Jeremiah 23
1 Alas for the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture Declareth Yahweh.
Woe to the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of their pasture!
2 Therefore, Thus, saith Yahweh God of Israel, Concerning the shepherds who are tending my people, —Ye have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and have not visited them, —Behold me! visiting upon you the wickedness of your doings Declareth Yahweh.
Therefore thus says the Lord against them that tend my people; You have scattered my sheep, and driven them out, and you have not visited them: behold, I [will] take vengeance upon you according to your evil practices.
3 I myself, therefore will gather the remnant of my flock, out of all the lands whither I have driven them, —And will bring them back unto their own fold, And they shall be fruitful and multiply;
And I will gather in the remnant of my people in every land, whither I have driven them out, and will set them in their pasture; and they shall increase and be multiplied.
4 And I will raise up over them shepherds who will tend them, —So shall they not be afraid any more, nor be dismayed nor be missing, Declareth Yahweh.
And I will raise up shepherds to them, who shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be alarmed, says the Lord.
5 Lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, when I will raise up to David A righteous Bud, And he shall reign as king, and prosper, And shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will raise up to David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and understand, and shall execute judgment and righteousness on the earth.
6 In his days, Shall Judah be saved, And Israel abide securely, —And, this, is his name whereby he shall be called Yahweh, our Righteousness.
In his days both Juda shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell securely: and this is his name, which the Lord shall call him, Josedec among the prophets.
7 Therefore, lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, When it shall not be said any more As Yahweh liveth, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
Therefore, behold, the days come, says the Lord, when they shall no more say, The Lord lives, who brought up the house of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
8 but—As Yahweh liveth who hath brought up and who hath brought in the seed of the house of Israel out of the land of the North, and out of all the lands whither I have driven them, —And they shall remain upon their own soil.
but The Lord lives, who has gathered the whole seed of Israel from the north land, and from all the countries whither he [had] driven them out, and has restored them into their own land.
9 As for the prophets, —Broken is my heart within me Trembled have all my bones, I have become as a drunken man, And as a strong man whom wine hath overcome, —Because of Yahweh, And because of his holy words.
My heart is broken within me; all my bones are shaken: I am become as a broken-down man, and as a man overcome with wine, because of the Lord, and because of the excellence of his glory.
10 For with adulterers, is the land filled, Yea because of cursing, doth the land mourn, Dried up are the oases of the desert, —And, their oppression hath become wicked, And, their might is not right.
For because of these things the land mourns; the pastures of the wilderness are dried up; and their course is become evil, and so [also] their strength.
11 For both prophet and priest, are profane, —Even in my house, have I found their wickedness, Declareth Yahweh.
For priest and prophet are defiled; and I have seen their iniquities in my house.
12 Therefore, shall their way become to them like slippery places in darkness, They shall be driven on and shall fall therein, —For I will bring in upon them calamity—The year of their visitation, Declareth Yahweh.
Therefore let their way be to them slippery and dark: and they shall be tripped up and fall in it: for I will bring evils upon them, in the year of their visitation.
13 Even among the prophets of Samaria, had I seen a foolish thing, —They prophesied by Baal, And led astray my people Israel.
And in the prophets of Samaria I have seen lawless deeds; they prophesied by Baal, and led my people Israel astray.
14 But among the prophets of Jerusalem, have I seen a horrible thing, —Committing adultery, And walking in falsehood, And so strengthening the hands of doers of wickedness, not to return any man from his wickedness: They have all of them become to me as Sodom, And her inhabitants as Gomorrah.
Also in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen horrible things: as they committed adultery, and walked in lies, and strengthened the hands of many, that they should not return each from his evil way: they are all become to me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrha.
15 Therefore, Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts Concerning the prophets, —Behold me! Feeding them with wormwood, And I will cause them to drink poisoned water, —For from the prophets of Jerusalem, hath there gone forth profanity unto all the land.
Therefore thus says the Lord; Behold, I will feed them with pain, and give them bitter water to drink: for from the prophets of Jerusalem has defilement gone forth [into] all the land.
16 Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, —Do not hearken unto the words of the prophets who are prophesying unto you, They are filling you, with vain hopes, —The vision of their own hearts, do they speak, Not from the mouth of Yahweh!
Thus says the Lord Almighty, Listen not to the words of the prophets: for they frame a vain vision for themselves; they speak from their own heart, and not from the mouth of the Lord.
17 They keep on saying to them who despise me, Yahweh, hath spoken, saying, Prosperity, shall ye have! And to every one who is going on in the stubbornness of his own heart, have they said, There shall come on you, no calamity
They say to them that reject the word of the Lord, There shall be peace to you; and to all that walk after their own lusts, and to everyone that walks in the error of his heart, they have said, No evil shall come upon you.
18 For who hath stood in the council of Yahweh, that he should see and hear his word? Who hath given ear to his word and heard it?
For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord, and seen his word? who has listened, and heard?
19 Lo! the tempest of Yahweh! Indignation, hath come forth, Even a tempest whirling along: On the head of the lawless, shall it hurl itself down.
