“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.” (Jeremiah 23:1-40 AV)