Jeremiah 23:9–25:14
9 Concerning the prophets:
My heart is broken in my midst.
All my bones tremble.
I have become like a drunken man,
even like a man over whom wine has passed,
because of Yahweh,
and because of ⌊his holy words⌋.l
10 For the land is full of adulterers;
for the land mourns because of a curse.
The pastures of the desertm are dry,
and their evil has been their way of running,
and their power is not right.
11 “For both prophet as well as priest are godless,
even in my temple I have found their wickedness,” ⌊declares⌋n Yahweh.
12 “⌊Therefore⌋o their way will be to them like the slippery places,
they will be pushed in the darkness,
and they will fall into it,
for I will bring disaster on them in the year of their punishment,” ⌊declares⌋p Yahweh.
13 “Now in the prophets of Samaria I saw a disgusting thing.
They prophesied by Baal and they caused my people Israel to err.
14 And in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible.
They commit adultery, and they walk in lies,q
and they make strong the hands of evildoers,
so that they have not turned back each from his wickedness.
All of them have become to me like Sodom,
and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
15 ⌊Therefore⌋r thus says Yahweh of hosts concerning the prophets:
“Look, I am going to let them eat wormwood
and I will give them water of poison to drink,
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
went out ungodliness to all the land.”
“You must not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you.
They are deluding you with visions of their ⌊mind⌋,s
They do not speak from the mouth of Yahweh.
17 They aret continually saying to those who disregard the word of Yahweh,
‘Peace it will be to you,’
and to ⌊each one⌋u who walks in the stubbornness of his heart they say,
‘Calamity will not come upon you.’
18 For who has stood in the council of Yahweh,
that he has seen and heard his word?
Who has listened attentively to his word
and heard it?v
19 Look, the storm of Yahweh has gone forth in wrath,
even a whirling tempest.
It will whirl upon the head of the wicked.
20 The ⌊anger⌋w of Yahweh will not turn back
until his doing and until his keeping the plans of his ⌊mind⌋.x
⌊In latter days⌋y you will look closely at it with understanding.
21 I have not sent the prophets, yet they ran.
I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my council,
then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
and they would have caused them to turn from their evil way,
and from the evil of their deeds.
23 Am I a God from near,” ⌊declares⌋z Yahweh,
“and not a God from far?
24 Or can a person hide himself in secret places
and I cannot see him?” ⌊declares⌋a Yahweh.
“Do I not fill up the heaven and the earth?” ⌊declares⌋b Yahweh.
25 “I have heard what the prophets who prophesy liesc have said in my name, ⌊saying⌋,d ‘I have dreamed! I have dreamed!’ 26 ⌊How long⌋e will this be in the heartsf of the prophets who prophesy lies,g even the prophets of the deceitfulness of their hearts,h 27 who plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell each one to his neighbor, just as their ancestorsi forgot my name through Baal? 28 The prophet who has with him a dream, let him tell the dream. But the prophetj who has my word with him, let him speak my word faithfully. ⌊What is straw compared to wheat⌋?”k ⌊declares⌋l Yahweh. 29 “Is not my word like fire?” ⌊declares⌋m Yahweh, “and like a blacksmith’s hammer that breaks a rock into pieces?
30 “⌊Therefore⌋n look, I am against the prophets,” ⌊declares⌋o Yahweh, “who steal my words each one from his neighbor. 31 Look, I am against the prophets,” ⌊declares⌋p Yahweh, “who take their tonguesq and declare as prophets, ‘Yahweh ⌊declares⌋.’r 32 Look, I am against those who prophesy dreams of lies,”s ⌊declares⌋t Yahweh, “and tell them, and they caused my people to err through their lies, and in their recklessness, when I myself have not sent them nor commanded them, so they profit not this people at all,” ⌊declares⌋u Yahweh.
