Jeremiah 23:33–40

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.’ ³⁴As 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^B 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 Armies, our God. ³⁷Say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ or ‘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.^C I will throw you away from my presence—both you and the city that I gave you and your ancestors. ⁴⁰I will bring on you everlasting disgrace and humiliation^a that will never be forgotten.”