Jeremiah 23:9-24
The Voice
The shepherd-leaders and shepherd-teachers of God’s people have misled them, and the results have been disastrous. Now God intervenes. God Himself, personally, gathers His exiles from wherever He scattered them and places them under the guidance and tutelage of new shepherds, responsible leaders who will bring them home once again safe and secure. As if that is not enough, God will fulfill the covenant He made with King David hundreds of years earlier and establish a righteous branch of David to reign from Jerusalem. This king will be everything the earlier kings of Judah were not: just, fair, and wise. The restoration of God’s exiles and the installation of this new king—God’s anointed—will be so glorious, so momentous that it will change the course of history. It will surpass God’s rescue of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt.
Jeremiah’s prophecy of this coming king inspires many to look and long for God’s Anointed One, His Messiah, from among the sons of David. Indeed, some of the earliest followers of Jesus will find in Him the fulfillment of these hopes, dreams, and aspirations.
9 As for the false prophets:
Deep in my chest, my heart is broken.
I am shaken to the core, like a man who is drunk,
overcome by too much wine
All because of the Eternal,
all because of His holy words.
10 Eternal One: The land is full of adulterers;
surely the curse is in effect and the land mourns.
The pastures in the wilderness are all dried up,
for they have set an evil course,
and their might is not right.
11 For even the prophets and priests are ungodly;
I have witnessed them perform wicked acts in My temple.
12 Now this path they are on will become treacherous, and they will slip and slide;
they will stumble and fall into the darkness, driven into the gloom.
For in the year of their punishment,
I will bring them to ruin.
13 I saw something repulsive
among the prophets of Samaria:
They prophesied in the name of Baal
and led My people, Israel, away from Me.
14 I have seen something horrible among the prophets of Jerusalem:
worship that is adulterous and deceitful.
They inspire and encourage people to even more evil;
now no one turns back from his sin.
The citizens of Jerusalem remind Me of the wicked people
who once lived in Sodom and Gomorrah.
15 So this is what the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, has to say about those prophets:
Eternal One: Watch, I will give them bitter food to eat and poisoned water to drink,
because the prophets of Jerusalem have released their ungodliness
And it has spread into all the land.
16 These are the words of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies.
Eternal One: When these prophets “prophesy” to you, filling you with empty hopes, do not listen to one word! They do not speak for Me. They speak of visions they have only imagined. 17 They keep saying to those who openly reject My word, “Don’t worry, the Eternal has promised you peace.” And to those stubborn souls who go their own way, they say, “Don’t worry, nothing bad will happen to you.”
18 Which one of these false prophets has stood in the presence of the Eternal
and heard His voice or seen His plan?
Who of them has paid attention to His word and truly listened?
19 Behold, the storm of the Eternal’s wrath will now break open,
swirling down out of the sky like a whirlwind onto the heads of the wicked.
20 The Eternal’s anger will not relent until He has carried out His most fervent plans.
You will understand all of this in the days to come.
21 Eternal One: I did not send these so-called prophets,
but they have run to you with their empty words.
I did not speak to them,
but they claim to speak for Me.
22 If only they had stood in My presence and heard My voice,
then they would have spoken My words to My people!
They would have turned this nation back from its evil ways and evil deeds.
23 Am I only a God who is close by, and not a God of the farthest reaches? 24 Am I a God anyone can hide from? Do I not see what happens in secret? Am I not everywhere, filling heaven and earth?
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
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