Keraia
Major Prophets

Jeremiah 23

David’s Righteous Branch

1“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” declares the LORD.

1“Woe to the shepherds destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture! A declaration of YHWH.

2Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your deeds, declares the LORD.

2Therefore, thus says YHWH God of Israel, against the shepherds who shepherd My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I am going to attend to you for the evil of your deeds! A declaration of YHWH.

3Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands to which I have banished them, and I will return them to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and multiply.

3And I will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands to which I have driven them there, and I will bring them back to their pastures, and they shall be fruitful and shall multiply.

4I will raise up shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or dismayed, nor will any go missing, declares the LORD.

4And I will raise up over them shepherds who will shepherd them, and they will not fear anymore, nor be dismayed, and they will not be lacking, a declaration of YHWH.

5Behold, the days are coming,

declares the LORD,

when I will raise up for David

a righteous Branch,

and He will reign wisely as King

and will administer justice and righteousness in the land.

5Behold, the days are coming, a declaration of YHWH, when I will raise up for David a Branch of Righteousness, and a King shall reign who will deal wisely, and he will do justice and righteousness in the land.

6In His days Judah will be saved,

and Israel will dwell securely.

And this is His name by which He will be called:

The LORD Our Righteousness.

6In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell in security; and this is his name that He will be called: YHWH Tsidqenu.

7So behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of Egypt.’

7Therefore, behold, the days are coming, a declaration of YHWH, and they will no longer say, ‘YHWH lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt;

8Instead they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought and led the descendants of the house of Israel up out of the land of the north and all the other lands to which He had banished them.’ Then they will dwell once more in their own land.”

8but instead ‘YHWH lives, who brought up and led the seed of the house of Israel from the north country, and from all the lands to which I had driven them there,’ and they will dwell upon their own land.

Lying Prophets

9As for the prophets:

My heart is broken within me,

and all my bones tremble.

I have become like a drunkard,

like a man overcome by wine,

because of the LORD,

because of His holy words.

9Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man overcome by wine, from the face of YHWH and from the face of His holy words.

10For the land is full of adulterers—

because of the curse, the land mourns

and the pastures of the wilderness have dried up—

their course is evil

and their power is misused.

10For the land is filled with adulterers, and the land mourns because of the face of the curse, and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up; and their course has come to be evil, and their strength is not right.

11“For both prophet and priest are ungodly;

even in My house I have found their wickedness,”

declares the LORD.

11“For both prophet and priest are polluted, and even in My house I have found their evil!” A declaration of YHWH.

12“Therefore their path will become slick;

they will be driven away into the darkness and fall into it.

For I will bring disaster upon them

in the year of their punishment,”

declares the LORD.

12“Therefore their way shall be for them as slippery; into the darkness they will be driven away and fall in it! For I will bring on them disaster, the year of their punishment,” a declaration of YHWH.

13“Among the prophets of Samaria

I saw an offensive thing:

They prophesied by Baal

and led My people Israel astray.

13“And among the prophets of Samaria I have seen folly: They prophesied by Baal, and led astray My people Israel.

14And among the prophets of Jerusalem

I have seen a horrible thing:

They commit adultery

and walk in lies.

They strengthen the hands of evildoers,

so that no one turns his back on wickedness.

They are all like Sodom to Me;

the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.”

14And I have seen a horrible thing among the prophets of Jerusalem: They commit adultery and walk in deception, and they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that a man does not turn back from his evil; all of them have become to Me like Sodom, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah!”

15Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says concerning the prophets:

“I will feed them wormwood

and give them poisoned water to drink,

for from the prophets of Jerusalem

ungodliness has spread throughout the land.”

15Therefore, thus says YHWH of Hosts concerning the prophets: “Behold, I am going to feed them wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall! For from the prophets of Jerusalem profaneness has gone forth into all the land.”

16This is what the LORD of Hosts says:

“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you.

They are filling you with false hopes.

They speak visions from their own minds,

not from the mouth of the LORD.

16Thus says YHWH of Hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They make you vain; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not from the mouth of YHWH.

17They keep saying to those who despise Me,

‘The LORD says that you will have peace,’

and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart,

‘No harm will come to you.’

17They keep saying to those despising Me, ‘YHWH has said you will have peace.’ And as for everyone walking in the stubbornness of his heart, they say, ‘Evil shall not come upon you.’

18But which of them has stood in the council of the LORD

to see and hear His word?

Who has given heed to His word

and obeyed it?

18But who has stood in the counsel of YHWH, and has perceived and has heard His word? Who has paid attention to His word, and has heard it?

19Behold, the storm of the LORD

has gone out with fury,

a whirlwind swirling down

upon the heads of the wicked.

19Behold, the tempest of YHWH in fury goes forth, and a whirling tempest swirling down upon on the head of the wicked.

