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
1What trouble is coming to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! declares the Lord.
2This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who were meant to look after my people: You have scattered my flock. You have chased them away. You didn't take care of them, so now I will take care of you for all the evil you've done, declares the Lord.
3I myself will gather what's left of my flock from all the countries where I exiled them, and I will bring them back to their pasture, where they will increase in number. 4I will put shepherds in charge of them who will take care of them, and they won't be afraid or discouraged anymore, and none of them will be missing, declares the Lord.
5Look, the time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will choose a descendant of David who does what is right. As king he will rule with wisdom and do what is just and right throughout the country. 6When he is king, Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety. This is the name he will be called: The Lord Who Makes Us Right.
7Look, the time is coming, declares the Lord, when people won't say anymore, “On the Lord's life, who led the Israelites out of Egypt.” 8Instead they'll say, “On the Lord's life, who led the Israelites back from the northern country and all the other countries where he had exiled them.” Then they'll live in their own country.
9When it comes to the prophets: I'm really disturbed—I'm shaking inside! I stagger like a drunk, like someone who's had too much wine, because of what the Lord is like, because of his holy words.#23:9. Jeremiah is alarmed at the contrast between what he knows of the Lord's nature and the degraded state of the nation—and what this means in terms of the coming disaster. 10For the country is full of people committing adultery so it's under a curse. The land mourns and the desert pastures have dried up. The people live evil lives, using their energy to do wrong. 11Both prophets and priests show no respect for me. I see wickedness even in my Temple, declares the Lord. 12That's why their path will become slippery; they will be chased away in the dark and fall down. I'm going to bring disaster on them at the time when they're punished, declares the Lord.
13I saw the prophets of Samaria doing something really offensive: They prophesied in the name of Baal and led my people Israel to sin.
14But now I see the prophets of Jerusalem doing something even more disgusting: They commit adultery and their lives are a lie. They support the wicked, so no one stops sinning. To me they're all like Sodom; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.
15So this is what the Lord Almighty says about the prophets: I will give them wormwood to eat and poisoned water to drink, because evil has spread across the country from the prophets of Jerusalem.
16This is what the Lord Almighty says: Don't pay attention to what these prophets say when they prophesy to you. They're fooling you with visions they make up in their own minds. They're not from me. 17They keep on telling people who don't respect me, “The Lord says that you'll live in peace,” and to everyone following their own stubborn attitude, “Nothing bad is going to happen to you.”
18But who of them has attended the Lord's council to hear and understand what he's saying? Who has paid attention to his instructions and followed them? 19Watch out! The Lord has sent out a furious storm, a tornado swirling around the heads of the wicked. 20The Lord's anger won't fade until he's finished doing everything he wants. Only then will you really understand.
21I didn't send these prophets, but they run to deliver their messages. I didn't tell them to say anything, but they still go on prophesying. 22Now if they had attended my council, they would have delivered my instructions to my people and brought them back from their evil way of life, from their evil actions.
23Am I only a local God and not a God who operates widely? asks the Lord. 24Can people hide in secret places where I can't see them? asks the Lord. Don't I operate everywhere in heaven and on earth? asks the Lord.
25I've listened to the prophets who prophesy lies in my name. They say, “I've had a dream! I've had a dream!” 26How long will this continue? How long will these prophets go on prophesying these lies which are just the product of their own deluded minds? 27They think the dreams that they repeat to one another will lead my people to forget me, just like their forefathers forgot me by worshiping Baal.
28A prophet who has a dream should say it's just a dream, but anyone I've spoken to should deliver my message faithfully. What is straw in comparison to grain? asks the Lord. 29Doesn't my word burn like fire? asks the Lord. Isn't it like a hammer smashing a rock?
30Pay attention to this, declares the Lord. I'm opposed to those prophets who steal words from one another and then say it's a message from me.
31Pay attention to this, declares the Lord. I'm opposed to those prophets who make up their own stories#23:31. “Make up their own stories”: literally, “take their own tongues.” and then announce, “This is what the Lord says.”
32Pay attention to this, declares the Lord, I'm opposed to those who prophesy fictional dreams. They tell them in order to lead my people into sin with their wild lies. I didn't send them or give them any instructions, and they don't do anybody any good, declares the Lord.
33So when a prophet or priest or anyone else comes and asks you, “What is ‘the burden of the Lord?’”#23:33. “The burden of the Lord” in the sense of some requirement that the Lord is imposing on the people. Clearly the people saw the various laws and regulations as “burdens” and related to the Lord as this legalistic “burden-giver.” Though they lived evil lives it seems they thought that if they observed such “burdens,” including new ones, then the Lord would be satisfied. tell them, I'm not giving you a burden. I'm giving up on you, declares the Lord.
34If a prophet or priest or anyone else claims, “This is the burden of the Lord,” I will punish that person and their family.
35This is what everybody should say to their friends and relatives: “What answer has the Lord given?” or, “What has the Lord said?” 36Don't talk about “the burden of the Lord” anymore, because everybody has different ideas about this “burden,” perverting the words of the living God, the Lord Almighty, our God.
37This is what you are to ask any prophet: “What message has the Lord given you?” and “What has the Lord told you?”
38If they say, “This is the burden of the Lord,” then this is the Lord's response: Because you said, “This is the burden of the Lord,” and I warned you not to, 39now I'm going to pick you up like a burden and throw you away, you and the city that I gave to you and your forefathers. 40I will disgrace you forever, your shame will never be forgotten.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com