Jeremiah 23
1 Yahweh declares, “Terrible things will happen to [the leaders] [MET] [of my people—those who are like] shepherds of [the people who are like] my sheep—because they have scattered my people and sent them away, and have not taken care of them.
Alas for the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture Declareth Yahweh.
2 So, this is what [I, ] Yahweh, the God whom the Israeli [people worship], say to those leaders: ‘Instead of taking care of my people and [leading them to places where they are safe, like a shepherd does for] his sheep, you have scattered them. So I will punish you for the evil things that you have done.
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.
3 But later I will gather those who are still alive, from the countries where I have forced them to go. I will bring them back to their own country, where they will have many children, and their number/population will increase.
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;
4 [Then] I will appoint [other] leaders for my people, leaders who will take care of them. And my people will never be afraid [DOU] of anything again, and none of them will be [like a] lost [sheep].’”
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.
5 Yahweh [also] says, “Some day I will appoint for you a righteous man who will be a descendant of King David. He will be a king who rules wisely. He will do what is just and right throughout the land.
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.
6 At that time, all the Israeli people [DOU] will be saved [from their enemies], and they will be safe. And his name will be ‘Yahweh, the one who vindicates/defends us.’”
In his days, Shall Judah be saved, And Israel abide securely, —And, this, is his name whereby he shall be called Yahweh, our Righteousness.
7 Yahweh [also] says that at that time, people [who are solemnly promising to do something] will no longer say, “[I will do it as surely] as Yahweh lives, who rescued the Israeli people from Egypt.”
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;
8 Instead, they will say, “[I will do it] as surely as Yahweh lives, who brought [us] Israeli people back to our own land, from the land to the northeast and from all the [other] countries to which he had exiled us.” And they will live in their own land [again].
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.
9 I am very shocked because of the sacred message that Yahweh has spoken about [what will happen to] the [false] prophets; [it is as though] all my bones shake. I stagger like a man who is drunk after drinking a lot of wine.
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.
10 The land is full of [people who commit] adultery; and [Yahweh] has cursed the land. Even the pastures in the desert are all dried up, because the people do what is evil, and [the false prophets] use their power to do things that are not just/fair.
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.
11 Yahweh says, “[Yes, even] the priests and the prophets are ungodly; they do wicked things even in my temple.
For both prophet and priest, are profane, —Even in my house, have I found their wickedness, Declareth Yahweh.
12 Therefore, [it will be as though] the paths that they walk on are slippery. [It will be as though] they are being chased in the darkness, and there they will fall down, because I will cause them to experience disasters at the time that I will punish them. [That will surely happen because I], Yahweh, have said it.”
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.
13 [Previously] I saw that the prophets in Samaria were doing something that was wrong; they were prophesying, saying that Baal [gave them the messages that they were proclaiming], and they were deceiving my people.
Even among the prophets of Samaria, had I seen a foolish thing, —They prophesied by Baal, And led astray my people Israel.
14 And [now] I have seen the prophets in Jerusalem doing terrible things. They commit adultery and habitually tell lies. They encourage evil people to continue to do evil things, with the result that the people do not stop sinning. Those prophets are as wicked as the people in Sodom and Gomorrah were.
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.
15 So, this is what the Commander of the armies of angels says about those [false] prophets: “I will give those prophets bitter things to eat and poison to drink, because it is because of them that this land is filled with [people who do] wicked things.”
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.
16 This is what the Commander of the armies of angels says: “Do not pay any attention to what those [false] prophets say to you, because they are just deceiving you. They tell you about visions that they have thought/created [only] in their own minds, not about visions that I have given them.
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!
17 They habitually say to those who hate me, ‘[Yahweh says that] you will have peace.’ And they say to those who stubbornly do what they want to do, ‘Nothing bad will happen to you [because of your doing those things].’
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
18 But none of them has ever been in a council [meeting] in heaven in order to listen to a message from me. None of them has paid attention to anything that [I], Yahweh, have said.
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?
19 So, listen to this: I will punish them; it will be [like] a great storm; it will come down [like] a whirlwind, swirling around the heads of those wicked people.
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.
