Jeremiah 23:16-29

English Standard Version

¹⁶Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, ^(A)filling you with vain hopes. ^(B)They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. ¹⁷They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ^(C)‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who ^(D)stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ^(E)‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”

¹⁸For ^(F)who among them has stood in the council of the Lord
    to see and to hear his word,
    or who has paid attention to his word and listened?
¹⁹^(G)Behold, the storm of the Lord!
    Wrath has gone forth,
^(H)a whirling tempest;
    it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
²⁰^(I)The anger of the Lord will not turn back
    until he has executed and ^(J)accomplished
    the intents of his heart.
^(K)In the latter days you will understand it clearly.

²¹^(L)“I did not send the prophets,
    yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
    yet they prophesied.
²²^(M)But if they had stood in my council,
    then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
^(N)and they would have turned them from their evil way,
    and ^(O)from the evil of their deeds.

²³^(P)“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? ²⁴^(Q)Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. ^(R)Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. ²⁵I have heard what the prophets have said ^(S)who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ^(T)‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ ²⁶How long shall there be lies in the heart of ^(U)the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, ²⁷who think to make my people forget my name ^(V)by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their ^(W)fathers forgot my name for Baal? ²⁸^(X)Let the prophet who has a dream ^(Y)tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. ^(Z)What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. ²⁹^(AA)Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and ^(AB)like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?