19 This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter.l Take along some of the eldersm of the people and of the priests 2 and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom,n near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you, 3 and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kingso of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen! I am going to bring a disasterp on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.q 4 For they have forsakenr me and made this a place of foreign godss; they have burned incenset in it to gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.u 5 They have built the high places of Baal to burn their childrenv in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.w 6 So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call this place Tophethx or the Valley of Ben Hinnom,y but the Valley of Slaughter.z

7 “ ‘In this place I will ruina the plansa of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies,b at the hands of those who want to kill them, and I will give their carcassesc as foodd to the birds and the wild animals. 8 I will devastate this city and make it an object of horror and scorn;e all who pass by will be appalledf and will scoff because of all its wounds.g 9 I will make them eath the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh because their enemiesi will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them.’

10 “Then break the jarj while those who go with you are watching, 11 and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I will smashk this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will buryl the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. 12 This is what I will do to this place and to those who live here, declares the Lord. I will make this city like Topheth. 13 The housesm in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah will be defiledn like this place, Topheth—all the houses where they burned incense on the roofso to all the starry hostsp and poured out drink offeringsq to other gods.’ ”

14 Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the courtr of the Lord’s temple and said to all the people, 15 “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on this city and all the villages around it every disasters I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-neckedt and would not listenu to my words.’ ”

The Righteous Branch

23 “Woe to the shepherdss who are destroying and scatteringt the sheep of my pasture!”u declares the Lord. 2 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherdsv who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flockw and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evilx you have done,” declares the Lord. 3 “I myself will gather the remnanty of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture,z where they will be fruitful and increase in number. 4 I will place shepherdsa over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraidb or terrified, nor will any be missing,c” declares the Lord.

5 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,

“when I will raise up for Davida a righteous Branch,d

a Kinge who will reignf wisely

and do what is just and rightg in the land.

6 In his days Judah will be saved

and Israel will live in safety.h

This is the namei by which he will be called:

The Lord Our Righteous Savior.j

7 “So then, the days are coming,”k declares the Lord, “when people will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’l 8 but they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ Then they will live in their own land.”m

Lying Prophets

9 Concerning the prophets:

My heartn is broken within me;

all my bones tremble.o

I am like a drunken man,

like a strong man overcome by wine,

because of the Lord

and his holy words.p

10 The land is full of adulterers;q

because of the curseb r the land lies parched

and the pasturess in the wilderness are withered.t

The prophets follow an evil course

and use their power unjustly.

11 “Both prophet and priest are godless;u

even in my templev I find their wickedness,”

declares the Lord.

12 “Therefore their path will become slippery;w

they will be banished to darkness

and there they will fall.

I will bring disaster on them

in the year they are punished,x”

declares the Lord.

13 “Among the prophets of Samaria

I saw this repulsive thing:

They prophesied by Baaly

and led my people Israel astray.z

14 And among the prophets of Jerusalem

I have seen something horrible:a

They commit adultery and live a lie.b

They strengthen the hands of evildoers,c

so that not one of them turns from their wickedness.d

They are all like Sodome to me;

the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.”f

15 Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says concerning the prophets:

“I will make them eat bitter food

and drink poisoned water,g

because from the prophets of Jerusalem

ungodlinessh has spread throughout the land.”

16 This is what the Lord Almighty says:

“Do not listeni to what the prophets are prophesying to you;

they fill you with false hopes.

They speak visionsj from their own minds,

not from the mouthk of the Lord.

17 They keep sayingl to those who despise me,

‘The Lord says: You will have peace.’m

And to all who follow the stubbornnessn of their hearts

they say, ‘No harmo will come to you.’

18 But which of them has stood in the councilp of the Lord

to see or to hear his word?

Who has listened and heard his word?

19 See, the stormq of the Lord

will burst out in wrath,

a whirlwindr swirling down

on the heads of the wicked.

20 The angers of the Lord will not turn backt

until he fully accomplishes

the purposes of his heart.

In days to come

you will understand it clearly.

21 I did not sendu these prophets,

yet they have run with their message;

I did not speak to them,

yet they have prophesied.

22 But if they had stood in my council,v

they would have proclaimedw my words to my people

and would have turnedx them from their evil ways

and from their evil deeds.y

23 “Am I only a God nearby,z”

declares the Lord,

“and not a God far away?

24 Who can hidea in secret places

so that I cannot see them?”

declares the Lord.

“Do not I fill heaven and earth?”b

declares the Lord.

25 “I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy liesc in my name. They say, ‘I had a dream!d I had a dream!’ 26 How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusionse of their own minds?f 27 They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forgetg my name, just as their ancestors forgoth my name through Baal worship.i 28 Let the prophet who has a dreamj recount the dream, but let the one who has my wordk speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the Lord. 29 “Is not my word like fire,”l declares the Lord, “and like a hammerm that breaks a rock in pieces?

30 “Therefore,” declares the Lord, “I am againstn the prophetso who steal from one another words supposedly from me. 31 Yes,” declares the Lord, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, ‘The Lord declares.’p 32 Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,q” declares the Lord. “They…