Jeremiah 23

New King James Version

The Branch of Righteousness

23 “Woe ^(A)to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lord. ²Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. ^(B)Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the Lord. ³“But ^(C)I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. ⁴I will set up ^(D)shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the Lord.

⁵“Behold, ^(E)the days are coming,” says the Lord,
“That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness;
A King shall reign and ^[a]prosper,
^(F)And execute ^[b]judgment and righteousness in the ^[c]earth.
⁶^(G)In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel ^(H)will dwell safely;
Now ^(I)this is His name by which He will be called:

^[d]THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

⁷“Therefore, behold, ^(J)the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ ⁸but, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country ^(K)and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own ^(L)land.”

False Prophets and Empty Oracles

⁹My heart within me is broken
Because of the prophets;
^(M)All my bones shake.
I am like a drunken man,
And like a man whom wine has overcome,
Because of the Lord,
And because of His holy words.
¹⁰For ^(N)the land is full of adulterers;
For ^(O)because of a curse the land mourns.
^(P)The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up.
Their course of life is evil,
And their might is not right.

¹¹“For ^(Q)both prophet and priest are profane;
Yes, ^(R)in My house I have found their wickedness,” says the Lord.
¹²“Therefore^(S) their way shall be to them
Like slippery ways;
In the darkness they shall be driven on
And fall in them;
For I ^(T)will bring disaster on them,
The year of their punishment,” says the Lord.
¹³“And I have seen ^[e]folly in the prophets of Samaria:
^(U)They prophesied by Baal
And ^(V)caused My people Israel to err.
¹⁴Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem:
^(W)They commit adultery and walk in lies;
They also ^(X)strengthen the hands of evildoers,
So that no one turns back from his wickedness.
All of them are like ^(Y)Sodom to Me,
And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

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

‘Behold, I will feed them with ^(Z)wormwood,
And make them drink the water of gall;
For from the prophets of Jerusalem
^[f]Profaneness 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.
They make you worthless;
^(AA)They speak a vision of their own heart,
Not from the mouth of the Lord.
¹⁷They continually say to those who despise Me,
‘The Lord has said, ^(AB)“You shall have peace” ’;
And to everyone who ^(AC)walks according to the ^[g]dictates of his own heart, they say,
^(AD)‘No evil shall come upon you.’ ”

¹⁸For ^(AE)who has stood in the counsel of the Lord,
And has perceived and heard His word?
Who has marked His word and heard it?
¹⁹Behold, a ^(AF)whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury—
A violent whirlwind!
It will fall violently on the head of the wicked.
²⁰The ^(AG)anger of the Lord will not turn back
Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart.
^(AH)In the latter days you will understand it perfectly.

²¹“I^(AI) have not sent these prophets, yet they ran.
I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
²²But if they had stood in My counsel,
And had caused My people to hear My words,
Then they would have ^(AJ)turned them from their evil way
And from the evil of their doings.

²³“Am I a God near at hand,” says the Lord,
“And not a God afar off?
²⁴Can anyone ^(AK)hide himself in secret places,
So I shall not see him?” says the Lord;
^(AL)“Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord.

²⁵“I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ ²⁶How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, ²⁷who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, ^(AM)as their fathers forgot My name for 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 chaff to the wheat?” says the Lord.
²⁹“Is not My word like a ^(AN)fire?” says the Lord,
“And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

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

³³“So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, ‘What is ^(AT)the ^[h]oracle of the Lord?’ you shall then say to them, ^[i]‘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 ^[j]oracle of the Lord!’ I will even punish that man and his house. ³⁵Thus 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?’ ³⁶And the ^[k]oracle of the Lord you shall mention no more. For every man’s word will be his oracle, for you have ^(AU)perverted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. ³⁷Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁸But since you say, ‘The ^[l]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!’ ” ³⁹therefore behold, I, even I, ^(AV)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. ⁴⁰And I will bring ^(AW)an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual ^(AX)shame, which shall not be forgotten.’ ”

Footnotes

Jeremiah 23:5 act wisely
Jeremiah 23:5 justice
Jeremiah 23:5 land
Jeremiah 23:6 Heb. YHWH Tsidkenu
Jeremiah 23:13 Lit. distastefulness
Jeremiah 23:15 Or Pollution
Jeremiah 23:17 stubbornness or imagination
Jeremiah 23:33 burden, prophecy
Jeremiah 23:33 LXX, Tg., Vg. ‘You are the burden.’
Jeremiah 23:34 burden, prophecy
Jeremiah 23:36 burden, prophecy
Jeremiah 23:38 burden, prophecy

Jeremiah 26

New King James Version

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.’ ⁴And 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, ⁵to 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), ⁶then I will make this house like ^(I)Shiloh, and will make this city ^(J)a curse to all the nations of the earth.” ’ ”

⁷So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. ⁸Now 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! ⁹Why 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.

¹⁰When 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. ¹¹And 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.”

¹²Then 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. ¹³Now 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. ¹⁴As for me, here ^(N)I am, in your hand; do with me as seems good and ^[b]proper to you. ¹⁵But 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.”

¹⁶So 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:

^(Q)“Zion shall be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem shall become ^(R)heaps of ruins,
And the mountain of the ^[c]temple
Like the ^[d]bare hills of the forest.” ’

¹⁹Did 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.”

²⁰Now 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. ²¹And 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. ²²Then Jehoiakim the king sent men to Egypt: Elnathan the son of Achbor, and other men who went with him to Egypt. ²³And 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.

²⁴Nevertheless ^(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.