Jeremiah 23

Alas for the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture Declareth God.

Therefore, Thus, saith 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 God.

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 raise up over them shepherds who will tend them,—So shall they not be afraid any more, nor be dismayed nor be missing, Declareth God.

Lo! days are coming, Declareth God, 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.

In his days, Shall Judah be saved, And Israel abide securely,—And, this, is his name whereby he shall be called God, our Righteousness.

Therefore, lo! days are coming, Declareth God, When it shall not be said any more As God liveth, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

but—As God 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.

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 God, And because of his holy words.

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 both prophet and priest, are profane,—Even in my house, have I found their wickedness, Declareth God.

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 God.

Even among the prophets of Samaria, had I seen a foolish thing,—They prophesied by Baal, And led astray my people Israel.

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.

Therefore, Thus, saith God 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.

Thus, saith God 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 God!

They keep on saying to them who despise me, God, 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

For who hath stood in the council of God, that he should see and hear his word? Who hath given ear to his word and heard it?

Lo! the tempest of God! Indignation, hath come forth, Even a tempest whirling along: On the head of the lawless, shall it hurl itself down.

The anger of God, 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.

I sent not the prophets yet they, ran, I spake not unto them yet, they, prophesied.

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.

Am I, a God at hand, Demandeth God, And not a God afar off?

Can any hide himself in secret places that I, shall not see him? Demandeth God,—The heavens and the earth, do I not fill? Demandeth God.

I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy in my name falsely, saying,—I have dreamed! I have dreamed!

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?

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.

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 God:

Is not my word, like this, Like fire? Demandeth God,—And like a hammer, that breaketh in pieces a cliff?

Therefore! behold me! against the prophets, Declareth God,—who steal my words, every man from his neighbour:

Behold me! against the prophets, Declareth God, who presume with their tongue and declare He declareth:

Behold me! against such as prophesy the dreams of falsehood, Declareth God, 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 God.

But when this people or a prophet or a priest shall ask thee saying What is the oracle of God? Then shalt thou say unto them Ye, yourselves, are the oracle, Therefore will I reject you Declareth God;

But the prophet, or the priest or the people who shall say—the oracle of God, I will bring punishment upon that man and upon his house.

Thus, shall ye say—every man unto his neighbour and every man unto his brother,—What hath God, answered? or, What hath God, spoken?

but the oracle of God, 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, God of hosts our God.

Thus, shalt thou say unto the prophet,—What hath God, answered thee? or What hath God, spoken?

But, since ye keep on saying, The Oracle of God, therefore, Thus saith God, Because ye have said this word, The oracle of God, whereas I had sent unto you saying, Ye shall not say, The oracle of God

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;

and will give unto you reproach age-abiding,—and disgrace age-abiding, which shall not be forgotten.