Jeremiah 23

Woe to the Shepherds

1“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” says the LORD. 2Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: “You have scattered my flock and driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Look, I am attending to you for the evil of your deeds,” says the LORD. 3“Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands where I drove them, and I will bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. 4I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them. They will no longer fear or be terrified, and none will be missing,” says the LORD.

A Righteous Branch for David

5“Look, days are coming,” says the LORD,
“when I will raise up for David
a righteous Branch.
He will reign as king and act wisely
and practice justice and righteousness
in the land. 6In his days Judah will be saved,
and Israel will dwell securely.
And this is the name by which he will be called:
‘The LORD Is Our Righteousness.’ 7Therefore look, days are coming,” says the LORD, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8but, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up and brought back the offspring of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where I had driven them.’ And they will dwell in their own land.”

Concerning the Prophets

9Concerning the prophets:

My heart is broken within me;
all my bones tremble.
I have become like a drunken man,
like a man overcome by wine,
because of the LORD
and because of his holy words. 10For the land is full of adulterers;
because of the curse the land mourns,
the pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
Their course is evil,
and their strength is not right. 11“For both prophet and priest are profane;
even in my house I have found their evil,”
says the LORD. 12“Therefore their way will be to them
like slippery places in darkness.
They will be driven on and fall in it,
for I will bring disaster upon them
in the year of their visitation,”
says the LORD.

Prophets of Samaria and Jerusalem

13“Among the prophets of Samaria
I saw something offensive:
they prophesied by Baal
and led my people Israel astray. 14But among the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen something horrifying:
committing adultery and walking in falsehood.
They strengthen the hands of evildoers
so that no one turns from evil.
All of them have become to me like Sodom,
and its inhabitants like Gomorrah. 15Therefore thus says the LORD of Hosts concerning the prophets:

Look, I will feed them wormwood
and give them poisoned water to drink,
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
profaneness has gone out
into all the land.”

Do Not Listen to False Prophets

16Thus says the LORD of Hosts:

“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you empty; they speak a vision from their own heart, not from the mouth of the LORD. 17They continually say to those who despise me, ‘The LORD has spoken: You will have peace.’ And to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his heart they say, ‘No disaster will come upon you.’ 18For who has stood in the council of the LORD
and seen and heard his word?
Who has paid attention to his word
and listened? 19Look, the storm of the LORD—wrath—
has gone out,
a whirling storm.
It will whirl upon the head
of the wicked. 20The anger of the LORD will not turn back
until he has done
and established the purposes of his heart.
In the latter days
you will understand it clearly.

I Did Not Send These Prophets

21“I did not send the prophets,
yet they ran.
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied. 22But if they had stood in my council,
they would have caused my people to hear my words
and turned them from their evil way
and from the evil of their deeds. 23Am I a God nearby,” says the LORD,
“and not a God far away? 24Can anyone hide in secret places
so that I do not see them?” says the LORD.
“Do I not fill heaven and earth?”
says the LORD.

Dreams and the Word of the LORD

25“I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsehood in my name, saying, ‘I dreamed! I dreamed!’ 26How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, prophets of the deceit of their own heart, 27who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell each to his neighbor, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal? 28The prophet who has a dream, let him tell the dream; but the one who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully.

What does straw have in common with grain?”
says the LORD. 29“Is not my word like fire,” says the LORD,
“and like a hammer
that shatters rock?

I Am Against the Prophets

30“Therefore look, I am against the prophets,” says the LORD, “who steal my words from one another. 31Look, I am against the prophets,” says the LORD, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘He says.’ 32Look, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” says the LORD, “and tell them and lead my people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting. Yet I did not send them or command them, and they do not profit this people at all,” says the LORD.

The Burden of the LORD

33“When this people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, saying, ‘What is the burden of the LORD?’ then you shall say to them, ‘You are the burden, and I will cast you off,’ says the LORD. 34And as for the prophet, priest, or people who says, ‘The burden of the LORD,’ I will attend to that person and his household. 35Thus you shall say, each to his neighbor and each to his brother: ‘What has the LORD answered?’ or ‘What has the LORD spoken?’ 36But you shall no longer mention ‘the burden of the LORD,’ for each person’s own word becomes his burden, and you twist the words of the 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,’ therefore thus says the LORD: Because you have said this word, ‘The burden of the LORD,’ though I sent to you saying, ‘You shall not say, “The burden of the LORD,”’ 39therefore look, I will surely forget you and cast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your ancestors. 40I will place upon you everlasting reproach and everlasting humiliation that will not be forgotten.”