Jeremiah 23
1 Woe to the pastors, that destroy and tear the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord.
What trouble is coming to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! declares the Lord.
2 Therefore thus saith the Lord the God of Israel to the pastors that feed my people: You have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold I will visit upon you for the evil of your doings, saith the Lord.
This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who were meant to look after my people: You have scattered my flock. You have chased them away You didn't take care of them, so now I will take care of you for all the evil you've done, declares the Lord.
3 And I will gather together the remnant of my flock, out of all the lands into which I have cast them out: and I will make them return to their own fields, and they shall increase and be multiplied.
I myself will gather what's left of my flock from all the countries where I exiled them, and I will bring them back to their pasture, where they will increase in number.
4 And I will set up pastors over them, and they shall feed them: they shall fear no more, and they shall not be dismayed: and none shall be wanting of their number, saith the Lord.
I will put shepherds in charge of them who will take care of them, and they won't be afraid or discouraged anymore, and none of them will be missing, declares the Lord.
5 Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will raise up to David a just branch: and a king shall reign, and shall be wise, and shall execute judgement and justice in the earth.
Look, the time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will choose a descendant of David who does what is right. As king he will rule with wisdom and do what is just and right throughout the country.
6 In those days shall Juda be saved, and Israel shall dwell confidently: and this is the name that they shall call him: the Lord our just one.
When he is king, Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety. This is the name he will be called: The Lord Who Makes Us Right.
7 Therefore behold the days to come, saith the Lord, and they shall say no more: The Lord liveth, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt:
Look, the time is coming, declares the Lord, when people won't say anymore, “On the Lord's life, who led the Israelites out of Egypt.”
8 But the Lord liveth, who hath brought out, and brought hither the seed of the house of Israel from the land of the north, and out of all the lands, to which I had cast them forth: and they shall dwell in their own land.
Instead they'll say, “On the Lord's life, who led the Israelites back from the northern country and all the other countries where he had exiled them.” Then they'll live in their own country.
9 To the prophets: My heart is broken within me, all my bones tremble: I am become as a drunken man, and as a man full of wine, at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of his holy words.
When it comes to the prophets: I'm really disturbed—I'm shaking inside! I stagger like a drunk, like someone who's had too much wine, because of what the Lord is like, because of his holy words.
10 Because the land is full of adulterers, because the land hath mourned by reason of cursing, the fields of the desert are dried up: and their course is become evil, and their strength unlike.
For the country is full of people committing adultery so it's under a curse. The land mourns and the desert pastures have dried up. The people live evil lives, using their energy to do wrong.
11 For the prophet and the priest are defiled: and in my house I have found their wickedness, saith the Lord.
Both prophets and priests show no respect for me. I see wickedness even in my Temple, declares the Lord.
12 Therefore their way shall be as a slippery way in the dark: for they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evils upon them, the year of their visitation, saith the Lord.
That's why their path will become slippery; they will be chased away in the dark and fall down. I'm going to bring disaster on them at the time when they're punished, declares the Lord.
13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: they prophesied in Baal, and deceived my people Israel.
I saw the prophets of Samaria doing something really offensive: They prophesied in the name of Baal and led my people Israel to sin.
14 And I have seen the likeness of adulterers, and the way of lying in the prophets of Jerusalem: and they strengthened the hand of the wicked, that no man should return from his evil doings: that are all become unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrha.
But now I see the prophets of Jerusalem doing something even more disgusting: They commit adultery and their lives are a lie. They support the wicked, so no one stops sinning. To me they're all like Sodom; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.
15 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts to the prophets: Behold I will feed them with wormwood, and I will give them gall to drink: for from the prophets of Jerusalem corruption has gone forth into all the land.
So this is what the Lord Almighty says about the prophets: I will give them wormwood to eat and poisoned water to drink, because evil has spread across the country from the prophets of Jerusalem.
16 Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Hearken not to the words of the prophets that prophesy to you, and deceive you: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.
This is what the Lord Almighty says: Don't pay attention to what these prophets say when they prophesy to you. They're fooling you with visions they make up in their own minds. They're not from me.
17 They say to them that blaspheme me: The Lord hath said: You shall have peace: and to every one that walketh in the perverseness of his own heart, they have said: No evil shall come to you.
They keep on telling people who don't respect me, “The Lord says that you'll live in peace,” and to everyone following their own stubborn attitude, “Nothing bad is going to happen to you.”
18 For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath seen and heard his word? Who hath considered his word and heard it?
But who of them has attended the Lord's council to hear and understand what he's saying? Who has paid attention to his instructions and followed them?
19 Behold the whirlwind of the Lord’s indignation shall come forth, and a tempest shall break out and come upon the head of the wicked.
