Jeremiah 23 — ENGLXXUP

23 Verse 1 Woe to the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of their pasture! ^{Verse 2} Therefore thus saith the Lord against them that tend my people; Ye have scattered my sheep, and driven them out, and ye have not visited them: behold, I will take vengeance upon you according to your evil practices. ^{Verse 3} And I will gather in the remnant of my people in every land, whither I have driven them out, and will set them in their pasture; and they shall increase and be multiplied. ^{Verse 4} And I will raise up shepherds to them, who shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be alarmed, saith the Lord. ^{Verse 5} Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will raise up to David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and understand, and shall execute judgment and righteousness on the earth. ^{Verse 6} In his days both Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell securely: and this is his name, which the Lord shall call him, Jehozadak among the prophets. ^{Verse 9} My heart is broken within me; all my bones are shaken: I am become as a broken-down man, and as a man overcome with wine, because of the Lord, and because of the excellence of his glory. ^{Verse 10} For because of these things the land mourns; the pastures of the wilderness are dried up; and their course is become evil, and so also their strength. ^{Verse 11} For priest and prophet are defiled; and I have seen their iniquities in my house. ^{Verse 12} Therefore let their way be to them slippery and dark: and they shall be tripped up and fall in it: for I will bring evils upon them, in the year of their visitation. ^{Verse 13} And in the prophets of Samaria I have seen lawless deeds; they prophesied by Baal, and led my people Israel astray. ^{Verse 14} Also in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen horrible things: as they committed adultery, and walked in lies, and strengthened the hands of many, that they should not return each from his evil way: they are all become to me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. ^{Verse 15} Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will feed them with pain, and give them bitter water to drink: for from the prophets of Jerusalem has defilement gone forth into all the land. ^{Verse 16} Thus saith the Lord Almighty, Hearken not to the words of the prophets: for they frame a vain vision for themselves; they speak from their own heart, and not from the mouth of the Lord. ^{Verse 17} They say to them that reject the word of the Lord, There shall be peace to you; and to all that walk after their own lusts, and to every one that walks in the error of his heart, they have said, No evil shall come upon thee. ^{Verse 18} For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord, and seen his word? who has hearkened, and heard? ^{Verse 19} Behold, there is an earthquake from the Lord, and anger proceeds to a convulsion, it shall come violently upon the ungodly. ^{Verse 20} And the Lord’s wrath shall return no more, until he have accomplished it, and until he have established it, according to the purpose of his heart: at the end of the days they shall understand it. ^{Verse 21} I sent not the prophets, yet they ran: neither spoke I to them, yet they prophesied. ^{Verse 22} But if they had stood in my counsel, and if they had hearkened to my words, then would they have turned my people from their evil practices. ^{Verse 23} I am a God nigh at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off. ^{Verse 24} Shall anyone hide himself in secret places, and I not see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord. ^{Verse 25} I have heard what the prophets say, what they prophesy in my name, saying falsely, I have seen a night vision. ^{Verse 26} How long shall these things be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, when they prophesy the purposes of their own heart? ^{Verse 27} who devise that men may forget my law by their dreams, which they have told every one to his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name in the worship of Baal. ^{Verse 28} The prophet who has a dream, let him tell his dream; and he in whom is my word spoken to him, let him tell my word truly: what is the chaff to the corn? so are my words, saith the Lord. ^{Verse 29} Behold, are not my words as fire? saith the Lord; and as an axe cutting the rock? ^{Verse 30} Behold, I am therefore against the prophets, saith the Lord God, that steal my words every one from his neighbor. ^{Verse 31} Behold, I am against the prophets that put forth prophecies of mere words, and slumber their sleep. ^{Verse 32} Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets that prophesy false dreams, and have not told them truly, and have caused my people to err by their lies, and by their errors; yet I sent them not, and commanded them not; therefore, they shall not profit this people at all. ^{Verse 33} And if this people, or the priest, or the prophet, should ask, What is the burden of the Lord? then thou shalt say to them, Ye are the burden, and I will dash you down, saith the Lord. ^{Verse 34} As for the prophet, and the priests, and the people, who shall say, The burden of the Lord, I will even take vengeance on that man, and on his house. ^{Verse 35} Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbor, and every one to his brother, What has the Lord answered? and, what has the Lord said? ^{Verse 36} And do ye name no more the burden of the Lord; for his own word shall be a man’s burden. ^{Verse 37} But wherefore, say ye, has the Lord our God spoken? ^{Verse 38} Therefore thus saith the Lord our God; Because ye have spoken this word, The burden of the Lord, and I sent to you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the Lord; ^{Verse 39} therefore, behold, I will seize, and dash down you and the city which I gave to you and your fathers. ^{Verse 40} And I will bring upon you an everlasting reproach, and everlasting disgrace, which shall not be forgotten.