Book of Jeremiah, Chapter 23
Jeremiah 23 NASB - New American Standard BibleChapter 23 of Jeremiah—New American Standard Bible (NASB)
- ¶ “1Woe to the shepherds who are 2destroying and scattering the 3sheep of My pasture!” declares the LORD.
- Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are [a]tending My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to 4attend to you for the 5evil of your deeds,” declares the LORD.
- “Then I Myself will 6gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply.
- I will also raise up 7shepherds over them and they will [b]tend them; and they will 8not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, 9nor will any be missing,” declares the LORD.
- ¶ “Behold, the 10days are coming,” declares the LORD,
“When I will raise up for David a righteous [c]11Branch;
And He will 12reign as king and [d]act wisely
And 13do justice and righteousness in the land. - “In His days Judah will be saved,
And 14Israel will dwell securely;
And this is His 15name by which He will be called,
‘The 16LORD our righteousness.’ - ¶ “17Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’
- 18but, ‘As the LORD lives, who 19brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”
- ¶ As for the prophets:
My 20heart is broken within me,
All my bones tremble;
I have become like a drunken man,
Even like a man overcome with wine,
Because of the LORD
And because of His holy words. - For the land is full of 21adulterers;
For the land 22mourns because of the curse.
The 23pastures of the wilderness have dried up.
Their course also is evil
And their might is not right. - “For 24both prophet and priest are polluted;
Even in My house I have found their wickedness,” declares the LORD. - “Therefore their way will be like 25slippery paths to them,
They will be driven away into the 26gloom and fall down in it;
For I will bring 27calamity upon them,
The year of their punishment,” declares the LORD. - ¶ “Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an 28offensive thing:
They 29prophesied by Baal and 30led My people Israel astray. - “Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a 31horrible thing:
The committing of 32adultery and walking in falsehood;
And they strengthen the hands of 33evildoers,
So that no one has turned back from his wickedness.
All of them have become to Me like 34Sodom,
And her inhabitants like Gomorrah. - ¶ “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets,
¶ ‘Behold, I am going to 35feed them wormwood
And make them drink poisonous water,
For from the prophets of Jerusalem
Pollution has gone forth into all the land.’” - ¶ Thus says the LORD of hosts,
“36Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you.
They are 37leading you into futility;
They speak a 38vision of their own [e]imagination,
Not 39from the mouth of the LORD. - “They keep saying to those who 40despise Me,
‘The LORD has said, “41You will have peace”’;
And as for everyone who walks in the 42stubbornness of his own heart,
They say, ‘43Calamity will not come upon you.’ - “But 44who has stood in the council of the LORD,
That he should see and hear His word?
Who has given 45heed to [f]His word and listened? - “Behold, the 46storm of the LORD has gone forth in wrath,
Even a whirling tempest;
It will swirl down on the head of the wicked. - “The 47anger of the LORD will not turn back
Until He has 48performed and carried out the purposes of His heart;
49In the last days you will clearly understand it. - “50I did not send these prophets,
But they ran.
I did not speak to them,
But they prophesied. - “But if they had 51stood in My council,
Then they would have 52announced My words to My people,
And would have turned them back from their evil way
And from the evil of their deeds. - ¶ “Am I a God who is 53near,” declares the LORD,
“And not a God far off? - “Can a man 54hide himself in hiding places
So I do not see him?” declares the LORD.
“55Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the LORD. - ¶ “I have 56heard what the prophets have said who 57prophesy falsely in My name, saying, ‘I had a 58dream, I had a dream!’
- How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the 59deception of their own heart,
- who intend to 60make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers 61forgot My name because of Baal?
- The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has 62My word speak My word in truth. 63What does straw have in common with grain?” declares the LORD.
- “Is not My word like 64fire?” declares the LORD, “and like a 65hammer which shatters a rock?
- Therefore behold, 66I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who steal My words from each other.
- Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘The Lord declares.’
- Behold, I am against those who have prophesied 67false dreams,” declares the LORD, “and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and 68reckless boasting; yet 69I did not send them or command them, nor do they 70furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares the LORD.
- ¶ “Now when this people or the prophet or a priest asks you saying, ‘What is the [g]71oracle of the LORD?’ then you shall say to them, ‘What [h]oracle?’ The LORD declares, ‘I will 72abandon you.’
- Then as for the prophet or the priest or the people who say, ‘The 73oracle of the LORD,’ I will bring punishment upon that man and his household.
- Thus will each of you say to his neighbor and to his brother, ‘74What has the LORD answered?’ or, ‘What has the LORD spoken?’
- For you will no longer remember the oracle of the LORD, because every man’s own word will become the oracle, and you have 75perverted the words of the 76living God, the LORD of hosts, our God.
- Thus you will say to that prophet, ‘What has the LORD answered you?’ and, ‘What has the LORD spoken?’
- For if you say, ‘The oracle of the LORD!’ surely thus says the LORD, ‘Because you said this word, “The oracle of the LORD!” I have also sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The oracle of the LORD!’”’
