Beginning
Chapter 23
Messianic Oracles. 1 Woe to the shepherds who lead astray and scatter the sheep of my pasture, says the Lord. 2 Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has to say in regard to the shepherds who shepherd my people: You have scattered my flock and driven them away, and you showed not the slightest concern about taking care of them. Therefore, I will not hesitate to punish you for your evil deeds, says the Lord.
3 I myself will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their meadows where they will be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will appoint shepherds for them who will treat them kindly, so that they will no longer fear or experience terror, nor will any be discovered missing, says the Lord.
5 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord,
when I will raise up a righteous branch
from the line of David.
He will reign as king and rule wisely
and ensure justice and righteousness in the land.
6 In his days Judah will live in safety,
and Israel will dwell in security.
And this is the name that will be given to him:
“The Lord Our Righteousness.”
7 Therefore, the days are coming, says the Lord, when people will no longer say, “As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt,” 8 but rather, “As the Lord lives who brought forth the offspring of the house of Israel up from the land of the north and out of all the lands where he had dispersed them.” Then they will again inhabit their own land.
The False Prophets[a]
9 As for the prophets,
my heart is broken within me,
and all my bones never cease to tremble.
I have become like a drunken man,
like someone overcome with wine,
because of the Lord
and because of his holy words.
10 For the land swarms with adulterers;
because of them the country mourns
and the pastures in the desert have withered.
11 Both the prophets and the priests are godless;
even in my own house have I observed their wickedness,
says the Lord.
12 Therefore, they will find that the paths they travel
will be slippery beneath their feet;
in the darkness where they are driven,
they will fall headlong.
For I will inflict disaster upon them
in the year of their punishment,
says the Lord.
13 Among the prophets of Samaria
I beheld this repulsive deed:
they prophesied in the name of Baal
and led my people astray.
14 But among the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen deeds that are even more shocking:
they commit adultery and persist in lying
and uphold those who are evil
so that no one turns away from wickedness.
To me they have all become like Sodom,
and its inhabitants are like Gomorrah.
15 Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts in regard to the prophets:
I intend to give them wormwood to eat
and force them to drink poisoned water.
For from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness has spread throughout the land.
16 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Do not listen to the words of the prophets;
their prophecies are designed to delude you.
They concoct visions from their own minds
and not from the mouth of the Lord.
17 To those who despise the word of the Lord
they say, “Peace will be yours.”
To those who follow their own stubborn inclinations
they say, “No harm will befall you.”
18 Yet which of them has stood in the council of the Lord
to see or to hear his word?
Which of them has heeded his word and proclaimed it?
19 Behold the storm of the Lord!
His wrath bursts forth
like a frightening tempest
that whirls around the heads of the wicked.
20 The anger of the Lord will not subside
until he has fully accomplished
the purposes he has in mind.
When the time comes,
you will understand this clearly.
21 I did not send these prophets,
yet they went forth in haste.
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my council,
they would have then proclaimed my words to my people
and caused them to turn back from their evil ways
and from the wickedness of their deeds.
23 The Lord asks:
Am I a God only when I am near at hand,
but not when I am far away?
24 Can someone hide in a secret place
so that I cannot see him?
Do I not fill heaven and earth?
25 I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. “I have had a dream,” they cry out. “I have had a dream.” 26 How much longer must we endure prophets who prophesy lies and proclaim their own delusions? 27 By means of the dreams that they relate to one another, they believe that they will make my people forget my name, just as their fathers forgot my name and replaced it with Baal. 28 Let the prophet who has a dream relate his dream, but let the one who receives my word deliver it truthfully.
What does straw have in common with wheat?
asks the Lord.
29 Is not my word like fire, says the Lord,
like a hammer shattering a rock?
30 Therefore, says the Lord, I have set myself in opposition to the prophets who steal my words from one another. 31 I am against those prophets who concoct their own prophecies and then assert, “Thus says the Lord.” 32 I am against those prophets who prophesy lying dreams, says the Lord, and then recount them, thereby leading my people astray with their lies and reckless bragging. They have not received any commission from me, and so they are of no benefit to this people in any way, says the Lord.
33 And when this people or a prophet or a priest asks you, “What is the burden of the Lord?” you are to reply, “You are the burden, and I will cast you off,” says the Lord. 34 If a prophet or a priest or anyone else speaks of “the burden of the Lord,” I will punish that man and his household.
35 Therefore, when speaking to one another, you are to ask, “What answer did the Lord give?” or “What did the Lord say?” 36 But you must never again speak of “the burden of the Lord,” because each man’s word becomes his own burden, and you therefore pervert the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God.
37 Therefore, you are to ask a prophet, “What answer has the Lord given?” or “What has the Lord said?” 38 But if you say “the burden of the Lord,” the Lord will reply, “Because you have used the words ‘the burden of the Lord’ when I forbade you to use that expression, 39 therefore, I will lift you up and cast you away from my presence, both you and the city that I gave to you and your ancestors. 40 And I will inflict upon you everlasting disgrace and eternal and unforgettable shame.”
