherd My people: You have scattered My flock, # Jr 10:21; 50:6; Ezk 34:5,12,31 banished them, and have not attended to them. # Ps 8:4; Is 23:16; Ezk 34:3 I will attend to you because of your evil acts” — this is the Lord’s declaration. 3“I will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands where I have banished them, # Ezk 34:12-13 and I will return them to their grazing land. They will become fruitful and numerous. # Gn 1:26-28; 9:1-7; 35:11 4I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them. # Ezk 34:23; Mc 5:2-6 They will no longer be afraid or dismayed, nor will any be missing.” # Ezk 34:25; Mc 7:14 This is the Lord’s declaration.
The Righteous Branch of David
5“The days are coming” # Jr 7:32; 9:25; 16:14; 19:6; 23:5,7; 30:3; 31:27,31; 33:14-16; 48:12; 49:2; 51:47,52 — this is the Lord’s declaration —
“when I will raise up a Righteous Branch of David. # 1Kg 12:16; Is 4:2; 55:3-4; Jr 30:9; 33:15; Ezk 34:23; 37:24-25; Hs 3:5; Zch 3:8; 6:12
He will reign wisely as king
and administer justice and righteousness in the land. # 1Ch 18:14; Ps 99:4; Is 9:7; 11:1-9; 33:5; Jr 9:24; 22:15; 33:15
6In His days Judah will be saved,
and Israel will dwell securely. # Dt 33:12,28; Ps 16:9; Pr 1:33; Jr 33:16
This is what He will be named:
Yahweh Our Righteousness. # Ps 4:1; Jr 33:16; 1Co 1:30
7“The days are coming” # Jr 7:32; 16:14; 19:6; 48:12; 49:2; 51:47,52 — the Lord’s declaration — “when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives # Jdg 8:19; 1Sm 14:39,45; 2Sm 4:9; 1Kg 1:29; 2:24; Jr 4:1-2; 5:2; 16:14-15; 38:16; Hs 4:15 who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,’ 8but, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other countries where I # LXX reads He had banished them.’ They will dwell once more in their own land.” # Jr 16:15
False Prophets Condemned
9Concerning the prophets:
My heart is broken within me, # Hab 3:16
and all my bones tremble.
I have become like a drunkard,
like a man overcome by wine,
because of the Lord,
because of His holy words.
10For the land is full of adulterers; # Jr 9:2; Hs 7:4; Mal 3:5
the land mourns # Jr 12:4; Am 1:2; Rm 8:22 because of the curse, # Dt 11:29; 27:13; Gl 3:13
and the grazing lands in the wilderness have dried up.
Their way of life # Lit Their manner of running has become evil,
and their power is not rightly used
11because both prophet and priest are ungodly, # Jr 6:13; 14:18; Zph 3:4
even in My house # 1Ch 17:14; 28:6; Is 56:5,7; Jr 11:15; 12:7; Ezk 23:39; Hs 9:15; Hb 1:9; Zch 1:16; Mal 3:10 I have found their evil.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
12Therefore, their way will be to them
like slippery paths in the gloom. # Ps 35:6; 73:18
They will be driven away and fall down there,
for I will bring disaster on them,
the year of their punishment. # Jr 11:23; 48:44
This is the Lord’s declaration.
13Among the prophets of Samaria
I saw something disgusting:
They prophesied by # = in the name of Baal
and led My people Israel astray. # Pr 12:26; Is 3:12; Jr 50:6; Mc 3:5
14Among the prophets of Jerusalem also
I saw a horrible thing: # Jr 5:30; Hs 6:10
They commit adultery and walk in lies.
They strengthen the hands of evildoers,
and none turns his back on evil.
They are all like Sodom # Gn 13:10-13; 18:16–19:28; Is 1:10-17 to Me;
Jerusalem’s residents are like Gomorrah.
15Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says concerning the prophets:
I am about to feed them wormwood # Am 5:7; 6:12
and give them poisoned water to drink, # Jr 8:14; 9:15
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness # Or pollution has spread throughout the land.
16This is what the Lord of Hosts says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are making you worthless. They speak visions from their own minds, # Jr 14:14; Ezk 7:26; 12:24; 13:16; Mc 3:6; Lm 2:9 not from the Lord’s mouth. # Is 1:20; 40:5; 58:14; 62:2; Jr 9:12; Mc 4:4 17They keep on saying to those who despise Me, ‘ # Is 5:24The Lord has said: You will have peace.’ # Jr 4:10 They have said to everyone who follows the stubbornness of his heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’ ”
18For who has stood in the council # Jb 15:8; Ps 25:14; 89:7 of the Lord
to see and hear His word?
Who has paid attention to His word and obeyed?
19Look, a storm from the Lord! # Ps 83:15; Is 29:6; Zch 9:14
Wrath has gone out,
a whirling storm.
It will whirl about the heads of the wicked.
20The Lord’s anger will not turn back # Gn 27:45; Is 5:25; 9:12,17,21; 10:4; Jr 2:35
until He has completely fulfilled the purposes of His heart.
In time to come you will understand it clearly. # Jr 30:23-24
21I did not send these prophets, # Jr 14:14
yet they ran with a message.
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.
22If they had really stood in My council,
they would have enabled My people to hear My words
and would have turned them back from their evil ways
and their evil deeds. # Jr 4:18
23“Am I a God who is only near” # Ps 139:1-10; Am 9:2-3 — this is the Lord’s declaration — “and not a God who is far away? 24Can a man hide himself in secret places where I cannot see him? ” # Gn 3:8; 4:14; Jb 34:22 — the Lord’s declaration. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? ” # Ps 139:7-12; Am 9:2-4 — the Lord’s declaration.
25“I have heard what the prophets who prophesy a lie in My name have said, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ # Jr 5:31; 14:14; 20:6; 23:32; 27:10,14-16; 29:9,21,31 26How long will this continue in the minds of the prophets prophesying lies, prophets of the deceit of their own minds? 27Through their dreams that they tell one another, they plan to cause My people to forget My name as their fathers forgot My name through Baal worship. # Jdg 3:7; 8:33-34 28The prophet who has only a dream should recount the dream, but the one who has My word should speak My word truthfully, for what is straw compared to grain? ” — this is the Lord’s declaration. 29“Is not My word like fire” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “and like a hammer that pulverizes rock? 30Therefore, take note! I am against the prophets” # Dt 18:20; Jr 14:14-15; Ezk 13:8 — the Lord’s declaration — “who steal My words from each other. 31I am against the prophets” — the Lord’s declaration — “who use their own tongues to make a declaration. 32I am against those who prophesy false dreams” # Dt 18:20 — the Lord’s declaration — “telling them and leading My people astray with their falsehoods and their boasting. It was not I who sent or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all # Is 30:5-6; Jr 2:8,11 to these people” — this is the Lord’s declaration.
The Burden of the Lord
33“Now when these people or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Lord? ’ you will respond to them: What is the burden? I will throw you away” — this is the Lord’s declaration. 34“As for the prophet, priest, or people who say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ I will punish that man and his household. 35This is what each man is to say to his friend and to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 36But no longer refer to # Or longer remember the burden of the Lord, for each man’s word becomes his burden and you pervert the words of the living God, the Lord of Hosts, our God. 37You must say to the prophet: What has the Lord answered you? and What has the Lord spoken? 38But if you say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ then this is what the Lord says: Because you have said, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ and I specifically told you not to say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ 39I will surely forget you # Some Hb mss; other Hb mss, LXX, Syr, Vg read surely lift you up and throw away from My presence both you and the city that I gave you and your fathers. 40I will bring on you everlasting shame and humiliation # Ps 78:66; Jr 20:11 that will never be forgotten.”
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Jeremiah 23: HCSB
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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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