23 Woe be unto athe pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord. 2 Therefore 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. 3 And 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. 4 And 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.

5 hBehold, 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. 6 In 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. 7 sTherefore, 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; 8 But, 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.

9  ssMine 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.

10  For 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.

11  For zboth prophet and priest are profane;

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

12  Wherefore 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.

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

gThey prophesied in Baal,

And hcaused my people Israel to err.

14  I 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.

15 Therefore 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. 16 Thus 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. 17 They 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. 18 For uwho hath stood in the ||counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it? 19 wBehold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury, even xa grievous whirlwind: wit shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. 20 yThe 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. 21 aI have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 22 But 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. 23 Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and enot a God afar off? 24 fCan 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. 25 I have heard what the prophets said, hthat prophesy lies in my name, saying, I ihave dreamed, I have dreamed. 26 How long shall this be in the heart of kthe prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are lprophets of the deceit of their own heart; 27 Which 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. 28 The 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. 29 nIs not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that obreaketh the rock in pieces? 30 Therefore, behold, pI am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, ||that use their tongues, and say, He saith. 32 Behold, 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.

33 And 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. 34 And 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. 35 Thus 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? 36 And 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. 37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, wWhat hath the Lord answered thee? and, What hath the Lord spoken? 38 But 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; 39 Therefore, 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: 40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and za perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.