20 I will not stop being angry until I completely accomplish all that I have planned. In the future, you will understand [all of] this clearly.”
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.
21 [Yahweh also says, ] “I have not appointed those prophets, but they run [around telling people their messages]. I did not speak to them, but they [continue to] prophesy.
I sent not the prophets yet they, ran, I spake not unto them yet, they, prophesied.
22 If they had been in my council [meetings], they would have been able to speak messages from me, and they would have caused people to turn away from committing evil things.”
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.
23 Yahweh [also] says, “Am I a God who is only nearby? No, I am a God who is far away, also.
Am I, a God at hand, Demandeth Yahweh, And not a God afar off?
24 So, no one can hide in some secret place with the result that I cannot see him. I am everywhere, in heaven and on the earth! [That is what I], Yahweh, say!
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.
25 I have heard those prophets prophesy lies, saying that they are telling people messages from me. They say, ‘[Listen to me tell you] the dream that God gave me last night! I [really] had this dream!’
I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy in my name falsely, saying, —I have dreamed! I have dreamed!
26 How long will they continue to do this? How long will those lying prophets continue to prophesy things that come only from their own minds?
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?
27 They think that because of the dreams that they tell to each other, people will forget me, like their ancestors forgot about me when they started to worship Baal.
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.
28 Allow those [false] prophets to tell people their dreams, but those who have messages that [really] come from me should proclaim those messages faithfully. I, Yahweh, say [that like] straw and grain are certainly very different, [my messages and the messages from those false prophets are certainly very different].
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:
29 [It is as though] my messages [burn] like a fire; they [strike people’s inner beings like] someone strikes a rock with a hammer and smashes it into pieces.
Is not my word, like this, Like fire? Demandeth Yahweh, —And like a hammer, that breaketh in pieces a cliff?
30 Therefore, [I, ] Yahweh say, 'I oppose all those prophets who steal messages from each other and claim that those messages came from me.
Therefore! behold me! against the prophets, Declareth Yahweh, —who steal my words, every man from his neighbour:
31 I oppose those prophets who speak their own messages but claim that those messages came from me.
Behold me! against the prophets, Declareth Yahweh, who presume with their tongue and declare He declareth:
32 I oppose those prophets who falsely say that I told them something in a vision, but they are [only] telling lies that cause my people to sin. I did not send those prophets. I did not even appoint them [to be prophets]. And they have no messages that will benefit my people at all.' [That is what I, ] Yahweh, declare.”
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.
33 [Yahweh said to me], “If one of those prophets or priests or one of the [other] people asks you, ‘What problem has Yahweh told you about [now]?’, you must reply, ‘You are the problem! And Yahweh says that he will abandon you!’
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;
34 And if any prophet or priest or anyone [else falsely] says, ‘[I have] a prophecy from Yahweh,’ I will punish that person and his family.
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.
35 What you should continually ask each other is, ‘[When you spoke to Yahweh, ] what did he reply? What is he saying [to us]?’
Thus, shall ye say—every man unto his neighbour and every man unto his brother, —What hath Yahweh, answered? or, What hath Yahweh, spoken?
36 But stop saying ‘[I have] a prophecy/message from Yahweh,’ because those who say that are doing it only because they want people to accept their ideas, and by doing that they distort/change the messages that are from our God, the Commander of the armies of angels.
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.
37 This is what you should ask each prophet: ‘What did Yahweh reply [when you talked to him]? What is he saying [to us]?’
Thus, shalt thou say unto the prophet, —What hath Yahweh, answered thee? or What hath Yahweh, spoken?
38 If he replies, ‘[What I told you] is a prophecy/message from Yahweh,’ you should say to him, ‘You have continued to say, “[I received] a prophecy/message from Yahweh” even though I told you to not claim that you have received prophecies/messages from Yahweh.’
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
39 So I [, Yahweh, ] will get rid of you [false prophets]. I will expel you from my presence. And I will get rid of this city that I gave to you and to your ancestors.
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;
40 I will cause people to make fun of you forever. People will never forget that you were disgraced.”
and will give unto you reproach age-abiding, —and disgrace age-abiding, which shall not be forgotten.
