Beginning
Gathering His Flock
23 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” It is a declaration of Adonai.
2 Therefore thus says Adonai, the God of Israel, about the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and have not taken care of them. I will soon visit on you the evil of your deeds.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
3 “I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them back to their folds, and they will be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will raise up shepherds over them who will feed them. They will no longer be afraid or dismayed, nor will any be missing,” It is a declaration of Adonai.
The Righteous Branch
5 “Behold, days are coming”
—it is a declaration of Adonai—
“when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
and He will reign as king wisely[a],
and execute justice and righteousness in the land.
6 In His days Judah will be saved,
and Israel will dwell in safely;
and this is His Name by which He will be called:
Adonai our righteousness.
7 “Therefore behold, days are coming,” says Adonai, “when they will no longer say: ‘As Adonai lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.’ 8 Rather, ‘As Adonai lives, who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and from all the lands where He had banished them.’ So they will dwell in their own soil.
Avoid Ungodly Prophets
9 As for the prophets:
My heart within me is broken,
all my bones shake.
I am like a drunken man,
like a man overcome by wine
because of Adonai,
because of His holy words.
10 For the land is full of adulterers.
The land mourns because of a curse.
Pastures of the wilderness are dry.
Their running is evil,
and their might is not right.
11 For both prophet and kohen are ungodly.
Even in My House I found their evil.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
12 “Therefore their way will be for them like slippery places in the gloom.
They will be driven away and fall there,
for I will bring calamity on them,
even the year of their visitation.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
13 Moreover, I have seen unseemliness
in the prophets of Samaria:
they prophesied by Baal,
and led My people Israel astray.
14 But in the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen a horrible thing:
committing adultery and walking in lies.
They strengthen the hands of evildoers.
No one turns back from his evil.
They are all like Sodom to Me
and her inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
15 Therefore thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot concerning the prophets:
“I myself will feed them wormwood
and make them drink poisoned water.
For from the prophets of Jerusalem
pollution has spread into all the land.”
16 Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:
“Do not listen to the words of prophets
who are prophesying to you.
They are leading you into illusion,
speaking a vision of their own heart
and not out of the mouth of Adonai.
17 They keep saying to those who despise Me,
‘Adonai has said, you will have shalom.’
To everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say:
‘No evil will come on you.’”
18 For who has stood in the council of Adonai,
that he should see and hear His word?
Who has heard to His word and obeyed?
19 Look, a storm of Adonai goes out in fury,
yes, a whirling tempest will swirl down
on the head of the wicked.
20 The anger of Adonai will not turn
until He has executed and fulfilled
the purposes of His heart.
In the last days you will discern it clearly.
21 “I did not send those prophets,
yet they ran.
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.
22 If they have stood in My council,
then they would have announced My words to My people,
and turned them from their evil way,
and from the evil of their deeds.”
23 “Am I God only when near”
—it is a declaration of Adonai—
“and not God when far off?
24 Can anyone hide himself in places
so secret that I will not see him?
Do I not fill heaven and earth?”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
25 “I have heard what the prophets said, who prophesy lies in My Name, saying: ‘I had a dream, I had a dream!’ 26 How long will this continue? Is there anything in the heart of such prophets prophesying lies? These prophets have deception in their heart. 27 Through their dreams that they each tell to his companion, that intend to make My people forget My Name—just as their fathers forgot My Name because of Baal.
28 “The prophet who has a dream may recount a dream,
but let the one who has My word speak My word in truth.
For what is straw compared with wheat?”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
29 “Is not My word like fire?” says Adonai,
“or like a hammer that shatters rock?
30 “Therefore here I am against the prophets”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“who steal My words from each other. 31 Indeed, I am against the prophets”, declares Adonai, “who use their tongues to utter a prophecy, ‘It is a declaration!’ 32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams,” declares Adonai, “and tell them, and so lead My people astray with their lies and with their reckless boasts. Yet I never sent them or commanded them. Nor do they benefit this people at all.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
33 “Now when this people or a prophet or a kohen is asking you: ‘What is the burden[b] of Adonai?’ then you are to say to them, ‘What burden? I will cast you off!’” It is a declaration of Adonai.
34 “As for the prophet or kohen or people who keep saying, ‘The burden of Adonai!’—I will punish that man and his household. 35 Thus each of you may say to his companion and each one to his brother, ‘What has Adonai answered?’ or ‘What has Adonai spoken?’ 36 But you should no longer remember ‘the burden of Adonai’—for to each one, his own word is becoming ‘the burden’! So you have perverted the words of the living God, of Adonai-Tzva’ot our God.
37 “So you are to say to such a prophet, ‘What has Adonai answered you?’ and ‘What has Adonai spoken?’ 38 But if you say, ‘The burden of Adonai,’” then surely Adonai says, “because you keep saying this word: ‘The burden of Adonai,’ when I sent this word to you, you are not to say ‘The burden of Adonai’— 39 therefore, I will surely forget you when I will cast you off, along with the city that I gave to you and to your fathers, away from My presence. 40 Then I will bring everlasting disgrace on you and everlasting shame that will not be forgotten.”
