Jeremiah 23:1-20

English Standard Version

The Righteous Branch

23 ^(A)“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. ²Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning ^(B)the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. ^(C)Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. ³^(D)Then I will gather the remnant of my flock ^(E)out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, ^(F)and they shall be fruitful and multiply. ⁴^(G)I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.

⁵^(H)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous ^(I)Branch, and ^(J)he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶In his days Judah will be saved, and ^(K)Israel will ^(L)dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ^(M)‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

⁷^(N)“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ ⁸but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he^[a] had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”

Lying Prophets

⁹Concerning the prophets:

^(O)My heart is broken within me;
    ^(P)all my bones shake;
I am like a drunken man,
    like a man overcome by wine,
because of the Lord
    and because of his holy words.
¹⁰^(Q)For the land is full of adulterers;
    ^(R)because of the curse ^(S)the land mourns,
    and ^(T)the pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
^(U)Their course is evil,
    and their might is not right.
¹¹^(V)“Both prophet and priest are ungodly;
    even ^(W)in my house I have found their evil,
declares the Lord.
¹²^(X)Therefore their way shall be to them
    like slippery paths ^(Y)in the darkness,
    into which they shall be driven and fall,
for I will bring disaster upon them
    ^(Z)in the year of their punishment,
declares the Lord.
¹³In the prophets of ^(AA)Samaria
    ^(AB)I saw an unsavory thing:
^(AC)they prophesied by Baal
    ^(AD)and led my people Israel astray.
¹⁴But in the prophets of Jerusalem
    I have seen a horrible thing:
^(AE)they commit adultery and walk in lies;
    ^(AF)they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
    so that no one turns from his evil;
^(AG)all of them have become like Sodom to me,
    ^(AH)and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
¹⁵Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:
^(AI)“Behold, I will feed them with bitter food
    ^(AJ)and give them ^(AK)poisoned water to drink,
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
    ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”

¹⁶Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, ^(AL)filling you with vain hopes. ^(AM)They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. ¹⁷They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ^(AN)‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who ^(AO)stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ^(AP)‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”

¹⁸For ^(AQ)who among them has stood in the council of the Lord
    to see and to hear his word,
    or who has paid attention to his word and listened?
¹⁹^(AR)Behold, the storm of the Lord!
    Wrath has gone forth,
^(AS)a whirling tempest;
    it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
²⁰^(AT)The anger of the Lord will not turn back
    until he has executed and ^(AU)accomplished
    the intents of his heart.
^(AV)In the latter days you will understand it clearly.