Jeremiah 23

English Standard Version

The Righteous Branch

23 ^(A)“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. ²Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning ^(B)the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. ^(C)Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. ³^(D)Then I will gather the remnant of my flock ^(E)out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, ^(F)and they shall be fruitful and multiply. ⁴^(G)I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.

⁵^(H)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous ^(I)Branch, and ^(J)he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶In his days Judah will be saved, and ^(K)Israel will ^(L)dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ^(M)‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

⁷^(N)“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ ⁸but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he^[a] had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”

Lying Prophets

⁹Concerning the prophets:

^(O)My heart is broken within me;
    ^(P)all my bones shake;
I am like a drunken man,
    like a man overcome by wine,
because of the Lord
    and because of his holy words.
¹⁰^(Q)For the land is full of adulterers;
    ^(R)because of the curse ^(S)the land mourns,
    and ^(T)the pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
^(U)Their course is evil,
    and their might is not right.
¹¹^(V)“Both prophet and priest are ungodly;
    even ^(W)in my house I have found their evil,
declares the Lord.
¹²^(X)Therefore their way shall be to them
    like slippery paths ^(Y)in the darkness,
    into which they shall be driven and fall,
for I will bring disaster upon them
    ^(Z)in the year of their punishment,
declares the Lord.
¹³In the prophets of ^(AA)Samaria
    ^(AB)I saw an unsavory thing:
^(AC)they prophesied by Baal
    ^(AD)and led my people Israel astray.
¹⁴But in the prophets of Jerusalem
    I have seen a horrible thing:
^(AE)they commit adultery and walk in lies;
    ^(AF)they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
    so that no one turns from his evil;
^(AG)all of them have become like Sodom to me,
    ^(AH)and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
¹⁵Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:
^(AI)“Behold, I will feed them with bitter food
    ^(AJ)and give them ^(AK)poisoned water to drink,
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
    ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”

¹⁶Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, ^(AL)filling you with vain hopes. ^(AM)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, ^(AN)‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who ^(AO)stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ^(AP)‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”

¹⁸For ^(AQ)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^(AR)Behold, the storm of the Lord!
    Wrath has gone forth,
^(AS)a whirling tempest;
    it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
²⁰^(AT)The anger of the Lord will not turn back
    until he has executed and ^(AU)accomplished
    the intents of his heart.
^(AV)In the latter days you will understand it clearly.

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

²³^(BA)“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? ²⁴^(BB)Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. ^(BC)Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. ²⁵I have heard what the prophets have said ^(BD)who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ^(BE)‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ ²⁶How long shall there be lies in the heart of ^(BF)the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, ²⁷who think to make my people forget my name ^(BG)by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their ^(BH)fathers forgot my name for Baal? ²⁸^(BI)Let the prophet who has a dream ^(BJ)tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. ^(BK)What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. ²⁹^(BL)Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and ^(BM)like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? ³⁰^(BN)Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another. ³¹Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the Lord.’ ³²Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and ^(BO)lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when ^(BP)I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.

³³^(BQ)“When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ you shall say to them, ‘You are the burden,^[b] and ^(BR)I will cast you off, declares the Lord.’ ³⁴And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ ^(BS)I will punish that man and his household. ³⁵Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁶But ‘the burden of the Lord’ you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man's own word, and ^(BT)you pervert the words of ^(BU)the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. ³⁷Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁸But if you say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have said these words, “The burden of the Lord,” when I sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’” ³⁹therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up^[c] and ^(BV)cast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers. ⁴⁰^(BW)And I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and ^(BX)perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’”

Footnotes

Jeremiah 23:8 Septuagint; Hebrew I
Jeremiah 23:33 Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew What burden?
Jeremiah 23:39 Or surely forget you

Zechariah 1-2

English Standard Version

A Call to Return to the Lord

1 In the eighth month, ^(A)in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet ^(B)Zechariah, the son of ^(C)Berechiah, son of ^(D)Iddo, saying, ²^(E)“The Lord was very angry with your fathers. ³Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: ^(F)Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and ^(G)I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. ⁴^(H)Do not be like your fathers, ^(I)to whom the former prophets cried out, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, ^(J)Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But ^(K)they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the Lord. ⁵Your fathers, where are they? And ^(L)the prophets, do they live forever? ⁶^(M)But my words and my statutes, which I commanded ^(N)my servants the prophets, did they not ^(O)overtake your fathers? So they repented and said, ^(P)‘As the Lord of hosts purposed to deal with us for ^(Q)our ways and ^(R)deeds, so has he dealt with us.’”

A Vision of a Horseman

⁷On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet ^(S)Zechariah, the son of ^(T)Berechiah, son of ^(U)Iddo, saying, ⁸“I saw in the night, and behold, ^(V)a man riding on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen, and behind him were ^(W)red, sorrel, and white horses. ⁹Then I said, ‘What are these, my lord?’ ^(X)The angel who talked with me said to me, ‘I will show you what they are.’ ¹⁰So ^(Y)the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, ^(Z)‘These are they whom the Lord has sent to ^(AA)patrol the earth.’ ¹¹And they answered ^(AB)the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, and said, ^(AC)‘We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth ^(AD)remains at rest.’ ¹²Then ^(AE)the angel of the Lord said, ^(AF)‘O Lord of hosts, ^(AG)how long will you ^(AH)have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these ^(AI)seventy years?’ ¹³And the Lord answered ^(AJ)gracious and comforting words to ^(AK)the angel who talked with me. ¹⁴So ^(AL)the angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(AM)I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. ¹⁵^(AN)And I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are ^(AO)at ease; ^(AP)for while I was angry but a little, ^(AQ)they furthered the disaster. ¹⁶Therefore, thus says the Lord, ^(AR)I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; ^(AS)my house shall be built in it, declares the Lord of hosts, and ^(AT)the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. ¹⁷Cry out again, Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(AU)My cities shall again overflow with prosperity, ^(AV)and the Lord will again comfort Zion and again ^(AW)choose Jerusalem.’”

A Vision of Horns and Craftsmen

¹⁸^[a] And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, ^(AX)four horns! ¹⁹And I said to ^(AY)the angel who talked with me, “What are these?” And he said to me, ^(AZ)“These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.” ²⁰Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. ²¹And I said, “What are these coming to do?” He said, ^(BA)“These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no one raised his head. And these have come ^(BB)to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations ^(BC)who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

A Vision of a Man with a Measuring Line

2 ^[b] And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, ^(BD)a man with a measuring line in his hand! ²Then I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, ^(BE)“To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.” ³And behold, ^(BF)the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him ⁴and said to him, “Run, say to that young man, ^(BG)‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited ^(BH)as villages without walls, because of ^(BI)the multitude of people and livestock in it. ⁵And I will be to her ^(BJ)a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.’”

⁶Up! Up! ^(BK)Flee from the land of the north, declares the Lord. For I have ^(BL)spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the Lord. ⁷^(BM)Up! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. ⁸For thus said the Lord of hosts, after his glory sent me^[c] to the nations who plundered you, ^(BN)for he who touches you touches ^(BO)the apple of his eye: ⁹“Behold, ^(BP)I will shake my hand over them, ^(BQ)and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then ^(BR)you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me. ¹⁰^(BS)Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for ^(BT)behold, I come ^(BU)and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord. ¹¹^(BV)And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. ^(BW)And I will dwell in your midst, and ^(BX)you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. ¹²^(BY)And the Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again ^(BZ)choose Jerusalem.”