Chapter 24[b]
The Good and Bad Figs. 1 The Lord showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the Lord. This occurred after King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had exiled from Jerusalem Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, the artisans, and the skilled workers, and brought them to Babylon. 2 One basket contained excellent figs that tend to ripen early; the other basket had figs of an extremely poor quality, so bad that they could not be eaten. 3 The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” “Figs,” I answered. “The good figs are superb, but the poor ones are so bad that they are not fit to eat.”
4 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 5 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Just as these figs are good, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. 6 I will watch over them carefully to ensure their welfare, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not uproot them. 7 I will give them a heart that will enable them to know that I am the Lord. They will be my people and I will be their God, for they will return to me with their whole heart.
8 As for the bad figs that are so dreadful that they cannot be eaten, thus says the Lord: In the same way I will treat King Zedekiah of Judah and his princes, the remnant of Jerusalem remaining in this land, and those who live in the land of Egypt. 9 I will make them an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all the places where I will drive them. 10 And I will send against them the sword, famine, and pestilence, until they have completely vanished from the land that I gave to them and their ancestors.
Chapter 25[c]
Seventy Years of Captivity.[d] 1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim of Judah, the son of Josiah, which was the first year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. 2 The prophet Jeremiah thus spoke as follows to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem:
3 For twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of King Josiah of Judah, the son of Amon, until this very day—the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you unceasingly, but you have not listened. 4 And though the Lord continued to send all his servants the prophets to you again and again, you refused to listen or to pay any heed to their message when they warned, 5 “If you turn back, each of you, from your evil ways and your wicked deeds, says the Lord, you can remain in the land that I have given to you and to your fathers forever. 6 If you do not follow other gods to serve and worship them, and you do not provoke me with what your hands have made, then I will not harm you. 7 But you have not listened to me, says the Lord, and thus you have provoked me to anger with your handiwork to your own harm.”
8 Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not listened to my words, 9 I intend to summon all the tribes of the north, says the Lord, as well as my servant Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will totally destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn and everlasting disgrace. 10 No longer will there emerge from them the sounds of rejoicing and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. 11 This entire country will become a wasteland of desolation, and these nations will be enslaved to the king of Babylon for seventy years.
12 However, at the end of those seventy years, says the Lord, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their guilt, and I will turn it into a desolate wasteland. 13 [e]I will inflict upon that land all the scourges that I threatened against it, everything written in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. 14 Mighty nations and powerful kings will reduce them to a life of slavery, and thus I will requite them as their deeds and their handiwork deserve.
15 The Cup of Wrath on the Nations. For these are the words that the Lord, the God of Israel, proclaimed to me, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand and command all the nations to whom I send you to drink from it. 16 After they drink, they will stagger and become mad because of the sword that I am inflicting upon them.”
17 Therefore, I took the cup from the hand of the Lord and ordered all the nations to whom the Lord had sent me to drink from it: 18 Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to transform them into a desolate ruin and a desert, an object of ridicule and cursing, as they are today; 19 Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, and all his people, 20 with the various groupings of people: all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines—Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; 21 Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites; 22 all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and all the kings of the coastland across the sea; 23 Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who have shaven temples; 24 all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed peoples that dwell in the desert; 25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media; 26 all the kings of the north, both close neighbors and those who are distant from each other—in other words, all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And, last of all, the king of Sheshach[f] shall drink.
27 Then say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink! Get drunk and vomit! Fall down, never to rise again, because of the sword that I am sending against you. 28 Should they refuse to accept the cup from your hand and drink, then you are to say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: You must drink! 29 Behold, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that is called by my name. Do you believe that you can possibly avoid punishment? You will not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord of hosts.
30 Therefore, prophesy against them all these words and proclaim to them:
The Lord roars from on high;
he thunders from his holy dwelling place.
He will roar mightily against his fold;
like those who tread the grapes, she shouts aloud
against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 The uproar will resound to the ends of the earth,
for the Lord has an indictment against the nations,
he will pass judgment upon all mankind
and put the wicked to the sword.
This the Lord has sworn.
32 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Behold, disaster is spreading
from nation to nation,
and a mighty storm has been unleashed
from the farthest corners of the earth.
33 Those whom the Lord has slain on that day will be scattered from one end of the earth to the other. No one will mourn for them. Nor will they be gathered up for burial. Rather, they will become like dung spread over the surface of the ground.
34 Wail, you shepherds, and weep aloud;
roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock.
The time for you to be slaughtered has arrived;
you will fall and be shattered
like a valuable vase.
35 The shepherds have no place to seek refuge;
the leaders of the flock have no way of escape.
36 Listen to the cry of the shepherds
and the wails from the lords of the flock.
For the Lord has ravaged their pasture,
37 and their peaceful sheepfolds lie in ruins
because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
38 Like a lion he has abandoned his lair,
for their land has become a desolate waste
because of the sword of the oppressor
and the fierce anger of the Lord.
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