Lying Prophets

Concerning the prophets:

(A)My heart is broken within me;
    (B)all my bones shake;
I am like a drunken man,
    like a man overcome by wine,
because of the Lord
    and because of his holy words.
10 (C)For the land is full of adulterers;
    (D)because of the curse (E)the land mourns,
    and (F)the pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
(G)Their course is evil,
    and their might is not right.
11 (H)“Both prophet and priest are ungodly;
    even (I)in my house I have found their evil,
declares the Lord.
12 (J)Therefore their way shall be to them
    like slippery paths (K)in the darkness,
    into which they shall be driven and fall,
for I will bring disaster upon them
    (L)in the year of their punishment,
declares the Lord.
13 In the prophets of (M)Samaria
    (N)I saw an unsavory thing:
(O)they prophesied by Baal
    (P)and led my people Israel astray.
14 But in the prophets of Jerusalem
    I have seen a horrible thing:
(Q)they commit adultery and walk in lies;
    (R)they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
    so that no one turns from his evil;
(S)all of them have become like Sodom to me,
    (T)and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”

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Oracles against the prophets

As for the prophets:
My heart inside me is broken;
    my body aches.[a]
I stagger like a drunk
    who has had too much wine to drink,
        because of the Lord
        and because of God’s holy words.
10 Because the country teems
    with adulterers,
    because of them,[b]
        yes, because their might isn’t right
        and their way is evil,
        the land dries up,
        and the grazing areas in the wilderness wither.[c]
11 Both prophet and priest are godless;
    I even find their evil in my temple,
        declares the Lord.
12 Therefore, they will find themselves on slippery ground
    and will be thrust into darkness,
    where they will collapse.
I will bring disaster upon them,
    when their time comes, declares the Lord.
13 In the prophets of Samaria
    I saw something shocking:
    They prophesied by Baal
        and led astray my people Israel.
14 In the prophets of Jerusalem
    I saw something horrible:
    They commit adultery and tell lies.
    They encourage evildoers
        so that no one turns from their wickedness.
In my eyes, they are no better than Sodom;
    its people are like Gomorrah.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 23:9 Heb uncertain; or my bones shake
  2. Jeremiah 23:10 LXX; MT a curse
  3. Jeremiah 23:10 Heb uncertain