Jeremiah 23

23 ¹"Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!' declares our Father. ²So our Father of Israel says about the shepherds tending my people: 'You have scattered my flock and driven them away, and not cared for them. Now I will hold you accountable for the evil you have done, declares our Father. ³Then I will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands where I drove them, bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. ⁴I will raise up shepherds over them who will tend them; they will fear no more nor be dismayed, none will go missing, declares our Father. ⁵Look, the days are coming, declares our Father, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he will reign as king and act wisely, and he will administer justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.'

⁷"So the days are coming, declares our Father, when they will no longer say, 'As surely as your Father lives, who brought the people of Israel up out of Egypt,' ⁸but instead, 'As surely as your Father lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the house of Israel from the land of the north and all the lands where he had driven them.' Then they will live on their own soil."

The Father Exposes the False Prophets

⁹About the prophets: My heart is broken; all my bones tremble. I am like a drunk man, like one overcome by wine, because of our Father and his holy words. ¹⁰For the land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land mourns, and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. Their ways are evil, and they abuse their power.

¹¹"Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my house I have found their evil, declares our Father. ¹²Therefore their way will become to them like slippery paths in the darkness, into which they will be driven and fall; for I will bring disaster upon them in the year of their punishment, declares our Father. ¹³In the prophets of Samaria I saw a repulsive thing: they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. ¹⁴Yet among Jerusalem's prophets I have seen something appalling: they commit adultery, they live by lies, they back the hands of evildoers, so no one turns from his evil. They have all become to me like Sodom, its people like Gomorrah.'

¹⁵So this is what the Father of heaven's armies says about the prophets: I will feed them bitter food and give them poisoned water, for godlessness has spread through the whole land from Jerusalem's prophets.'

¹⁶This is what the Father of heaven's armies says: Do not listen to the prophets prophesying to you; they fill you with false hope, speaking visions from their own minds, not from my mouth. ¹⁷They keep saying to those who despise my word, 'You will have peace,' and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart they say, 'No disaster will come upon you.'"

¹⁸For who among them has stood in the council of our Father to see and to hear his word? Who has paid attention to his word and listened? ¹⁹Look, the storm of our Father has gone out in wrath, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the heads of the wicked. ²⁰The anger of our Father will not relent until he has fully carried out the purposes of his heart. In the days to come you will understand it clearly.

²¹"I did not send these prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. ²²But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds. ²³Am I your Father only nearby, declares our Father, and not your Father far away as well? ²⁴Can anyone hide in secret places where I cannot see him? declares our Father. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares our Father.'

²⁵"I've heard the prophets who prophesy lies in my name, claiming, 'I dreamed! I dreamed!' ²⁶How long will lies fill the hearts of prophets who prophesy the deceit of their own hearts? ²⁷They plan to make my people forget my name through the dreams they tell each other, as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal. ²⁸Let the prophet with a dream tell it, but let the one with my word speak my word faithfully. What is straw to wheat? declares our Father. ²⁹Is not my word like fire, declares our Father, and like a hammer that shatters rock?'

³⁰"Therefore, look, I am against the prophets, declares our Father, who steal my words from one another. ³¹Look, I am against the prophets, declares our Father, who wag their tongues yet declare, 'God has spoken.' ³²I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares our Father; they tell them and mislead my people with their lies and reckless boasting. I did not send or command them, and they do this people no good at all, declares our Father.'

You Are the Burden

³³"When this people, a prophet, or a priest asks, 'What is our Father's burden?' say to them, 'You are the burden! I will cast you off, declares our Father.' ^a a v33 The word for "oracle" also means "burden." The people demand a message; our Father answers that their own faithlessness is the burden he will set down. ³⁴The prophet, priest, or person who says, 'The burden of our Father,' I will punish that man and his household. ³⁵Each of you is to say to his neighbor and brother: 'What has our Father answered?' or 'What has our Father spoken?' ³⁶But never again say 'the burden of our Father,' for each man's own word becomes his burden; you have twisted the words of the living Father of heaven's armies.' ³⁷Say this to the prophet: 'What has our Father answered you?' or 'What has our Father spoken?' ³⁸But if you say, 'The burden of our Father,' then our Father says: Because you spoke these words, 'The burden of our Father,' though I sent word telling you, 'Do not say, The burden of our Father, ³⁹so look, I will surely lift you up like a burden and throw you away from my presence—you and the city I gave you and your ancestors. ⁴⁰And I will bring on you everlasting disgrace and lasting shame that will never be forgotten.'"