| Chapter
23 |
| 1 | Woe 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; Ye 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 I 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 I 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, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise
unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall
execute judgment and justice in the earth. |
| 6 | In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell
safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS. |
| 7 |
Therefore, behold, the 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, The 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 dwell in their own land. |
| 9
| Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones
shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because
of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness. |
| 10 | For the land is full of adulterers;
for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the
wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not
right. |
| 11 | For both
prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness,
saith the LORD. |
| 12 |
Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they
shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the
year of their visitation, saith the LORD. |
| 13 | And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they
prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. |
| 14 | I have seen also in the prophets of
Jerusalem an horrible thing: they 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 Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof
as Gomorrah. |
| 15 |
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will
feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the
prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. |
| 16 | Thus saith the LORD of hosts,
Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make
you vain: they 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, Ye shall have peace; and
they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No
evil shall come upon you. |
| 18 |
For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard
his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it? |
|
19 | Behold, a 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 anger of
the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed
the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it
perfectly. |
| 21 | I have not
sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they
prophesied. |
| 22 | But if
they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then
they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their
doings. |
| 23 | Am I a God at
hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? |
| 24 | Can 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 have heard what the
prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have
dreamed. |
| 26 | How long
shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are
prophets of the deceit of their own heart; |
| 27 | Which think to cause my people to forget my name by
their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have
forgotten my name for Baal. |
| 28
| The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath
my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?
saith the LORD. |
| 29 | Is
not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the
rock in pieces? |
| 30 |
Therefore, behold, I 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 use
their tongues, and say, He saith. |
|
32 | Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the
LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their
lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they 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, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say
unto them, What burden? I will even forsake 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
punish that man and his house. |
| 35
| Thus 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: for every man's word shall be his burden; for ye have
perverted the words of the 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, I, 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 I will
bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not
be forgotten. |
