Add parallel Print Page Options

33 When 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.[a] I will cast you off, says the Lord.”(A) 34 And as for the prophet, priest, or the people who say, “The burden of the Lord,” I will punish them and their households.(B) 35 Thus shall you say to one another, among yourselves, “What has the Lord answered?” or “What has the Lord spoken?”(C) 36 But “the burden of the Lord” you shall mention no more, for the burden is everyone’s own word, and so you pervert the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God.(D) 37 Thus you shall ask the prophet, “What has the Lord answered you?” or “What has the Lord spoken?” 38 But 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,’ ” 39 therefore, I will surely lift you up[b] and cast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your ancestors.(E) 40 And I will bring upon you everlasting disgrace and perpetual shame that shall not be forgotten.(F)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 23.33 Heb ms Gk Syr: MT What burden?
  2. 23.39 Heb mss Gk Vg: MT forget you

False Prophecy

33 “When these people, or a prophet or a priest, ask you, ‘What is the message(A) from the Lord?’ say to them, ‘What message? I will forsake(B) you, declares the Lord.’ 34 If a prophet or a priest or anyone else claims, ‘This is a message(C) from the Lord,’ I will punish(D) them and their household. 35 This is what each of you keeps saying to your friends and other Israelites: ‘What is the Lord’s answer?’(E) or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 36 But you must not mention ‘a message from the Lord’ again, because each one’s word becomes their own message. So you distort(F) the words of the living God,(G) the Lord Almighty, our God. 37 This is what you keep saying to a prophet: ‘What is the Lord’s answer to you?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 38 Although you claim, ‘This is a message from the Lord,’ this is what the Lord says: You used the words, ‘This is a message from the Lord,’ even though I told you that you must not claim, ‘This is a message from the Lord.’ 39 Therefore, I will surely forget you and cast(H) you out of my presence along with the city I gave to you and your ancestors. 40 I will bring on you everlasting disgrace(I)—everlasting shame that will not be forgotten.”

Read full chapter