Jeremiah 23
Open in the reader1“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” declares He-Who-Is.
2Therefore this is what He-Who-Is, the God of Strives-with-God, says about the shepherds who tend My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your deeds, declares He-Who-Is.
3Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands to which I have banished them, and I will return them to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and multiply.
4I will raise up shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or dismayed, nor will any go missing, declares He-Who-Is.
5Behold, the days are coming, declares He-Who-Is, when I will raise up for Beloved a righteous Branch, and He will reign wisely as King and will administer justice and righteousness in the land.
6In His days Praised will be saved, and Strives-with-God will dwell securely. And this is His name by which He will be called: He-Who-Is Our Righteousness.
7So behold, the days are coming, declares He-Who-Is, when they will no longer say, ‘As surely as He-Who-Is lives, who brought the Strives-with-Godites up out of the land of Two-Straits.’
8Instead they will say, ‘As surely as He-Who-Is lives, who brought and led the descendants of the house of Strives-with-God up out of the land of the north and all the other lands to which He had banished them.’ Then they will dwell once more in their own land.”
9As for the prophets: My heart is broken within me, and all my bones tremble. I have become like a drunkard, like a man overcome by wine, because of He-Who-Is, because of His devoted words.
10For the land is full of adulterers— because of the curse, the land mourns and the pastures of the wilderness have dried up— their course is evil and their power is misused.
11“For both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in My house I have found their wickedness,” declares He-Who-Is.
12“Therefore their path will become slick; they will be driven away into the darkness and fall into it. For I will bring disaster upon them in the year of their punishment,” declares He-Who-Is.
13“Among the prophets of Watch-Mountain I saw an offensive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Strives-with-God astray.
14And among the prophets of Foundation-of-Peace I have seen a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns his back on wickedness. They are all like Sodom to Me; the people of Foundation-of-Peace are like Heap-of-Ruins.”
15Therefore this is what He-Who-Is of Hosts says concerning the prophets: “I will feed them wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Foundation-of-Peace ungodliness has spread throughout the land.”
16This is what He-Who-Is of Hosts says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are filling you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of He-Who-Is.
17They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘He-Who-Is says that you will have peace,’ and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’
18But which of them has stood in the council of He-Who-Is to see and hear His word? Who has given heed to His word and obeyed it?
19Behold, the storm of He-Who-Is has gone out with fury, a whirlwind swirling down upon the heads of the wicked.
20The anger of He-Who-Is will not turn back until He has fully accomplished the purposes of His heart. In the days to come you will understand this clearly.
21I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied.
22But if they had stood in My council, they would have proclaimed My words to My people and turned them back from their evil ways and deeds.”
23“Am I only a God nearby,” declares He-Who-Is, “and not a God far away?”
24“Can a man hide in secret places where I cannot see him?” declares He-Who-Is. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares He-Who-Is.
25“I have heard the sayings of the prophets who prophesy lies in My name: ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’
26How long will this continue in the hearts of these prophets who prophesy falsehood, these prophets of the delusion of their own minds?
27They suppose the dreams that they tell one another will make My people forget My name, just as their fathers forgot My name through the worship of Baal.
28Let the prophet who has a dream retell it, but let him who has My word speak it truthfully. For what is straw compared to grain?” declares He-Who-Is.
29“Is not My word like fire,” declares He-Who-Is, “and like a hammer that smashes a rock?”
30“Therefore behold,” declares He-Who-Is, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words they attribute to Me.”
31“Yes,” declares He-Who-Is, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and proclaim, ‘He-Who-Is declares it.’”
32“Indeed,” declares He-Who-Is, “I am against those who prophesy false dreams and retell them to lead My people astray with their reckless lies. It was not I who sent them or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all to these people,” declares He-Who-Is.
33“Now when this people or a prophet or priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of He-Who-Is?’ you are to say to them, ‘What burden? I will forsake you, declares He-Who-Is.’
34As for the prophet or priest or anyone who claims, ‘This is the burden of He-Who-Is,’ I will punish that man and his household.
35This is what each man is to say to his friend and to his brother: ‘What has He-Who-Is answered?’ or ‘What has He-Who-Is spoken?’
36But refer no more to the burden of He-Who-Is, for each man’s word becomes the burden, so that you pervert the words of the living God, He-Who-Is of Hosts, our God.
37Thus you are to say to the prophet: ‘What has He-Who-Is answered you?’ and ‘What has He-Who-Is spoken?’
38But if you claim, ‘This is the burden of He-Who-Is,’ then this is what He-Who-Is says: Because you have said, ‘This is the burden of He-Who-Is,’ and I specifically told you not to make this claim,
39therefore I will surely forget you and will cast you out of My presence, both you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers.
40And I will bring upon you everlasting shame and perpetual humiliation that will never be forgotten.”