Jeremiah 23

The Branch of Righteousness

23“Woe ^ato the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lord. ²Therefore 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. ⁴I 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.

^6gIn 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,’ ⁸but, ‘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

⁹My 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.

¹⁰For 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.

¹⁴Also 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.’ ”

¹⁶Thus 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.

¹⁷They 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.’ ”

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

And has perceived and heard His word?

Who has marked His word and heard it?

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

A violent whirlwind!

It will fall violently on the head of the wicked.

²⁰The ^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.

²²But 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?

²⁴Can 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!’ ²⁶How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, ²⁷who 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. ³¹Behold, I am ^pagainst the prophets,” says the Lord, “who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’ ³²Behold, 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.

³³“So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, ‘What is ^tthe ⁸oracle of the Lord?’ you shall then say to them, ⁹‘What oracle?’ I will even forsake you,” says the Lord. ³⁴“And as for the prophet and the priest and the people who say, ‘The ¹oracle of the Lord!’ I will even punish that man and his house. ³⁵Thus every one of you shall say to his neighbor, and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁶And the ²oracle of the Lord you shall mention no more. For every man’s word will be his oracle, for you have ^uperverted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. ³⁷Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁸But since you say, ‘The ³oracle of the Lord!’ therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Because you say this word, “The oracle of the Lord!” and I have sent to you, saying, “Do not say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ ” ³⁹therefore behold, I, even I, ^vwill utterly forget you and forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and will cast you out of My presence. ⁴⁰And I will bring ^wan everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual ^xshame, which shall not be forgotten.’ ”