Jer 23
1
Woe to the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says YHWH.
2
Therefore thus says YHWH, the God of Israel, against the shepherds that feed my people:
You have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them; behold,
I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, says YHWH.
3
And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven
them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
4
And I will set up shepherds over them, who shall feed them; and they shall fear no
more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking, says YHWH.
5
Behold, the days come, says YHWH, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and
he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness
in the land.
6
In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name
whereby he shall be called: YHWH our righteousness.
7
Therefore, behold, the days come, says YHWH, that they shall no more say, As YHWH
lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
8
but, As YHWH lives, who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out
of the north country, and from all the countries where I had driven them. And they
shall dwell in their own land.
9
Concerning the prophets. My heart within me is broken, all my bones shake; I am like
a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of YHWH, and because
of his holy words.
10
For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourns; the pastures
of the wilderness are dried up. And their course is evil, and their might is not right;
11
for both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness,
says YHWH.
12
Wherefore their way shall be to them as slippery places in the darkness: they shall
be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of
their visitation, says YHWH.
13
And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal, and caused
my people Israel to err.
14
In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery,
and walk in lies; and they strengthen the hands of evil-doers, so that none does return
from his wickedness: they are all of them become to me as Sodom, and the inhabitants
thereof as Gomorrah.
15
Therefore thus says YHWH of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them
with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem
is ungodliness gone forth into all the land.
16
Thus says YHWH of hosts, Hearken not to the words of the prophets that prophesy to
you: they teach you vanity; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of
the mouth of YHWH.
17
They say continually to them that despise me, YHWH has said, You shall have peace;
and to every one that walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil
shall come upon you.
18
For who has stood in the council of YHWH, that he should perceive and hear his word?
who has marked my word, and heard it?
19
Behold, the tempest of YHWH, [even his] anger, is gone forth, yea, a whirling tempest:
it shall burst upon the head of the wicked.
20
The anger of YHWH shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed
the intents of his heart: in the latter days you shall understand it perfectly.
21
I sent not these prophets, yet they ran: I spoke not to them, yet they prophesied.
22
But if they had stood in my council, then had they caused my people to hear my words,
and had turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
23
Am I a God at hand, says YHWH, and not a God afar off?
24
Can any hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him? says YHWH. Do not
I fill heaven and earth? says YHWH.
25
I have heard what the prophets have said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I
have dreamed, I have dreamed.
26
How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, even the prophets
of the deceit of their own heart?
27
that think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every
man to his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name for Baal.
28
The prophet that has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him
speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat? says YHWH.
29
Is not my word like fire? says YHWH; and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
30
Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, says YHWH, that steal my words every
one from his neighbor.
31
Behold, I am against the prophets, says YHWH, that use their tongues, and say, He
says.
32
Behold, I am against them that prophesy lying dreams, says YHWH, and do tell them,
and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting: yet I sent them
not, nor commanded them; neither do they profit this people at all, says YHWH.
33
And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask you, saying, What is
the burden of YHWH? then shall you say to them, What burden! I will cast you off,
says YHWH.
34
And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden
of YHWH, I will even punish that man and his house.
35
Thus shall you say every one to his neighbor, and every one to his brother, What has
YHWH answered? and, What has YHWH spoken?
36
And the burden of YHWH shall you mention no more: for every man`s own word shall be
his burden; for you have perverted the words of the living God, of YHWH of hosts our
God.
37
Thus shall you say to the prophet, What has YHWH answered you? and, What has YHWH
spoken?
38
But if you say, The burden of YHWH; therefore thus says YHWH: Because you say this
word, The burden of YHWH, and I have sent to you, saying, You shall not say, The burden
of YHWH;
39
therefore, behold, I will utterly forget you, and I will cast you off, and the city
that I gave to you and to your fathers, away from my presence:
40
and I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall
not be forgotten.