Jer 23 | ESV | STEP | Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture ! declares the Lord .

1 ^a“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning ^bthe shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. ^cBehold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. 3 ^dThen I will gather the remnant of my flock ^eout of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, ^fand they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 ^gI will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.

5 ^h“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous ⁱBranch, and ^jhe shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and ^kIsrael will ^ldwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ^m‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

7 ⁿ“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 8 but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he ^{▼▼Septuagint; Hebrew I} had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”

Lying Prophets

9 Concerning the prophets:

^pMy heart is broken within me;
^qall 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 ^rFor the land is full of adulterers;
^sbecause of the curse ^tthe land mourns,
and ^uthe pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
^vTheir course is evil,
and their might is not right.
11 ^w“Both prophet and priest are ungodly;
even ^xin my house I have found their evil,

declares the Lord.
12 ^yTherefore their way shall be to them
like slippery paths ^zin the darkness,
into which they shall be driven and fall,
for I will bring disaster upon them
^aain the year of their punishment,

declares the Lord.
13 In the prophets of ^abSamaria
^acI saw an unsavory thing:
^adthey prophesied by Baal
^aeand led my people Israel astray.
14 But in the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen a horrible thing:
^afthey commit adultery and walk in lies;
^agthey strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns from his evil;
^ahall of them have become like Sodom to me,
^aiand its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
15 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:
^aj“Behold, I will feed them with bitter food
^akand give them ^alpoisoned 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, ^amfilling you with vain hopes. ^anThey 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, ^ao‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who ^apstubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ^aq‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”

18 For ^arwho 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 ^asBehold, the storm of the Lord!
Wrath has gone forth,
^ata whirling tempest;
it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
20 ^auThe anger of the Lord will not turn back
until he has executed and ^avaccomplished
the intents of his heart.
^awIn the latter days you will understand it clearly.
21 ^ax“I did not send the prophets,
yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.
22 ^ayBut if they had stood in my council,
then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
^azand they would have turned them from their evil way,
and ^bafrom the evil of their deeds.

23 ^bb“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? 24 ^bcCan a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. ^bdDo I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. 25 I have heard what the prophets have said ^bewho prophesy lies in my name, saying, ^bf‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ 26 How long shall there be lies in the heart of ^bgthe prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, 27 who think to make my people forget my name ^bhby their dreams that they tell one another, even as their ^bifathers forgot my name for Baal? 28 ^bjLet the prophet who has a dream ^bktell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. ^blWhat has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. 29 ^bmIs not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and ^bnlike a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? 30 ^boTherefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the Lord.’ 32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and ^bplead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when ^bqI did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.

33 ^br“When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ you shall say to them, ‘You are the burden, ^{▼▼Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew What burden?} and ^btI will cast you off, declares the Lord.’ 34 And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ ^buI will punish that man and his household. 35 Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 36 But ‘the burden of the Lord’ you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man’s own word, and ^bvyou pervert the words of ^bwthe living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. 37 Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 38 But if you say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have said these words, “The burden of the Lord,” when I sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’” 39 therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up and ^bxcast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers. 40 ^byAnd I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and ^bzperpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’”