Beginning
Chapter 23
A Just Shepherd.[a] 1 (A)Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the flock of my pasture—oracle of the Lord. 2 Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who shepherd my people: You have scattered my sheep and driven them away. You have not cared for them, but I will take care to punish your evil deeds.(B) 3 I myself will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands to which I have banished them and bring them back to their folds; there they shall be fruitful and multiply.(C) 4 I will raise up shepherds for them who will shepherd them so that they need no longer fear or be terrified; none shall be missing—oracle of the Lord.(D)
5 See, days are coming—oracle of the Lord—
when I will raise up a righteous branch for David;
As king he shall reign and govern wisely,
he shall do what is just and right in the land.(E)
6 In his days Judah shall be saved,
Israel shall dwell in security.
This is the name to be given him:
“The Lord our justice.”(F)
7 (G)Therefore, the days are coming—oracle of the Lord—when they shall 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 the descendants of the house of Israel up from the land of the north”—and from all the lands to which I banished them; they shall again live on their own soil.
The False Prophets[b]
9 Concerning the prophets:
My heart is broken within me,
all my bones tremble;
I am like a drunk,
like one overcome by wine,
Because of the Lord,
because of his holy words.
10 The land is filled with adulterers;
because of the curse the land mourns,
the pastures of the wilderness are withered.(H)
Theirs is an evil course,
theirs is unjust power.
11 Both prophet and priest are godless!
In my very house I find their wickedness—
oracle of the Lord.(I)
12 Hence their way shall become for them
slippery ground.
Into the darkness they shall be driven,
and fall headlong;
For I will bring disaster upon them,
the year of their punishment—oracle of the Lord.(J)
13 Among Samaria’s prophets
I saw something unseemly:
They prophesied by Baal
and led my people Israel astray.(K)
14 But among Jerusalem’s prophets
I saw something more shocking:
Adultery, walking in deception,[c]
strengthening the power of the wicked,
so that no one turns from evil;
To me they are all like Sodom,
its inhabitants like Gomorrah.(L)
15 Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts against the prophets:
Look, I will give them wormwood to eat,
and poisoned water to drink;
For from Jerusalem’s prophets
ungodliness has gone forth into the whole land.(M)
16 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Do not listen to the words of your prophets,
who fill you with emptiness;
They speak visions from their own fancy,
not from the mouth of the Lord.(N)
17 They say to those who despise the word of the Lord,[d]
“Peace shall be yours”;
And to everyone who walks in hardness of heart,
“No evil shall overtake you.”(O)
18 Now, who has stood in the council of the Lord,
to see him and to hear his word?
Who has heeded his word so as to announce it?(P)
19 See, the storm of the Lord!
His wrath breaks forth
In a whirling storm
that bursts upon the heads of the wicked.(Q)
20 The anger of the Lord shall not abate
until he has carried out completely
the decisions of his heart.
In days to come
you will understand fully.
21 I did not send these prophets,
yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.(R)
22 Had they stood in my council,
they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
They would have brought them back from their evil ways
and from their wicked deeds.
23 Am I a God near at hand only—oracle of the Lord—(S)
and not a God far off?[e]
24 Can anyone hide in secret
without my seeing them?—oracle of the Lord.
Do I not fill
heaven and earth?—oracle of the Lord.
25 I have heard the prophets who prophesy lies in my name say, “I had a dream! I had a dream!” 26 How long? Will the hearts of the prophets who prophesy lies and their own deceitful fancies ever turn back? 27 By the dreams they tell each other, they plan to make my people forget my name, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal.(T) 28 Let the prophets who have dreams tell their dreams; let those who have my word speak my word truthfully!
What has straw to do with wheat?[f]
—oracle of the Lord.(U)
29 Is not my word like fire—oracle of the Lord—
like a hammer shattering rock?