Watch out! The Lord has sent out a furious storm, a tornado swirling around the heads of the wicked.
20 The wrath of the Lord shall not return till he execute it, and till he accomplish the thought of his heart: in the latter days you shall understand his counsel.
The Lord's anger won't fade until he's finished doing everything he wants. Only then will you really understand.
21 I did not send prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
I didn't send these prophets, but they run to deliver their messages. I didn't tell them to say anything, but they still go on prophesying.
22 If they stood in my counsel, and had made my words known to my people, I should have turned them from their evil way and from their wicked doings.
Now if they had attended my council, they would have delivered my instructions to my people and brought them back from their evil way of life, from their evil actions.
23 Am I, think ye, a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?
Am I only a local God and not a God who operates widely? asks the Lord.
24 Shall a man be hid in secret places, and I not see him, saith the Lord? do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?
Can people hide in secret places where I can't see them? asks the Lord. Don't I operate everywhere in heaven and on earth? asks the Lord.
25 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, and say: I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
I've listened to the prophets who prophesy lies in my name. They say, “I've had a dream! I've had a dream!”
26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, and that prophesy the delusions of their own heart?
How long will this continue? How long will these prophets go on prophesying these lies which are just the product of their own deluded minds?
27 Who seek to make my people forget my name through their dreams, which they tell every man to his neighbor: as their fathers forgot my name for Baal.
They think the dreams that they repeat to one another will lead my people to forget me, just like their forefathers forgot me by worshiping Baal.
28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream: and he that hath my word, let him speak my word with truth: what hath the chaff to do with the wheat, saith the Lord?
A prophet who has a dream should say it's just a dream, but anyone I've spoken to should deliver my message faithfully. What is straw in comparison to grain? asks the Lord.
29 Are not my words as a fire, saith the Lord: and as a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
Doesn't my word burn like fire? asks the Lord. Isn't it like a hammer smashing a rock?
30 Therefore behold I am against the prophets, saith the Lord: who steal my words every one from his neighbor.
Pay attention to this, declares the Lord. I'm opposed to those prophets who steal words from one another and then say it's a message from me.
31 Behold I am against the prophets, saith the Lord: who use their tongues, and say: The Lord saith it.
Pay attention to this declares the Lord. I'm opposed to those prophets who make up their own stories and then announce, “This is what the Lord says.”
32 Behold I am against the prophets that have lying dreams, saith the Lord: and tell them, and cause my people to err by their lying, and by their wonders: when I sent them not, nor commanded them, who have not profited this people at all, saith the Lord.
Pay attention to this declares the Lord, I'm opposed to those who prophesy fictional dreams. They tell them in order to lead my people into sin with their wild lies. I didn't send them or give them any instructions, and they don't do anybody any good, declares the Lord.
33 If therefore this people, or the prophet, or the priest shall ask thee, saying: What is the burden of the Lord? thou shalt say to them: You are the burden: for I will cast you away, saith the Lord.
So when a prophet or priest or anyone else comes and asks you, “What is ‘the burden of the Lord?’” tell them, I'm not giving you a burden. I'm giving up on you, declares the Lord.
34 And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people that shall say: The burden of the Lord: I will visit upon that man, and upon his house.
If a prophet or priest or anyone else claims, “This is the burden of the Lord,” I will punish that person and their family.
35 Thus shall you say every one to his neighbor, and to his brother: What hath the Lord answered? and what hath the Lord spoken?
This is what everybody should say to their friends and relatives: “What answer has the Lord given?” or, “What has the Lord said?”
36 And the burden of the Lord shall be mentioned no more, for every man’s word shall be his burden: for you have perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts our God.
Don't talk about “the burden of the Lord” anymore, because everybody has different ideas about this “burden,” perverting the words of the living God, the Lord Almighty, our God.
37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet: What hath the Lord answered thee? and what hath the Lord spoken?
This is what you are to say ask any prophet: “What message has the Lord given you?” and “What has the Lord told you?”
38 But if you shall say: The burden of the Lord: therefore thus saith the Lord: Because you have said this word: The burden of the Lord: and I have sent to you saying: Say not, The burden of the Lord:
If they say, “This is the burden of the Lord,” then this is the Lord's response: Because you said, “This is the burden of the Lord,” and I warned you not to,
39 Therefore behold I will take you away carrying you, and will forsake you, and the city which I gave to you, and to your fathers, out of my presence.
now I'm going to pick you up like a burden and throw you away, you and the city that I gave to you and your forefathers.
40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame which shall never be forgotten.
I will disgrace you forever, you shame will never be forgotten.
