Jeremiah 23

Jeremiah Chapter 23 KJV

1Jeremiah prophesieth judgment upon the evil pastors, and restoration of the scattered flock. 5Christ, the righteous Branch, is promised. 9God's fearful judgments against false prophets, 33and against those that mocked at the threatenings of the true ones.
1 1WOE be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord.
2 Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; 1Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord.
3 And 1I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
4 And 1I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord.
5 ¶ Behold, 1the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and 2a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
6 1In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, aTHE Lord OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
7 Therefore, behold, 1the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
8 But, 1The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall 2dwell in their own land.
9 1Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; 2all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, 3because of the Lord, and because of the words of his holiness.
10 For 1the land is full of adulterers; for because of aswearing the land mourneth; 2the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their bcourse is evil, and their force is not right.
11 For 1both prophet and priest are profane; yea, 2in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord.
12 Wherefore 1their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for 2I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the Lord.
13 And I have seen afolly in the prophets of 1Samaria; 2they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.
14 I have seen 1also in the prophets of Jerusalem aan horrible thing: 2they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as 3Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
15 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, 1I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is aprofaneness gone forth into all the land.
16 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, 1Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: 2they make you vain: 3they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.
17 They say still unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, 1Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the aimagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.
18 For 1who hath stood in the acounsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard his word? 2who hath marked his word, and heard it?
19 Behold, 1a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.
20 The 1anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have executed, 2and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: 3in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.
21 I 1have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22 But 1if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, 2then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
23 1Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and 2not a God afar off?
24 1Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.
25 I 1have heard what the prophets said, 2that prophesy lies in my name, saying, 3I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
26 1How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets 2of the deceit of their own heart;
27 1Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, 2as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.
28 The prophet athat hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, 1let him speak my word faithfully. 2What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord.
29 is 1not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
30 Therefore, behold, 1I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.
31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that ause their tongues, and say, He saith.
32 1Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and 2cause my people to err by their lies, and by their alightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore 3they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord.
33 ¶ And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, 1What is the burden of the Lord? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even 2forsake you, saith the Lord.
34 And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the Lord, I will even apunish that man and his house.
35 1Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the Lord answered? and, What hath the Lord spoken?
36 And the burden of the Lord shall ye mention no more: 1for every man's word shall be his burden; for ye 2have perverted the words of 3the living God, of the Lord of hosts our God.
37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the Lord answered thee? and, What hath the Lord spoken?
38 But since ye say, The burden of the Lord; therefore thus saith the Lord; Because ye say this word, The burden of the Lord, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the Lord;
39 Therefore, behold, 1I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence:
40 And 1I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.
Jeremiah 23