- Therefore behold, 77I will surely forget you and cast you away from My presence, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers.
- I will put an everlasting 78reproach on you and an everlasting humiliation which will not be forgotten.”
FOOTNOTES
- ^ Lit shepherding
- ^ Or shepherd
- ^ Lit Sprout
- ^ Or succeed
- ^ Lit heart
- ^ Another reading is My
- ^ Or burden, and so throughout the ch
- ^ Or burden, and so throughout the ch
REFERENCES
- ^ Eze 13:3; 34:2; Zc 11:17
- ^ Is 56:9-12; Je 10:21; 50:6
- ^ Eze 34:31
- ^ Ex 32:34
- ^ Je 21:12; 44:22
- ^ Is 11:11, 12, 16; Je 31:7, 8; 32:37
- ^ Je 3:15; 31:10; Eze 34:23
- ^ Je 30:10; 46:27, 28
- ^ Jn 6:39; 10:28; 1Pe 1:5
- ^ Je 33:14
- ^ Is 4:2; 11:1-5; 53:2; Je 30:9; 33:15, 16; Zc 3:8; 6:12, 13
- ^ Is 9:7; 52:13; Lu 1:32, 33
- ^ Ps 72:2; Is 9:7; 32:1; Da 9:24
- ^ De 33:28; Je 30:10; Zc 14:11
- ^ Is 7:14; 9:6; Mt 1:21-23
- ^ Is 45:24; Je 33:16; Da 9:24; Ro 3:22; 1Co 1:30
- ^ Is 43:18, 19; Je 16:14, 15
- ^ Je 16:15
- ^ Is 43:5, 6; Eze 34:13; Am 9:14, 15
- ^ Je 8:18; Hab 3:16
- ^ Je 9:2; Ho 4:2, 3; Ml 3:5
- ^ Je 12:4
- ^ Ps 107:34; Je 9:10
- ^ Je 6:13; Zp 3:4
- ^ Ps 35:6; Pr 4:19; Je 13:16
- ^ Is 8:22; Jn 12:35
- ^ Je 11:23
- ^ Ho 9:7, 8
- ^ 1Ki 18:18-21; Je 2:8; 23:32
- ^ Is 9:16
- ^ Je 5:30
- ^ Je 29:23
- ^ Je 23:22; Eze 13:22, 23
- ^ Ge 18:20; De 32:32; Is 1:9, 10; Je 20:16; 49:18; Mt 11:24
- ^ De 29:18; Je 8:14; 9:15
- ^ Je 27:9, 10, 14-17; 1Jo 4:1
- ^ Mt 7:15; 2Co 11:13-15; Ga 1:8, 9
- ^ Je 14:14; Eze 13:3, 6
- ^ Je 9:12, 20
- ^ Mc 2:11
- ^ Je 8:11; Eze 13:10
- ^ Je 13:10; 18:12
- ^ Je 5:12; Am 9:10; Mc 3:11
- ^ Jb 15:8, 9; Je 23:22; 1Co 2:16
- ^ Jb 33:31
- ^ Je 25:32; 30:23; Am 1:14
- ^ 2Ki 23:26, 27; Je 30:24
- ^ Is 55:11; Zc 1:6
- ^ Ge 49:1
- ^ Je 14:14; 23:32; 27:15
- ^ Je 9:12; 23:18
- ^ Je 35:15; Zc 1:4
- ^ Ps 139:1-10
- ^ Jb 22:13, 14; 34:21, 22; Ps 139:7-12; Is 29:15; Je 49:10; Heb 4:13
- ^ 1Ki 8:27; 2Ch 2:6; Is 66:1
- ^ Je 8:6; 1Co 4:5
- ^ Je 14:14
- ^ Nu 12:6; Je 23:28, 32; 29:8; Jl 2:28
- ^ 1Ti 4:1, 2
- ^ De 13:1-3; Je 29:8
- ^ Jg 3:7; 8:33, 34
- ^ Je 9:12, 20
- ^ 1Co 3:12, 13
- ^ Je 5:14; 20:9
- ^ 2Co 10:4, 5
- ^ De 18:20; Ps 34:16; Je 14:14, 15; Eze 13:8
- ^ De 13:1, 2; Je 23:25
- ^ Zp 3:4
- ^ Je 23:21; La 3:37
- ^ Je 7:8; La 2:14
- ^ Is 13:1; Na 1:1; Hab 1:1; Zc 9:1; Ml 1:1
- ^ Je 12:7; 23:39
- ^ La 2:14; Zc 13:3
- ^ Je 33:3; 42:4
- ^ Ga 1:7, 8; 2Pe 3:16
- ^ 2Ki 19:4; Je 10:10
- ^ Je 7:14, 15; 23:33; Eze 8:18
- ^ Je 20:11; 42:18; Eze 5:14, 15
Read Jeremiah Chapter 23 in other Bible versions:
