Jeremiah 23:21-40

English Standard Version

²¹^(A)“I did not send the prophets,
    yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
    yet they prophesied.
²²^(B)But if they had stood in my council,
    then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
^(C)and they would have turned them from their evil way,
    and ^(D)from the evil of their deeds.

²³^(E)“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? ²⁴^(F)Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. ^(G)Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. ²⁵I have heard what the prophets have said ^(H)who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ^(I)‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ ²⁶How long shall there be lies in the heart of ^(J)the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, ²⁷who think to make my people forget my name ^(K)by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their ^(L)fathers forgot my name for Baal? ²⁸^(M)Let the prophet who has a dream ^(N)tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. ^(O)What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. ²⁹^(P)Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and ^(Q)like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? ³⁰^(R)Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another. ³¹Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the Lord.’ ³²Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and ^(S)lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when ^(T)I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.

³³^(U)“When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ you shall say to them, ‘You are the burden,^[a] and ^(V)I will cast you off, declares the Lord.’ ³⁴And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ ^(W)I will punish that man and his household. ³⁵Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁶But ‘the burden of the Lord’ you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man's own word, and ^(X)you pervert the words of ^(Y)the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. ³⁷Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁸But if you say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have said these words, “The burden of the Lord,” when I sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’” ³⁹therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up^[b] and ^(Z)cast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers. ⁴⁰^(AA)And I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and ^(AB)perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’”