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
1Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. 2Therefore thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, against the shepherds that feed my people: Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them; behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. 3And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking, saith the LORD. 5Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute judgement and justice in the land. 6In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The LORD is our righteousness. 7Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, As the LORD liveth, which brought up the Children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 8but, As the LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.
9Concerning the prophets. Mine heart within me is broken, all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome; because of the LORD, and because of his holy words. 10For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pastures of the wilderness are dried up; and their course is evil, and their force is not right, 11for both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD. 12Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery places in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD. 13And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. 14In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen an horrible thing; they commit adultery, and walk in lies, and they strengthen the hands of evil-doers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them become unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. 15Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. 16Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you; they teach you vanity: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD. 17They say continually unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and unto every one that walketh in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil shall come upon you. 18For who hath stood in the council of the LORD, that he should perceive and hear his word? who hath marked my word, and heard it? 19Behold, the tempest of the LORD, even his fury, is gone forth, yea, a whirling tempest: it shall burst upon the head of the wicked. 20The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall understand it perfectly. 21I sent not these prophets, yet they ran: I spake not unto them, yet they prophesied. 22But if they had stood in my council, then had they caused my people to hear my words, and had turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. 23Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? 24Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. 25I have heard what the prophets have said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. 26How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies; even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart? 27which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers forgat 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 faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat? saith the LORD. 29Is not my word like as fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? 30Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. 31Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. 32Behold, I am against them that prophesy lying dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting: yet I sent them not, nor commanded them; neither shall they profit this people at all, saith the LORD.
33And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? then shalt thou say unto them, What burden! I will cast you off, saith the LORD. 34And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house. 35Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken? 36And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man's own word shall be his burden; for ye 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 ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith the LORD: Because ye say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD; 39therefore, behold, I will utterly forget you, and I will cast you off, and the city that I gave unto you and to your fathers, away from my presence: 40and I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame which shall not be forgotten.
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historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society