Jeremiah 23

1 “Woe to shepherds destroying, And scattering the flock of My pasture,” A declaration of YHWH.

2 Therefore, thus said YHWH, God of Israel, Against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, and drive them away, And have not inspected them, Behold, I am charging on you the evil of your doings,” A declaration of YHWH.

3 “And I gather the remnant of My flock Out of all the lands to where I drove them, And have brought them back to their fold, And they have been fruitful, and multiplied.

4 And I have raised shepherds for them, And they have fed them, And they no longer fear, nor are frightened, Nor are they lacking,” A declaration of YHWH.

5 “Behold, days are coming,” A declaration of YHWH, “And I have raised a righteous shoot to David, And a king has reigned and acted wisely, And done judgment and righteousness in the earth.

6 Judah is saved in His days, and Israel dwells confidently, And this [is] His Name that YHWH proclaims Him: Our Righteousness.

7 Therefore, behold, days are coming,” A declaration of YHWH, “And they no longer say, YHWH lives who brought up The sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,

8 But—YHWH lives, who brought up, And who brought in, the seed of the house of Israel, From the land of the north, And from all the lands to where I drove them, And they have dwelt on their own ground!”

9 In reference to the prophets: My heart has been broken in my midst, All my bones have fluttered, I have been as a man—a drunkard, And as a man—wine has passed over him, Because of YHWH, and of His holy words.

10 For the land has been full of adulterers, For the land has mourned because of these, The pleasant places of the wilderness have dried up, And their course is evil, and their might—not right.

11 “For both prophet and priest have been profane, Indeed, I found their wickedness in My house,” A declaration of YHWH.

12 “Therefore their way is as slippery places to them, They are driven into thick darkness, And they have fallen in it, For I bring in calamity against them, The year of their inspection,” A declaration of YHWH.

13 “And I have seen folly in prophets of Samaria, They have prophesied by Ba‘al, And cause My people—Israel—to err.

14 And I have seen a horrible thing in prophets of Jerusalem, Committing adultery, and walking falsely, Indeed, they strengthened the hands of evildoers, So that they have not turned back, Each from his wickedness, All of them have been as Sodom to me, And its inhabitants as Gomorrah.”

15 Therefore, thus said YHWH of Hosts, concerning the prophets: “Behold, I am causing them to eat wormwood, And have caused them to drink water of gall, For from prophets of Jerusalem Profanity has gone forth to all the land.”

16 Thus said YHWH of Hosts: “You do not listen to the words Of the prophets who are prophesying to you, They are making you vain things, They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of YHWH.

17 Diligently saying to those despising, The word of YHWH: Peace is for you, And [to] everyone walking in the stubbornness of his heart, they have said: Evil does not come to you.”

18 For who has stood in the counsel of YHWH, And sees and hears His word? Who has regarded My word, and listens?

19 Behold, a whirlwind of YHWH—Fury has gone out, even a piercing whirlwind, It stays on the head of the wicked.

20 The anger of YHWH does not turn back Until His doing, and until His establishing, The thoughts of His heart, In the latter end of the days You attend to it with understanding.

21 “I have not sent the prophets, and they have run, I have not spoken to them, and they have prophesied.

22 But if they stood in My counsel, Then they cause My people to hear My words, And they turn them back from their evil way, And from the evil of their doings.

23 [Am] I a God near,” A declaration of YHWH, “And not a God far off?

24 Is anyone hidden in secret places, And I do not see him?” A declaration of YHWH, “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” A declaration of YHWH.

25 “I have heard that which the prophets said, Who prophesy falsehood in My Name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.

26 Until when is it in the heart of the prophets? The prophets of falsehood, Indeed, prophets of the deceit of their heart,

27 Who are devising to cause My people To forget My Name by their dreams, That they each recount to his neighbor, As their fathers forgot My Name for Ba‘al.

28 The prophet with whom [is] a dream, Let him recount the dream, And he with whom [is] My word, Let him truly speak My word. What does the straw [have to do] with the grain?” A declaration of YHWH.

29 “Is it not thus? My word [is] as fire,” A declaration of YHWH. “And as a hammer—it breaks a rock in pieces.

30 Therefore, behold, I [am] against the prophets,” A declaration of YHWH, “Each stealing My words from his neighbor.

31 Behold, I [am] against the prophets,” A declaration of YHWH, “Who are making their tongue smooth, And they affirm—an affirmation.

32 Behold, I [am] against the prophets of false dreams,” A declaration of YHWH, “And they recount them, and cause My people to err, By their falsehoods, and by their instability, And I have not sent them, Nor have I commanded them, And they are not profitable to this people at all,” A declaration of YHWH.

33 “And when this people, or the prophet, Or a priest, asks you, saying, What [is] the burden of YHWH? Then you have said to them: You [are] the burden, and I have left you,” A declaration of YHWH.

34 “And the prophet, and the priest, and the people, That says, The burden of YHWH, I have seen after that man, and after his house.

35 Thus you each say to his neighbor, And each to his brother: What has YHWH answered? And what has YHWH spoken?

36 And you do not mention the burden of YHWH anymore, For the burden to each is His word, And you have overturned the words of the living God, YHWH of Hosts, our God.

37 Thus you say to the prophet, What has YHWH answered you? And what has YHWH spoken?

38 And if you say, The burden of YHWH, Therefore, thus said YHWH: Because of your saying this word, The burden of YHWH, And I send to you, saying, You do not say, The burden of YHWH.

39 Therefore, behold, I have utterly taken you away, And I have sent you out, And the city that I gave to you, And to your fathers, from before My face,

40 And I have put continuous reproach on you, And continuous shame that is not forgotten!”