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.”
15 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:
(U)“Behold, I will feed them with bitter food
    (V)and give them (W)poisoned water to drink,
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
    ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”

16 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, (X)filling you with vain hopes. (Y)They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. 17 They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, (Z)‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who (AA)stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, (AB)‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”

18 For (AC)who among them has stood in the council of the Lord
    to see and to hear his word,
    or who has paid attention to his word and listened?
19 (AD)Behold, the storm of the Lord!
    Wrath has gone forth,
(AE)a whirling tempest;
    it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
20 (AF)The anger of the Lord will not turn back
    until he has executed and (AG)accomplished
    the intents of his heart.
(AH)In the latter days you will understand it clearly.

21 (AI)“I did not send the prophets,
    yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
    yet they prophesied.
22 (AJ)But if they had stood in my council,
    then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
(AK)and they would have turned them from their evil way,
    and (AL)from the evil of their deeds.

23 (AM)“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? 24 (AN)Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. (AO)Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.

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An Oracle about False Prophets

Concerning the prophets:

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’[a] lifestyles are evil,
    and they use[b] their strength for what[c] 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[d] residents like Gomorrah.”

15 Therefore, this is what the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies says about the prophets,

“I’m about to make them eat wormwood[e]
    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![f]
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[g] 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?[h]
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,[i]
    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.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 23:10 Lit. Their
  2. Jeremiah 23:10 The Heb. lacks they use
  3. Jeremiah 23:10 The Heb. lacks for what
  4. Jeremiah 23:14 I.e. Jerusalem’s
  5. Jeremiah 23:15 Wormwood is a plant with an extremely bitter taste
  6. Jeremiah 23:16 Lit. not from the mouth of the Lord
  7. Jeremiah 23:17 Lit. walk in the stubbornness of their heart
  8. Jeremiah 23:18 Or listened to
  9. Jeremiah 23:21 Lit. prophets