The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Jeremiah 23
1 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and
scatter the sheep of my pasture!” says
Yahweh.
2 Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel,
says against the shepherds who feed my
people: “You have scattered my flock,
driven them away, and have not visited
them. Behold, I will visit on you the evil of
your doings,” says Yahweh.
3 “I will gather the remnant of my flock
out of allthe countries where I have driven
them, and will bring them again to their
folds; and they will be fruitful and multiply.
4 I will set up shepherds over them who
will feed them. They will no longer be
afraid or dismayed, neither will any be
lacking,” says Yahweh.
5 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh,
“that I will raise to David a righteous
Branch; and he will reign as king and deal wisely,
and will execute justice and righteousness in the land.
6 In his days Judah will be saved,
and Israel will dwell safely.
This is his name by which he will be called:
Yahweh our righteousness.
7 “Therefore, behold, the days come,” says
Yahweh, “that they will no more say, ‘As
Yahwehlives, who broughtup the children
of Israel out of the land of Egypt;’
8 but, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up
and who led the offspring of the house of
Israel out of the north country, and from
all the countries where I had driven them.’
Then they will 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 Yahweh, and because of his holy words.
10 “For the land is full of adulterers;
for because of the curse the land
mourns. The pastures of the wilderness have dried
up. Their course is evil, and their might is not right;
11 for both prophet and priest are profane.
Yes, in my house I have found their
wickedness,” says Yahweh.
12 Therefore their way will be to them as
slippery places in the darkness.
They will be driven on,
and fall therein; for I will bring evil on them,
even the year of their visitation,” says
Yahweh.
13 “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 I have also
seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies.
They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one returns from his
wickedness. They have all become to me as Sodom,
and its inhabitants as Gomorrah.”
15 Therefore Yahweh of Armies says concerning the prophets:
“Behold, I will feed them with wormwood,
and make them drink poisoned water;
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness has gone outinto allthe
land.”
16 Yahweh of Armies says,
“Don’t listen to the words of the prophets
who prophesy to you. They teach you vanity.
They speak a vision oftheir own heart,
and not out of the mouth of Yahweh.
17 They say continually to those who despise me,
‘Yahweh has said, “You will have peace;” ’
and to everyone who walks in the
stubbornness of his own heart they say,
‘No evil will come on you.’
18 For who has stood in the council of Yahweh,
that he should perceive and hear his
word? Who has listened to my word, and
heard it?
19 Behold, Yahweh’s storm, his wrath, has
gone out. Yes, a whirling storm!
It will burst on the head of the wicked.
20 Yahweh’s anger will not return until he
has executed and performed the intents ofhisheart.
In the latter days, you will understand
it perfectly.
21 Ididn’t sendtheseprophets, yetthey ran.
I didn’t speak to them, yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my council,
then they would have caused my people to hear my words,
and would have turned them from their
evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
23 “Am I a God at hand,” says Yahweh,
“and not a God afar off?
24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places
so that I can’t see him?” says Yahweh.
“Don’t I fill heaven and earth?” says
Yahweh.
25 “I have heard what the prophets have
said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying,
‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’
26 How long will this be in the heart of
the prophets who prophesy lies, even the
prophets of the deceit of their own heart?
27 They intend to cause my people to
forget my name by their dreams which
they each tell his neighbor, as their fathers
forgot my name because of 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
straw to the wheat?” says Yahweh.
29 “Isn’tmy wordlikefire?” saysYahweh;
“and like a hammer that breaks the rock in
pieces?
30 “Therefore behold, I am against the
prophets,” says Yahweh, “who each steal
my words from his neighbor.
31 Behold, I am against the prophets,”
says Yahweh, “who use their tongues, and
say, ‘He says.’
32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying
dreams,” says Yahweh, “who tell
them, and cause my people to err by their
lies, and by their vain boasting; yet I didn’t
send them or command them. They don’t
profit this people at all,” says Yahweh.
33 “When this people, or the prophet,
or a priest, asks you, saying, ‘What is the
message fromYahweh?’ Thenyoushalltell
them, ‘ “What message? I will cast you off,”
says Yahweh.’
34 As for the prophet, the priest, and
the people, who say, ‘The message from
Yahweh,’ I will even punish that man and
his house hold.
35 You will say everyone to his neighbor,
and everyone to his brother, ‘What has
Yahweh answered?’ and, ‘What has Yahweh said?’
36 You will mention the message from
Yahweh no more, for every man’s own
word has become his message; for you
have perverted the words of the living
God, of Yahweh of Armies, our God.
37 You will say to the prophet, ‘What has
Yahweh answered you?’ and, ‘What has
Yahweh spoken?’
38 Although you say, ‘The message from
Yahweh,’ therefore Yahweh says: ‘Because
you say this word, “The message from Yahweh,”
and I have sent to you, telling you
not to say, “The message from Yahweh,”
39 therefore behold, I will utterly forget
you, and I will cast you off with the city
thatI gave to you and to your fathers, away
from my presence.
40 I will bring an everlasting reproach on
you, and a perpetual shame, which willnot
be forgotten.’ ”