Jeremiah 23:1-32

International Standard Version

⁵ “The time is coming,” declares the Lord,
    “when I’ll raise up a righteous branch for David.
He will be a king who rules wisely,
    and he will administer justice and righteousness in the land.
⁶ In his time^[d] Judah will be delivered
    and Israel will dwell in safety.
This is the name by which he will be known:
    ‘The Lord Our Righteousness.’

My heart is broken within me,
    and all my bones shake.
I’m like a drunk man,
    like a person overcome with wine,
because of the Lord,
    and because of his holy words.
¹⁰ Indeed, the land is full of adulterers.
    Indeed, the land mourns because of the curse;
        the pastures of the wilderness have dried up.
The adulterers’^[g] lifestyles are evil,
    and they use^[h] their strength for what^[i] is not right.
¹¹ Indeed, both priest and prophet are ungodly.
    Even in my house I find evil,” declares the Lord.
¹² Therefore their way will be slippery.
    They’ll be driven out into the darkness,
        where they’ll fall.
For I’ll bring disaster on them,
    the year of their judgment,”
        declares the Lord.

¹³ “Among the prophets of Samaria I saw a disgusting thing,
    for they prophesied by Baal
        and led my people Israel astray.
¹⁴ Among the prophets of Jerusalem I saw a horrible thing,
    for they commit adultery and live a lie.
They strengthen the hands of those who do evil,
    so that no one repents of his evil.
All of them are like Sodom to me,
    and her^[j] residents like Gomorrah.”

“I’m about to make them eat wormwood^[k]
    and drink poisoned water,
because godlessness has spread from the
    prophets of Jerusalem throughout the land.”

¹⁶ This is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies says:

“Don’t listen to the words of the prophets
    who are prophesying to you;
        they’re giving you false hopes.
They declare visions from their own minds—
    they don’t come from the Lord!^[l]
17 They keep on saying to those who despise me,
    ‘The Lord has said, “You will have peace.”’
To all who stubbornly follow their own desires^[m] they say,
    ‘Disaster won’t come upon you.’
¹⁸ But who has stood in the Lord’s council
    to see and hear his message?
        Who has paid attention to his message and obeyed it?^[n]
19 Look, the storm of the Lord’s wrath has gone forth,
    a whirling tempest,
and it will swirl down
    around the head of the wicked.
²⁰ The Lord’s anger won’t turn back
    until he has accomplished
        what he intended to do.
In the future
    you will clearly understand it.
²¹ I didn’t send these prophets,^[o]
    but they ran anyway.
I didn’t speak to them,
    but they prophesied.
²² If they had stood in my council
    and had delivered my words to my people,
then they would have turned them back
    from their evil way,
        from their evil deeds.”

²³ “Am I a God who is near,” declares the Lord,
    “rather than a God who is far away?
²⁴ If a person hides himself in secret places,
    will I not see him?”
        declares the Lord.
“I fill the heavens and the earth, do I not?”
    declares the Lord.