Jeremiah 23

CHAPTER 23

The Righteous Branch

¹“^aWoe to the shepherds who are ^1bdestroying and scattering the ^csheep of My pasture!” declares Yahweh.

²Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who are shepherding My people: “You have scattered My flock and banished them and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to ^aattend to you for the ^bevil of your deeds,” declares Yahweh.

³“Then I Myself will ^agather the remnant of My flock out of all the land where I have banished them and cause them to return to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply.

⁴“I will also raise up ^ashepherds over them, and they will ¹shepherd them; and they will ^bnot be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, ^cnor will any be left unattended,” declares Yahweh.

⁵“Behold, the ^adays are coming,” declares Yahweh,

“When I will raise up for David a righteous ^1bBranch;

And He will ^creign as king and ²prosper

And ^ddo justice and righteousness in the land.

⁶“In His days Judah will be saved,

And ^aIsrael will dwell securely;

And this is His ^bname by which He will be called,

‘^cYahweh our righteousness.’

⁷“^aTherefore behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when they will no longer say, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’

^8abut, ‘As Yahweh lives, who ^bbrought up and brought back the seed of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the lands where I had banished them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”

False Prophets Condemned

⁹As for the prophets:

My ^aheart is broken within me;

All my bones tremble;

I have become like a drunken man,

Even like a man overcome with wine,

Because of Yahweh

And because of His holy words.

¹⁰For the land is full of ^aadulterers;

For the land ^bmourns because of the curse.

The ^cpastures of the wilderness have dried up.

Their course also is evil,

And their might is not right.

¹¹“For ^aboth prophet and priest are polluted;

Even in My house I have found their evil,” declares Yahweh.

¹²“Therefore their way will be like ^aslippery paths to them;

They will be driven away into the ^bthick darkness and fall down in it;

For I will bring their ^cevil upon them,

The year of their ¹punishment,” declares Yahweh.

¹³“Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an ^aoffensive thing:

They ^bprophesied by Baal and ^cled My people Israel astray.

¹⁴“Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen an ^aappalling thing:

The committing of ^badultery and walking in lying;

And they strengthen the hands of ^cevildoers,

So that no one has turned back from his evil.

All of them have become to Me like ^dSodom,

And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

¹⁵“Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts concerning the prophets,

‘Behold, I am going to ^afeed them wormwood

And make them drink ¹poisoned water,

For from the prophets of Jerusalem

Pollution has gone forth into all the land.’”

¹⁶Thus says Yahweh of hosts,

“^aDo not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you.

They are ^bleading you into vanity;

They speak a ^cvision of their own heart,

Not ^dfrom the mouth of Yahweh.

¹⁷“They keep saying to those who ^aspurn Me,

‘Yahweh has said, “^bYou will have peace” ’;

And as for everyone who walks in the ^cstubbornness of his own heart,

They say, ‘^dEvil will not come upon you.’

¹⁸“But ^awho has stood in the council of Yahweh,

That he should see and hear His word?

Who has given ^bheed to ¹His word and heard?

¹⁹“Behold, the ^astorm of Yahweh has gone forth in wrath,

Even a whirling storm;

It will whirl down on the head of the wicked.

²⁰“The ^aanger of Yahweh will not turn back

Until He has ^bdone and established the purposes of His heart;

^cIn the last days you will clearly understand it.

²¹“^aI did not send these prophets,

But they ran.

I did not speak to them,

But they prophesied.

²²“But if they had ^astood in My council,

Then they would have ^bcaused My words to be heard by My people

And would have turned them back from their evil way

And from the evil of their deeds.

²³“Am I a God who is ^anear,” declares Yahweh,

“And not a God far off?

²⁴“Can a man ^ahide himself in hiding places

So I do not see him?” declares Yahweh.

“^bDo I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares Yahweh.

²⁵“I have ^aheard what the prophets have said who ^bprophesy a lie in My name, saying, ‘I had a ^cdream, I had a dream!’

²⁶“How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy a lie, even these prophets of the ^adeception of their own heart,

²⁷who intend to ^amake My people forget My name by their dreams which they recount to one another, just as their fathers ^bforgot My name because of Baal?

²⁸“The prophet who has a dream may recount his dream, but let him who has ^aMy word speak My word in truth. ^bWhat does straw have in common with grain?” declares Yahweh.

²⁹“Is not My word like ^afire?” declares Yahweh, “and like a ^bhammer which shatters a rock?

³⁰“Therefore behold, ^aI am against the prophets,” declares Yahweh, “who steal My words from each other.

³¹“Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares Yahweh, “who take their tongues and declare, ‘Yahweh declares.’

³²“Behold, I am against those who have prophesied ^alying dreams,” declares Yahweh, “and who recounted them and led My people astray by their lying and ^breckless boasting; yet ^cI did not send them, and I did not command them, and they do not ^dfurnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares Yahweh.

³³“Now when this people or the prophet or a priest asks you, saying, ‘What is the ^1aoracle of Yahweh?’ then you shall say to them, ‘What oracle?’ Yahweh declares, ‘I will ^babandon you.’

³⁴“Then as for the prophet or the priest or the people who say, ‘The ^aoracle of Yahweh,’ I will bring punishment upon that man and his household.

³⁵“Thus will each of you say to his neighbor and to his brother, ‘^aWhat has Yahweh answered?’ or, ‘What has Yahweh spoken?’

³⁶“For you will no longer remember the oracle of Yahweh because every man’s own word will become the oracle, and you have ^aperverted the words of the ^bliving God, Yahweh of hosts, our God.

³⁷“Thus you will say to that prophet, ‘What has Yahweh answered you?’ and, ‘What has Yahweh spoken?’

³⁸“For if you all say, ‘The oracle of Yahweh!’ surely thus says Yahweh, ‘Because you said this word, “The oracle of Yahweh!” I have also sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The oracle of Yahweh!’”’

³⁹“Therefore behold, ^aI will surely forget you and abandon you, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers, so that you are out of My presence.

⁴⁰“I will put an everlasting ^areproach on you and an everlasting humiliation which will not be forgotten.”