Behold, [there is] an earthquake from the Lord, and anger proceeds to a convulsion, it shall come violently upon the ungodly.
20 The anger of Yahweh, wilt not return, Until he hath executed nor Until he hath established The purposes of his heart, —In the afterpart of the days, shall ye understand it perfectly.
And the Lord's wrath shall return no more, until he have accomplished it, and until he have established it, according to the purpose of his heart: at the end of the days they shall understand it.
21 I sent not the prophets yet they, ran, I spake not unto them yet, they, prophesied.
I sent not the prophets, yet they ran: neither spoke I to them, yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my council, Then might they have announced my words unto my people, And have turned them from their wicked way and from the wickedness of their doings.
But if they had stood in my counsel, and if they had listened to my words, then would they have turned my people from their evil practices.
23 Am I, a God at hand, Demandeth Yahweh, And not a God afar off?
I am a God near at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off.
24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I, shall not see him? Demandeth Yahweh, —The heavens and the earth, do I not fill? Demandeth Yahweh.
Shall any one hide himself in secret places, and I not see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord.
25 I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy in my name falsely, saying, —I have dreamed! I have dreamed!
I have heard what the prophets say, what they prophesy in my name, saying falsely, I have seen a night vision.
26 How long shall it be in the heart of the prophets, To be prophets of falsehood, —And prophets of the deceit of their own heart?
How long shall [these things] be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, when they prophesy the purposes of their own heart?
27 Who lay a plot to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they relate every man to his neighbour, —Just as their fathers forgat, my name, for Baal.
who devise that [men] may forget my law by their dreams, which they have told every one to his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name in [the worship of] Baal.
28 The prophet with whom is a dream, Let him relate it as a dream, And he with whom is my word, Let him speak my word as truth, —What is the chaff to the wheat? Demandeth Yahweh:
The prophet who has a dream, let him tell his dream; and [he] in whom is my word [spoken] to him, let him tell my word truly: what is the chaff to the corn? so are my words, says the Lord.
29 Is not my word, like this, Like fire? Demandeth Yahweh, —And like a hammer, that breaketh in pieces a cliff?
Behold, are not my words as fire? says the Lord; and as an axe cutting the rock?
30 Therefore! behold me! against the prophets, Declareth Yahweh, —who steal my words, every man from his neighbour:
Behold, I am therefore against the prophets, says the Lord God, that steal my words every one from his neighbor.
31 Behold me! against the prophets, Declareth Yahweh, who presume with their tongue and declare He declareth:
Behold, I am against the prophets that put forth prophecies of mere words, and slumber their sleep.
32 Behold me! against such as prophesy the dreams of falsehood, Declareth Yahweh, who have related them and led astray my people, with their falsehoods and with their recklessness, —whereas, I, had not sent them nor commanded them, so that they could be of no, profit, to this people, Declareth Yahweh.
Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets that prophesy false dreams, and have not told them [truly], and have caused my people to err by their lies, and by their errors; yet I sent them not, and commanded them not; therefore, they shall not profit this people at all.
33 But when this people or a prophet or a priest shall ask thee saying What is the oracle of Yahweh? Then shalt thou say unto them Ye, yourselves, are the oracle, Therefore will I reject you Declareth Yahweh;
And if this people, or the priest, or the prophet, should ask, What is the burden of the Lord? then you shall say to them, You are the burden, and I will dash you down, says the Lord.
34 But the prophet, or the priest or the people who shall say—the oracle of Yahweh, I will bring punishment upon that man and upon his house.
[As for] the prophet, and the priests, and the people, who shall say, The burden of the Lord, I will even take vengeance on that man, and on his house.
35 Thus, shall ye say—every man unto his neighbour and every man unto his brother, —What hath Yahweh, answered? or, What hath Yahweh, spoken?
Thus shall you say every one to his neighbor, and every one to his brother, What has the Lord answered? and, what has the Lord said?
36 but the oracle of Yahweh, shall ye not mention, any more, —for, every man’s oracle, shall be his own word, because ye have perverted the words of a Living God, Yahweh of hosts our God.
And do you name no more the burden of the Lord; for his own word shall be a man's burden.
37 Thus, shalt thou say unto the prophet, —What hath Yahweh, answered thee? or What hath Yahweh, spoken?
But therefore, [say you], has the Lord our God spoken?
38 But, since ye keep on saying, The Oracle of Yahweh, therefore, Thus saith Yahweh, Because ye have said this word, The oracle of Yahweh, whereas I had sent unto you saying, Ye shall not say, The oracle of Yahweh
Therefore thus says the Lord our God; Because you have spoken this word, The burden of the Lord, and I sent to you, saying, you shall not say, The burden of the Lord;
39 therefore, behold me! I will lift you up, —and carry you away, and the city which I gave to you and to your fathers from before my face;
therefore, behold, I [will] seize, and dash down you and the city which I gave to you and your fathers.
40 and will give unto you reproach age-abiding, —and disgrace age-abiding, which shall not be forgotten.
And I will bring upon you an everlasting reproach, and everlasting disgrace, which shall not be forgotten.
