Jeremiah 23

23Woe be unto ^athe pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord. ²Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against ^athe pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, ^bI will visit upon you ^cthe evil of your doings, saith the Lord. ³And ^dI will gather the remnant of my flock ^eout of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and ^fthey shall be fruitful and increase. ⁴And I will set up ^gshepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord.

^5hBehold, ⁱthe days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous ^kBranch, and ^la King shall reign and ^mprosper, and shall execute ⁿjudgment and justice in the earth. ⁶In his days Judah shall be saved, and ^oIsrael shall dwell ^psafely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, ^†qTHE LORD ^rOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. ^7sTherefore, behold, ⁱthe days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; ⁸But, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and ^efrom all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.

^9ssMine heart within me is broken because of the prophets;

^tAll my bones shake;

I am like a drunken man,

And like a man whom wine hath overcome,

^tBecause of the Lord, and because of the words of his holiness.

¹⁰For ^uthe land is full of adulterers;

For ^vbecause of ^||swearing ^wthe land mourneth;

^xThe pleasant places of the wilderness ^yare dried up,

And their ^||course is evil, and their force is not right.

¹¹For ^zboth prophet and priest are profane;

Yea, ^ain my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord.

¹²Wherefore ^btheir way shall be unto them as slippery ways ^cin the darkness:

They shall be driven on, and fall therein:

^dFor I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the Lord.

¹³And I have seen ^||†efolly in the prophets of ^fSamaria;

^gThey prophesied in Baal,

And ^hcaused my people Israel to err.

¹⁴I have seen also in ⁱthe prophets of Jerusalem ^||an horrible thing:

^kThey commit adultery, and ^lwalk in lies:

They ^mstrengthen also the hands of evildoers,

That none doth return from his wickedness:

They are all of them unto me ⁿas Sodom,

And ⁿthe inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

¹⁵Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning ⁱthe prophets; ^oBehold, I will feed them with ^pwormwood, ^oand make them drink ^qthe water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is ^||profaneness gone forth into all the land. ¹⁶Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: ^rthey speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. ¹⁷They say still unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, ^sYe shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the ^||imagination of his own heart, ^tNo evil shall come upon you. ¹⁸For ^uwho hath stood in the ^||counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it? ^19wBehold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury, even ^xa grievous whirlwind: ^wit shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. ^20yThe anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: ^yzin the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly. ^21aI have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. ²²But if they had ^bstood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have ^cturned them from their evil way, and from ^dthe evil of their doings. ²³Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and ^enot a God afar off? ^24fCan any hide himself in secret places ^ethat I shall not see him? saith the Lord. ^gDo not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord. ²⁵I have heard what the prophets said, ^hthat prophesy lies in my name, saying, I ⁱhave dreamed, I have dreamed. ²⁶How long shall this be in the heart of ^kthe prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are ^lprophets of the deceit of their own heart; ²⁷Which think to cause my people to forget my name ⁱby their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, ^mas their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. ²⁸The prophet ^†that hath a dream, ⁱlet him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord. ²⁹ⁿIs not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that ^obreaketh the rock in pieces? ³⁰Therefore, behold, ^pI am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. ³¹Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, ^||that use their tongues, and say, He saith. ³²Behold, I am against them ⁱthat prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and ^qcause my people to err by their lies, and by their ^rlightness; ^syet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord.

³³And when this people, or ^tthe prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is ^uthe burden of the Lord? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? ^vI will even forsake you, saith the Lord. ³⁴And as for ^tthe prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, ^uThe burden of the Lord, I will even ^†punish that man and his house. ³⁵Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, ^wWhat hath the Lord answered? and, What hath the Lord spoken? ³⁶And the burden of the Lord shall ye mention no more: for every man’s word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of ^xthe living God, of the Lord of hosts our God. ³⁷Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, ^wWhat hath the Lord answered thee? and, What hath the Lord spoken? ³⁸But since ye say, The burden of the Lord; therefore thus saith the Lord; Because ye say this word, The burden of the Lord, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the Lord; ³⁹Therefore, behold, I, even I, ^ywill utterly forget you, and ^vI will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence: ⁴⁰And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and ^za perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.