JER-23:1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the
sheep of my
pasture! saith the LORD.
JER-23:2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against
the pastors that
feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away,
and have not
visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your
doings, saith the
LORD.
JER-23:3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all
countries
whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their
folds; and they
shall be fruitful and increase.
JER-23:4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed
them: and
they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be
lacking, saith
the LORD.
JER-23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will
raise unto David
a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and
shall execute
judgment and justice in the earth.
JER-23:6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall
dwell safely: and
this [is] his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS.
JER-23:7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that
they shall no
more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of
Israel out of the
land of Egypt;
JER-23:8 But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led
the seed of the
house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries
whither I had
driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.
JER-23:9 Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets;
all my bones
shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath
overcome,
because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.
JER-23:10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of
swearing the
land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried
up, and their
course is evil, and their force [is] not right.
JER-23:11 For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my
house have I
found their wickedness, saith the LORD.
JER-23:12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery
[ways] in the
darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will
bring evil
upon them, [even] the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.
JER-23:13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria;
they prophesied
in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.
JER-23:14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an
horrible thing:
they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the
hands of
evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are
all of them
unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
JER-23:15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the
prophets;
Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the
water of gall:
for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth
into all the
land.
JER-23:16 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the
words of the
prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak
a vision of
their own heart, [and] not out of the mouth of the LORD.
JER-23:17 They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD
hath said, Ye
shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after
the
imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.
JER-23:18 For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and
hath perceived
and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard [it]?
JER-23:19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury,
even a
grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of
the wicked.
JER-23:20 The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have
executed, and
till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter
days ye shall
consider it perfectly.
JER-23:21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have
not spoken to
them, yet they prophesied.
JER-23:22 But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused
my people to
hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil
way, and from
the evil of their doings.
JER-23:23 [Am] I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God
afar off?
JER-23:24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall
not see him?
saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
JER-23:25 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy
lies in my name,
saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
JER-23:26 How long shall [this] be in the heart of the prophets
that prophesy
lies? yea, [they are] prophets of the deceit of their own heart;
JER-23:27 Which think to cause my people to forget my name by
their dreams
which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers
have forgotten my
name for Baal.
JER-23:28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream;
and he that
hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What [is] the
chaff to the
wheat? saith the LORD.
JER-23:29 [Is] not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and
like a hammer
[that] breaketh the rock in pieces?
JER-23:30 Therefore, behold, I [am] against the prophets, saith
the LORD,
that steal my words every one from his neighbour.
JER-23:31 Behold, I [am] against the prophets, saith the LORD,
that use their
tongues, and say, He saith.
JER-23:32 Behold, I [am] against them that prophesy false
dreams, saith the
LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies,
and by their
lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore
they shall not
profit this people at all, saith the LORD.
JER-23:33 And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest,
shall ask thee,
saying, What [is] the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say
unto them, What
burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD.
JER-23:34 And [as for] the prophet, and the priest, and the
people, that
shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man
and his house.
JER-23:35 Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and
every one to his
brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD
spoken?
JER-23:36 And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more:
for every
man's word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words
of the living
God, of the LORD of hosts our God.
JER-23:37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the
LORD answered
thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
JER-23:38 But since ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore
thus saith the
LORD; Because ye say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I
have sent unto
you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD;
JER-23:39 Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you,
and I will
forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, [and
cast you] out
of my presence:
JER-23:40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you,
and a perpetual
shame, which shall not be forgotten.
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