The Branch of Righteousness

23 “Woe ato the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. bBehold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the Lord. 3 “But cI will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. 4 I will set up dshepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the Lord.

5 “Behold, ethe days are coming,” says the Lord,

“That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness;

A King shall reign and 1prosper,

fAnd execute 2judgment and righteousness in the 3earth.

6 gIn His days Judah will be saved,

And Israel hwill dwell safely;

Now ithis is His name by which He will be called:

4THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS

7 “Therefore, behold, jthe days are coming,” says the Lord, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8 but, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country kand from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own lland.”

False Prophets and Empty Oracles

9 My heart within me is broken

Because of the prophets;

mAll my bones shake.

I am like a drunken man,

And like a man whom wine has overcome,

Because of the Lord,

And because of His holy words.

10 For nthe land is full of adulterers;

For obecause of a curse the land mourns.

pThe pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up.

Their course of life is evil,

And their might is not right.

11 “For qboth prophet and priest are profane;

Yes, rin My house I have found their wickedness,” says the Lord.

12 “Therefore stheir way shall be to them

Like slippery ways;

In the darkness they shall be driven on

And fall in them;

For I twill bring disaster on them,

The year of their punishment,” says the Lord.

13 “And I have seen 5folly in the prophets of Samaria:

uThey prophesied by Baal

And vcaused My people Israel to err.

14 Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem:

wThey commit adultery and walk in lies;

They also xstrengthen the hands of evildoers,

So that no one turns back from his wickedness.

All of them are like ySodom to Me,

And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

15 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:

‘Behold, I will feed them with zwormwood,

And make them drink the water of gall;

For from the prophets of Jerusalem

6Profaneness has gone out into all the land.’ ”

16 Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you.

They make you worthless;

aThey speak a vision of their own heart,

Not from the mouth of the Lord.

17 They continually say to those who despise Me,

‘The Lord has said, b“You shall have peace” ’;

And to everyone who cwalks according to the 7dictates of his own heart, they say,

d‘No evil shall come upon you.’ ”

18 For ewho has stood in the counsel of the Lord,

And has perceived and heard His word?

Who has marked His word and heard it?

19 Behold, a fwhirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury—

A violent whirlwind!

It will fall violently on the head of the wicked.

20 The ganger of the Lord will not turn back

Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart.

hIn the latter days you will understand it perfectly.

21 “I ihave not sent these prophets, yet they ran.

I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.

22 But if they had stood in My counsel,

And had caused My people to hear My words,

Then they would have jturned them from their evil way

And from the evil of their doings.

23 “Am I a God near at hand,” says the Lord,

“And not a God afar off?

24 Can anyone khide himself in secret places,

So I shall not see him?” says the Lord;

l“Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord.

25 “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ 26 How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, 27 who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, mas their fathers forgot My name for Baal.

28 “The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream;

And he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully.

What is the chaff to the wheat?” says the Lord.

29 “Is not My word like a nfire?” says the Lord,

“And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

30 “Therefore behold, oI am against the prophets,” says the Lord, “who steal My words every one from his neighbor. 31 Behold, I am pagainst the prophets,” says the Lord, “who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’ 32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” says the Lord, “and tell them, and cause My people to err by their qlies and by rtheir recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not sprofit this people at all,” says the Lord.