Parable of the Baskets of Figs
24 Adonai showed me, all of a sudden, there were two baskets of figs set before the Temple of Adonai. It was after King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had taken away into exile Jeconiah son of King Jehoiakim of Judah and the princes of Judah, along with the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
2 One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe, but the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. 3 Then Adonai said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
So I said, “Figs—the good figs are very good, but the bad are very bad, and cannot be eaten, they are so bad.”
4 Then the word of Adonai came to me, saying, 5 thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: “Like these good figs, so will I regard the exiles of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place to the land of the Chaldeans, as good. 6 I will set My eyes on them as good. I will bring them back to this land, and I will build them up and not pull them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. 7 Then I will give them a heart to know Me—for I am Adonai—and they will be My people, and I will be their God.[c] For they will return to Me with their whole heart.
8 “Now as for the bad figs, which cannot be eaten they are so bad”—surely thus says Adonai—“so I will give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, as well as those dwelling in the land of Egypt. 9 I will even give them as a horror, as an evil thing, among all the kingdoms of the earth—as a disgrace and a proverb, a taunt and a curse—in all places where I will drive them. 10 I will also send the sword, famine and pestilence among them, until they be consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.”
Unheard Voice of the Prophets
25 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon). 2 Jeremiah the prophet spoke it to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: 3 “From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until this day—these 23 years—the word of Adonai has come to me. So I have spoken to you, speaking early and often, but you have not listened. 4 Moreover, Adonai has sent to you all His servants the prophets, sending them early and often—but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear— 5 saying: ‘Turn, now, everyone from his evil way, and from the evil of your deeds, and dwell in the land that Adonai has given to you and to your fathers forever and ever. 6 Do not go after other gods to serve them, to worship them, and so do not provoke Me with the work of your hands, so I would do you no harm.’
7 “Yet you have not listened to Me,” declares Adonai. “So you are provoking Me with the work of your hands, to your own hurt.”
8 Therefore thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: “Since you have not heard My words, 9 I will soon send for and bring all the families of the north”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“and I will send for King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about, and I will utterly destroy them, and make them a horror, and a hissing, an enduring desolation.
10 “Moreover, I will silence among them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride,[d] the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.
Seventy Years of Desolation
11 “So this whole land will be a desolate ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years. 12 Then it will come to pass, when 70 years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,” declares Adonai, “the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, and I will make it ruins forever. 13 I will bring on that land all My words which I pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. 14 For many nations and great kings will make slaves of them also. So I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their own hands.”
Cup of Fury and Reeling
15 For thus says Adonai, the God of Israel, to me: “Take this cup of the wine of fury from My hand, and make all the nations to whom I am sending you drink it. 16 They will drink, and reel to and fro, and be like madmen, because of the sword that I will send among them. 17 Then I took the cup from Adonai’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom Adonai had sent me: 18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with its kings and its princes—to make them an appalling horror and hissing, a curse as it is this day; 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, with his servants, his princes and all his people; 20 and all the mingled 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 Ammon’s children; 22 all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the coastland across the sea; 23 Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who shave the corners[e]; 24 all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed people dwelling in the wilderness; 25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam and all the kings of Media; 26 all the kings of the north, either far or close to another; and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. And the king of Sheshach[f] will drink after them.”
27 And you will say to them, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel: “Drink, be drunken, vomit, fall down and rise no more, because of the sword that I will send among you.” 28 And if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then here is what you will say to them: “Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, you will surely drink! 29 See, I am beginning to bring evil on the city where My name is called, and should you go completely unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth.” It is a declaration of Adonai-Tzva’ot.
30 Therefore you are to prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:
“Adonai is roaring from on high,
giving voice from His holy dwelling.
He roars mightily over His sheepfold.
He shouts like those who tread grapes,
against all who dwell on the earth.
31 A noise has come to the end of the earth,
for Adonai has a dispute with the nations.
He is passing judgment on all flesh.
As for the wicked, He has given them over to the sword.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
32 Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:
“Evil will soon go forth from nation to nation. A great storm is being stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth. 33 Those slain by Adonai on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. They will not be lamented, gathered, or buried; they will be dung on the surface of the ground.”
34 Wail, you shepherds, and cry!
Wallow in the dust, you leaders of the flock!
For the days of your slaughter and your dispersions are full.
You will fall like a precious vase.
35 For the shepherds will have no way to flee,
nor the leaders of the flock to escape.
36 Hark! The outcry of the shepherds,
the wailing of the leaders of the flock!
For Adonai is ravaging their pasture.
37 The peace of the pasture is stifled
because of the fierce anger of Adonai.
38 He has left His lair, like a lion.
For their land has become a waste,
because of the fury of the oppressor
and because of His fierce anger.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.