20The anger of the LORD will not turn back

until He has fully accomplished the purposes of His heart.

In the days to come

you will understand this clearly.

20The nose of YHWH will not turn back until He has done it, and until He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the following days you will understand it clearly.

21I did not send these prophets,

yet they have run with their message;

I did not speak to them,

yet they have prophesied.

21I have not sent these prophets, and they have run; I have not spoken to them, and they have prophesied.

22But if they had stood in My council,

they would have proclaimed My words to My people

and turned them back

from their evil ways and deeds.”

22But if they had stood in My counsel and had caused My people to hear My words, then they would have turned them from the evil of their way and from the evil of their deeds.”

23“Am I only a God nearby,” declares the LORD, “and not a God far away?”

23“Am I a God nearby,” a declaration of YHWH, “And not a God far away?”

24“Can a man hide in secret places where I cannot see him?” declares the LORD.

“Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the LORD.

24“Can a man hide himself in the hidden places, and I shall not see him?” A declaration of YHWH. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” A declaration of YHWH.

25“I have heard the sayings of the prophets who prophesy lies in My name: ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’

25“I have heard what the prophets say, those prophesying in My name deception, saying, ‘I have dreamed! I have dreamed!

26How long will this continue in the hearts of these prophets who prophesy falsehood, these prophets of the delusion of their own minds?

26How long will it be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? And indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart,

27They suppose the dreams that they tell one another will make My people forget My name, just as their fathers forgot My name through the worship of Baal.

27who are devising to make My people forget My name by their dreams that tell, a man to his neighbor, just as their fathers forgot My name for Baal.

28Let the prophet who has a dream retell it, but let him who has My word speak it truthfully. For what is straw compared to grain?” declares the LORD.

28The prophet with whom is a dream, let him recount the dream, and with whom is My word, let him speak My word in faithfulness. What is the chaff to the wheat?” A declaration of YHWH.

29“Is not My word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that smashes a rock?”

29“Is it not thus, My word is like the fire,” a declaration of YHWH, “And like a hammer that dashes a rock?”

30“Therefore behold,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words they attribute to Me.”

30“Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets,” a declaration of YHWH, “Those stealing My words, each man from his neighbor.”

31“Yes,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and proclaim, ‘The LORD declares it.’ ”

31“Behold, I am against the prophets—” says YHWH—“Those taking their own tongues, and prophesying, ‘His utterance.”

32“Indeed,” declares the LORD, “I am against those who prophesy false dreams and retell them to lead My people astray with their reckless lies. It was not I who sent them or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all to these people,” declares the LORD.

32“Behold, I am against those prophesying False dreams,” a declaration of YHWH, “And they recount them and lead astray My people by their lies and by their recklessness; and I did not send them and did not command them, and there shall not be profit for this people,” a declaration of YHWH.

False Prophecies

33“Now when this people or a prophet or priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the LORD?’ you are to say to them, ‘What burden? I will forsake you, declares the LORD.’

33“And when this people, or the prophet, or the priest asks you, ‘Saying, What is the oracle of YHWH?’ Then you shall say to them ‘What oracle? And I will forsake you, a declaration of YHWH.’

34As for the prophet or priest or anyone who claims, ‘This is the burden of the LORD,’ I will punish that man and his household.

34And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, who say, ‘The oracle of YHWH,’ even I will visit punishment upon that man and upon his house.

35This is what each man is to say to his friend and to his brother: ‘What has the LORD answered?’ or ‘What has the LORD spoken?’

35Thus you shall say, everyone to his neighbor and everyone to his brother, ‘What has YHWH answered, and what has YHWH spoken?’

36But refer no more to the burden of the LORD, for each man’s word becomes the burden, so that you pervert the words of the living God, the LORD of Hosts, our God.

36And the burden of YHWH you shall not mention anymore, for each man’s word will be the burden, and you have overturned the words of the living God, YHWH of Hosts, our God.

37Thus you are to say to the prophet: ‘What has the LORD answered you?’ and ‘What has the LORD spoken?’

37Thus you shall say to the prophet: ‘What has YHWH answered you, and what has YHWH spoken?’

38But if you claim, ‘This is the burden of the LORD,’ then this is what the LORD says: Because you have said, ‘This is the burden of the LORD,’ and I specifically told you not to make this claim,

38And if you say, ‘The burden of YHWH,’ therefore thus says YHWH: Because you say ‘This word is the burden of YHWH,’ and I sent to you saying, you shall not say, ‘The burden of YHWH,’

39therefore I will surely forget you and will cast you out of My presence, both you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers.

39therefore, behold, I will also utterly forget you, and I will cast away you and the city that I gave to you and to your fathers—from before My face,

40And I will bring upon you everlasting shame and perpetual humiliation that will never be forgotten.”

40and I will bring upon you reproach forever and shame forever that will never be forgotten.