30 Therefore I am against the prophets—oracle of the Lord—those who steal my words from each other.(V) 31 Yes, I am against the prophets—oracle of the Lord—those who compose their own speeches and call them oracles. 32 Yes, I am against the prophets who tell lying dreams—oracle of the Lord—those who lead my people astray by recounting their reckless lies. It was not I who sent them or commanded them; they do this people no good at all—oracle of the Lord.(W)
33 [g]And when this people or a prophet or a priest asks you, “What is the burden of the Lord?” you shall answer, “You are the burden, and I cast you off”—oracle of the Lord. 34 If a prophet or a priest or anyone else mentions “the burden of the Lord,” I will punish that man and his household. 35 Thus you shall ask, when speaking to one another, “What answer did the Lord give?” or “What did the Lord say?” 36 But “the burden of the Lord” you shall mention no more. For each of you, your own word becomes the burden so that you pervert the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. 37 Thus shall you ask the prophet, “What answer did the Lord give?” or “What did the Lord say?” 38 But if you ask about “the burden of the Lord,” then thus says the Lord: Because you use this phrase, “the burden of the Lord,” though I forbade you to use it, 39 therefore I will lift you on high and cast you from my presence, you and the city which I gave to you and your ancestors. 40 And I will bring upon you eternal reproach, eternal shame, never to be forgotten.(X)
Chapter 24
The Two Baskets of Figs.[h] 1 The Lord showed me two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord.(Y) This was after Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had exiled from Jerusalem Jeconiah,[i] son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, the artisans and smiths, and brought them to Babylon. 2 One basket contained excellent figs, those that ripen early. But the other basket contained very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten. 3 Then the Lord said to me: What do you see, Jeremiah?(Z) “Figs,” I replied; “the good ones are very good, but the bad ones very bad, so bad they cannot be eaten.” 4 Thereupon this word of the Lord came to me: 5 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, I will also regard with favor Judah’s exiles whom I sent away from this place into the land of the Chaldeans.(AA) 6 I will look after them for good and bring them back to this land, to build them up, not tear them down; to plant them, not uproot them.(AB) 7 I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.(AC) 8 But like the figs that are bad, so bad they cannot be eaten—yes, thus says the Lord—even so will I treat Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his princes, the remnant of Jerusalem remaining in this land and those who have settled in the land of Egypt.(AD) 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 to which I will drive them.(AE) 10 I will send upon them sword, famine, and pestilence, until they have disappeared from the land which I gave them and their ancestors.(AF)
Chapter 25
Seventy Years of Exile. 1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim,[j] son of Josiah, king of Judah (the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon).(AG) 2 This word the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: 3 Since the thirteenth year of Josiah, son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day—that is, twenty-three years—the word of the Lord has come to me and I spoke to you untiringly, but you would not listen.(AH) 4 The Lord kept sending you all his servants the prophets,(AI) but you refused to listen or pay attention 5 to this message: Turn back, each of you, from your evil way and from your evil deeds; then you shall remain in the land which the Lord gave you and your ancestors, from of old and forever. 6 Do not follow other gods to serve and bow down to them; do not provoke me with the works of your hands, or I will bring evil upon you.(AJ) 7 But you would not listen to me—oracle of the Lord—and so you provoked me with the works of your hands to your own harm.(AK) 8 Hence, thus says the Lord of hosts: Since you would not listen to my words, 9 I am about to send for and fetch all the tribes from the north—oracle of the Lord—and I will send for Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, my servant; I will bring them against this land, its inhabitants, and all these neighboring nations. I will doom them, making them an object of horror, of hissing, of everlasting reproach.(AL) 10 Among them I will put to an end the song of joy and the song of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstone and the light of the lamp. 11 This whole land shall be a ruin and a waste. Seventy years these nations shall serve the king of Babylon;(AM) 12 but when the seventy years have elapsed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation and the land of the Chaldeans for their guilt—oracle of the Lord. Their land I will turn into everlasting waste.(AN) 13 Against that land I will fulfill all the words I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. 14 They also shall serve many nations and great kings, and thus I will repay them according to their own deeds and according to the works of their hands.(AO)
The Cup of Judgment on the Nations. 15 [k]For thus said the Lord, the God of Israel, to me: Take this cup of the wine of wrath[l] from my hand and have all the nations to whom I will send you drink it.(AP) 16 They shall drink, and retch, and go mad, because of the sword I will send among them.(AQ) 17 I took the cup from the hand of the Lord and gave it as drink to all the nations to whom the Lord sent me: 18 to Jerusalem, the cities of Judah, its kings and princes, to make them a ruin and a waste, an object of hissing and cursing, as they are today; 19 to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his servants, princes, all his people 20 and those of mixed ancestry; all the kings of the land of Uz;[m] 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, of Sidon, and of the shores beyond the sea;[n] 23 Dedan and Tema and Buz,[o] all the desert dwellers who shave their temples; 24 all the kings of Arabia; 25 all the kings of Zimri, of Elam, of the Medes; 26 all the kings of the north, near and far, one after the other; all the kingdoms upon the face of the earth and after them the king of Sheshach[p] shall drink.
27 Tell them: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink! Get drunk and vomit! Fall, never to rise, before the sword that I will send among you!(AR) 28 If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink, say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: You must drink!(AS) 29 Now that I am inflicting evil on this city, called by my name, how can you possibly escape? You shall not escape! I am calling down the sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth—oracle of the Lord of hosts. 30 As for you, prophesy against them all these words and say to them:
The Lord roars from on high,
from his holy dwelling he raises his voice;
Mightily he roars over his sheepfold,
a shout like that of vintagers echoes(AT)
over all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 The uproar spreads
to the end of the earth;
For the Lord has an indictment against the nations,
he enters into judgment against all flesh:
The wicked shall be given to the sword—
oracle of the Lord.
32 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Look! disaster stalks
nation after nation;
A violent storm surges
from the recesses of the earth.
33 On that day, those whom the Lord has slain will be strewn from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned, they will not be gathered, they will not be buried; they shall lie like dung upon the ground.(AU)
34 Howl, you shepherds, and wail!
roll on the ground, leaders of the flock!
The time for your slaughter has come;
like choice rams you shall fall.
35 There is no flight for the shepherds,
no escape for the leaders of the flock.(AV)
36 Listen! Wailing from the shepherds,
howling from the leaders of the flock!
For the Lord lays waste their grazing place;
37 desolate are the peaceful pastures,
from the burning wrath of the Lord.
38 Like a lion he leaves his lair,
and their land is made desolate
By the sweeping sword,
and the burning wrath of the Lord.(AW)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.