Jeremiah 23

1. “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture,” says the LORD.

2. Therefore thus says the LORD, God of Israel, against the shepherds who feed My people, “You have scattered My flock, and have driven them away, and have not taken care of them. Behold, I will bring upon you the evil of your doings,” says the LORD.

3. “But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their fold. And they shall be fruitful and multiply.

4. And I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. And they shall fear no more, nor be afraid; nor shall they lack anything,” says the LORD.

5. “Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall do justice and righteousness in the earth.

6. In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is His name by which He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

7. Therefore, behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that they shall no more say, ‘The LORD lives, Who brought the children of Israel up out of the land of Egypt;’

8. But, ‘The LORD lives, Who brought up and led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries where He had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.”

9. As for the prophets my heart within me is broken; all my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome because of the LORD and because of the words of His holiness.

10. For the land is full of adulterers. Because of swearing the land mourns; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and they wield power unjustly.

11. “For both prophet and priest are ungodly; yea, in My house I have found their evil,” says the LORD.

12. “So their way shall be to them as slippery ways in the darkness; they shall be driven on, and fall in their way; for I will bring evil on them, even the year of their judgment,” says the LORD.

13. “And I have seen repulsive things in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal and caused My people Israel to go astray.

14. I have also seen in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing; they commit adultery and walk in lies. They also strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that none returns from his evil; they are all of them like Sodom to Me, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

15. Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets, ‘Behold, I will feed them wormwood, and make them drink poisonous water; for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone forth into all the land.’ ”

16. Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you vain; they speak a vision from their own heart, not out of the mouth of the LORD.

17. They still say to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD has said, “You shall have peace!” ‘ And they say to everyone who walks after the imagination of his own heart, ‘No evil shall come upon you!’ ”

18. For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD to see and hear His Word? Who has attended to His Word and heard it?

19. Behold, the tempest of the LORD has gone forth in fury, a whirling tempest. It shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.

20. The anger of the LORD shall not return, until He has executed and until He has performed the purposes of His heart; in the latter days you shall understand it perfectly.

21. “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.

22. But if they had stood in My counsel and had caused My people to hear My words, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.

23. Am I a God Who is near,” says the LORD, “and not a God afar off?

24. Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him?” says the LORD. “Do I not fill the heavens and earth?” says the LORD.

25. “I have heard what the prophets said, who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed.’

26. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies and who are prophets of the deceit of their own heart?

27. They scheme to cause My people to forget My name by their dreams which they tell, each one to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten My name for Baal.

28. The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream. And he who has My Word, let him speak My Word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?” says the LORD.

29. “Is not My Word like a fire?” says the LORD; “and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

30. Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets who steal My words each one from his neighbor.

31. Behold, I am against the prophets who use their tongues and say, ‘He says,’ when I did not say.

32. Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams and tell them, and cause My people to go astray by their lies and by their wantonness. Yet I did not send them nor command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all,” says the LORD.

33. “And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask you, saying, ‘What is the oracle of the LORD?’ You shall then say to them, ‘What oracle? I will even forsake you, says the LORD.’

34. And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, who shall say, ‘The oracle of the LORD,’ I will even punish that man and his house.”

35. Thus you shall say each one to his neighbor, and each one to his brother, “What has the LORD answered? And what has the LORD spoken?”

36. And you shall mention the oracle of the LORD no more. For every man’s word becomes his own oracle; for you have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.

37. Thus you shall say to the prophet, “What has the LORD answered you? And what has the LORD spoken?”

38. But since you say, “The oracle of the LORD,”therefore thus says the LORD, “Because you say this word, ‘The oracle of the LORD’—after I have sent to you saying, ‘You shall not say, “The oracle of the LORD” ‘—

39. Therefore, behold, I, even I, will completely forget you, and I will forsake you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers, and cast you out of My presence.

40. And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.”