33 “Now when this people, or a prophet, or a priest, ask you, ⌊saying⌋,v ‘What is the burdenw of Yahweh?’ then you shall say to them, ‘⌊You are the burden⌋,x and I will forsake you, ⌊declares⌋y Yahweh.’ 34 And the prophet, and the priest, and the people who say, ‘The burdenz of Yahweh,’ I will punish that man and his house. 35 Thus you shall say, each one to his neighbor and each one to his brother: ‘What has Yahweh answered?’ or, ‘What has Yahweh spoken?’ 36 But the burdena of Yahweh you shall not mention again, for the burdenb is to each one his word, and so you twist the words of the living God, Yahweh of hosts, our God. 37 Thus you shall say to that prophet: ‘What has Yahweh answered you?’ or, ‘What has Yahweh spoken?’ 38 But if you say, ‘The burdenc of Yahweh,’ ⌊therefore⌋d thus says Yahweh: ‘Because of your saying these words,e “The burdenf of Yahweh,” then I will send to you, ⌊saying⌋,g “You shall not say, ‘The burdenh of Yahweh.’ ” ’ 39 ⌊Therefore⌋i look, here I am, and I will surely lift you up and forsake you and the city that I gave to you and to your ancestorsj from ⌊my presence⌋,k 40 and I will bring upon you ⌊an everlasting disgrace⌋l and ⌊an everlasting shame⌋m that will not be forgotten.”
24 Yahweh showed me, and look, there were two baskets of figs placed ⌊before⌋a the temple of Yahweh—after Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had deported Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, with the officials of Judah, and the craftsmen, and the smiths,b from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon. 2 The one basket had very good figs, like ⌊early figs⌋,c and the other basket had very bad figs that could not be eaten because of their bad quality. 3 And Yahweh asked me, “What are you seeing, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs—the good figs, very good, and the bad figs, very bad, that cannot be eaten because of their bad quality.”
4 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, ⌊saying⌋,d 5 “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exilese of Judah whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. 6 For I will set my eyesf on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. And I will build them and not annihilate them, and I will plant them and not uproot them. 7 And I will give to them a heart to know me, that I am Yahweh, and ⌊they will be my people⌋,g and ⌊I will be their God⌋,h for they will return to me with the whole of their heart.
8 But like the bad figs that cannot be eaten because of their bad quality—for thus says Yahweh—so I will treat Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who live in the land of Egypt. 9 And I will make them as a terror, an evil to all the kingdoms of the earth, as a disgrace and a proverb, as a taunt and a curse, in all the places where I will drive them. 10 And I will send among them the sword, the famine, and the plague, until they perish from the land that I gave to them and their ancestors.’ ”i
25 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, 2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ⌊saying⌋,a 3 “From the thirteenth year of Josiah, the son of Amon, the king of Judah, even up to this day, these twenty-three yearsb the word of Yahweh has come to me, and ⌊I have spoken to you over and over again⌋,c but you have not listened. 4 And though Yahweh has sent all his servants the prophets to you ⌊over and over again⌋d you have not listened, and you have not inclined your ear to hear, 5 ⌊saying⌋,e ‘Turn back please, each one from his evil way, and from the evil of your deeds, and live on the land that Yahweh has given to you and to your ancestorsf from a long time back and until forever, 6 and you must not go after other gods to serve them, and to bow in worship to them, and you must not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands, then I will not do something bad to you.’ 7 ‘Yet you have not listened to me,’ ⌊declares⌋g Yahweh, ‘so that youh have provoked me to anger with the work of your hands for your own harm.’
8 ⌊Therefore⌋i thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Because you have not obeyed my words, 9 look, I am going to send and take all the clansj of the north,’ ⌊declares⌋k Yahweh, ‘and I will sendl to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations all around, and I will destroy them, and I will make them a horror, and an object of hissing, and ⌊everlasting ruins⌋.m 10 And I will exterminate from them the sound of jubilation, and the sound of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. 11 And all this land will become a site of ruins, a desolation, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.n
12 ⌊And then⌋o when the seventy yearsp are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ ⌊declares⌋q Yahweh, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and I will make it ⌊an everlasting waste⌋.r 13 And I will bring upon that land all my words that I have spoken against it, everything that is written in this scroll which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. 14 For many nations and great kings will let them work, even them, and I will repay them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.’ ”