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Jeremiah 23 New King James Version (NKJV)

The Branch of Righteousness

23 “Woe ^(A)to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lord. ²Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. ^(B)Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the Lord. ³“But ^(C)I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. ⁴I will set up ^(D)shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the Lord.

⁵“Behold, ^(E)the days are coming,” says the Lord,
“That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness;
A King shall reign and ^[a]prosper,
^(F)And execute ^[b]judgment and righteousness in the ^[c]earth.
⁶^(G)In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel ^(H)will dwell safely;
Now ^(I)this is His name by which He will be called:

^[d]THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

⁷“Therefore, behold, ^(J)the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ ⁸but, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country ^(K)and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own ^(L)land.”

False Prophets and Empty Oracles

⁹My heart within me is broken
Because of the prophets;
^(M)All my bones shake.
I am like a drunken man,
And like a man whom wine has overcome,
Because of the Lord,
And because of His holy words.
¹⁰For ^(N)the land is full of adulterers;
For ^(O)because of a curse the land mourns.
^(P)The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up.
Their course of life is evil,
And their might is not right.

¹¹“For ^(Q)both prophet and priest are profane;
Yes, ^(R)in My house I have found their wickedness,” says the Lord.
¹²“Therefore^(S) their way shall be to them
Like slippery ways;
In the darkness they shall be driven on
And fall in them;
For I ^(T)will bring disaster on them,
The year of their punishment,” says the Lord.
¹³“And I have seen ^[e]folly in the prophets of Samaria:
^(U)They prophesied by Baal
And ^(V)caused My people Israel to err.
¹⁴Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem:
^(W)They commit adultery and walk in lies;
They also ^(X)strengthen the hands of evildoers,
So that no one turns back from his wickedness.
All of them are like ^(Y)Sodom to Me,
And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

¹⁵“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:

‘Behold, I will feed them with ^(Z)wormwood,
And make them drink the water of gall;
For from the prophets of Jerusalem
^[f]Profaneness 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.
They make you worthless;
^(AA)They speak a vision of their own heart,
Not from the mouth of the Lord.
¹⁷They continually say to those who despise Me,
‘The Lord has said, ^(AB)“You shall have peace” ’;
And to everyone who ^(AC)walks according to the ^[g]dictates of his own heart, they say,
^(AD)‘No evil shall come upon you.’ ”

¹⁸For ^(AE)who has stood in the counsel of the Lord,
And has perceived and heard His word?
Who has marked His word and heard it?
¹⁹Behold, a ^(AF)whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury—
A violent whirlwind!
It will fall violently on the head of the wicked.
²⁰The ^(AG)anger of the Lord will not turn back
Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart.
^(AH)In the latter days you will understand it perfectly.

²¹“I^(AI) have not sent these prophets, yet they ran.
I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
²²But if they had stood in My counsel,
And had caused My people to hear My words,
Then they would have ^(AJ)turned them from their evil way
And from the evil of their doings.

²³“Am I a God near at hand,” says the Lord,
“And not a God afar off?
²⁴Can anyone ^(AK)hide himself in secret places,
So I shall not see him?” says the Lord;
^(AL)“Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord.

²⁵“I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ ²⁶How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, ²⁷who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, ^(AM)as their fathers forgot My name for Baal.

²⁸“The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream;
And he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully.
What is the chaff to the wheat?” says the Lord.
²⁹“Is not My word like a ^(AN)fire?” says the Lord,
“And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

³⁰“Therefore behold, ^(AO)I am against the prophets,” says the Lord, “who steal My words every one from his neighbor. ³¹Behold, I am ^(AP)against the prophets,” says the Lord, “who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’ ³²Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” says the Lord, “and tell them, and cause My people to err by their ^(AQ)lies and by ^(AR)their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not ^(AS)profit this people at all,” says the Lord.

³³“So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, ‘What is ^(AT)the ^[h]oracle of the Lord?’ you shall then say to them, ^[i]‘What oracle?’ I will even forsake you,” says the Lord. ³⁴“And as for the prophet and the priest and the people who say, ‘The ^[j]oracle of the Lord!’ I will even punish that man and his house. ³⁵Thus every one of you shall say to his neighbor, and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁶And the ^[k]oracle of the Lord you shall mention no more. For every man’s word will be his oracle, for you have ^(AU)perverted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. ³⁷Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁸But since you say, ‘The ^[l]oracle of the Lord!’ therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Because you say this word, “The oracle of the Lord!” and I have sent to you, saying, “Do not say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ ” ³⁹therefore behold, I, even I, ^(AV)will utterly forget you and forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and will cast you out of My presence. ⁴⁰And I will bring ^(AW)an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual ^(AX)shame, which shall not be forgotten.’ ”

New King James Version (NKJV)