False Prophets and Empty Oracles

¹⁵ “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:

¹⁶ Thus says the Lord of hosts:

²⁵ “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ ²⁶ How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, ²⁷ who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, ^(AA)as their fathers forgot My name for Baal.

³⁰ “Therefore behold, ^(AC)I am against the prophets,” says the Lord, “who steal My words every one from his neighbor. ³¹ Behold, I am ^(AD)against the prophets,” says the Lord, “who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’ ³² Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” says the Lord, “and tell them, and cause My people to err by their ^(AE)lies and by ^(AF)their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not ^(AG)profit this people at all,” says the Lord.

³³ “So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, ‘What is ^(AH)the ^[d]oracle of the Lord?’ you shall then say to them, ^[e]‘What oracle?’ I will even forsake you,” says the Lord. ³⁴ “And as for the prophet and the priest and the people who say, ‘The ^[f]oracle of the Lord!’ I will even punish that man and his house. ³⁵ Thus every one of you shall say to his neighbor, and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁶ And the ^[g]oracle of the Lord you shall mention no more. For every man’s word will be his oracle, for you have ^(AI)perverted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. ³⁷ Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁸ But since you say, ‘The ^[h]oracle of the Lord!’ therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Because you say this word, “The oracle of the Lord!” and I have sent to you, saying, “Do not say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ ” ³⁹ therefore behold, I, even I, ^(AJ)will utterly forget you and forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and will cast you out of My presence. ⁴⁰ And I will bring ^(AK)an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual ^(AL)shame, which shall not be forgotten.’ ”

Jeremiah Saved from Death^(A)

26 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord, saying, ² “Thus says the Lord: ‘Stand in ^(B)the court of the Lord’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the Lord’s house, ^(C)all the words that I command you to speak to them. ^(D)Do not diminish a word. ^3 (E)Perhaps everyone will listen and turn from his evil way, that I may ^(F)relent concerning the calamity which I purpose to bring on them because of the evil of their doings.’ ⁴ And you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(G)“If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My law which I have set before you, ⁵ to heed the words of My servants the prophets ^(H)whom I sent to you, both rising up early and sending them (but you have not heeded), ⁶ then I will make this house like ^(I)Shiloh, and will make this city ^(J)a curse to all the nations of the earth.” ’ ”

⁷ So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. ⁸ Now it happened, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You will surely die! ⁹ Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be ^(K)desolate, without an inhabitant’?” And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.

¹⁰ When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the Lord and sat down in the entry of the New Gate of the Lord’s house. ¹¹ And the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes and all the people, saying, ^[a]“This man deserves to ^(L)die! For he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.”

¹² Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and all the people, saying: “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city with all the words that you have heard. ¹³ Now therefore, ^(M)amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; then the Lord will relent concerning the doom that He has pronounced against you. ¹⁴ As for me, here ^(N)I am, in your hand; do with me as seems good and ^[b]proper to you. ¹⁵ But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will surely bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its inhabitants; for truly the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.”

¹⁶ So the princes and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man does not deserve to die. For he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”

^17 (O)Then certain of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying: ^18 (P)“Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts:

¹⁹ Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah ever put him to death? ^(S)Did he not fear the Lord and ^(T)seek the Lord’s favor? And the Lord ^(U)relented concerning the doom which He had pronounced against them. ^(V)But we are doing great evil against ourselves.”

²⁰ Now there was also a man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath Jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah. ²¹ And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid and fled, and went to Egypt. ²² Then Jehoiakim the king sent men to Egypt: Elnathan the son of Achbor, and other men who went with him to Egypt. ²³ And they brought Urijah from Egypt and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword and cast his dead body into the graves of the ^[e]common people.

²⁴ Nevertheless ^(W)the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

Seventy Years of Desolation

25 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, ^(A)in the fourth year of ^(B)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), ² which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: ^3 (C)“From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the Lord has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, ^(D)but you have not listened. ⁴ And the Lord has sent to you all His servants the prophets, ^(E)rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear. ⁵ They said, ^(F)‘Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers forever and ever. ⁶ Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will not harm you.’ ⁷ Yet you have not listened to Me,” says the Lord, “that you might ^(G)provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.

⁸ “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words, ⁹ behold, I will send and take ^(H)all the families of the north,’ says the Lord, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^(I)My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and ^(J)make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations. ¹⁰ Moreover I will ^[a]take from them the ^(K)voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, ^(L)the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. ¹¹ And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy ^(M)years.

¹² ‘Then it will come to pass, ^(N)when ^[b]seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the Lord; ^(O)‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation. ¹³ So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations. ^14 (P)(For many nations ^(Q)and great kings shall ^(R)be served by them also; ^(S)and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.)’ ”

Judgment on the Nations

¹⁵ For thus says the Lord God of Israel to me: “Take this ^(T)wine cup of ^[c]fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. ¹⁶ And ^(U)they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.”

¹⁷ Then I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the Lord had sent me: ¹⁸ Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes, to make them ^(V)a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and ^(W)a curse, as it is this day; ¹⁹ Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and all his people; ²⁰ all the mixed multitude, all the kings of ^(X)the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the ^(Y)Philistines (namely, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and ^(Z)the remnant of Ashdod); ^21 (AA)Edom, Moab, and the people of Ammon; ²² all the kings of ^(AB)Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are across the ^(AC)sea; ^23 (AD)Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who are in the farthest corners; ²⁴ all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the ^(AE)mixed multitude who dwell in the desert; ²⁵ all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of ^(AF)Elam, and all the kings of the ^(AG)Medes; ^26 (AH)all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. Also the king of ^[d]Sheshach shall drink after them.

²⁷ “Therefore you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(AI)“Drink, ^(AJ)be drunk, and vomit! Fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.” ’ ²⁸ And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “You shall certainly drink! ²⁹ For behold, ^(AK)I begin to bring calamity on the city ^(AL)which is called by My name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished, for ^(AM)I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth,” says the Lord of hosts.’

³⁰ “Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:

³² Thus says the Lord of hosts:

^33 (AU)And at that day the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be ^(AV)lamented, ^(AW)or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground.