Jeremiah

23 Alas for the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture, Declareth Yahweh.

2 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh, God of Israel, Concerning the shepherds who are tending my people,—Ye have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and have not visited them,—Behold me! visiting upon you the wickedness of your doings, Declareth Yahweh.

3 I myself therefore will gather the remnant of my flock, out of all the lands whither I have driven them,—And will bring them back unto their own fold And they shall be fruitful and multiply;

4 And I will raise up over them shepherds who will tend them,—So shall they not be afraid any more nor be dismayed nor be missing, Declareth Yahweh.

5 Lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, when I will raise up to David A righteous Bud And he shall reign as king and prosper, And shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

6 In his days Shall Judah be saved, And Israel abide securely,—And this is his name whereby he shall be called, Yahweh our Righteousness.

7 Therefore lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, When it shall not be said any more, As Yahweh liveth who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

8 but—As Yahweh liveth who hath brought up and who hath brought in the seed of the house of Israel out of the land of the North, and out of all the lands whither I have driven them,—And they shall remain upon their own soil.

9 As for the prophets—Broken is my heart within me, Trembled have all my bones, I have become as a drunken man, And as a strong man whom wine hath overcome,—Because of Yahweh And because of his holy words.

10 For with adulterers is the land filled, Yea because of cursing doth the land mourn, Dried up are the oases of the desert,—And their oppression hath become wicked, And their might is not right.

11 For both prophet and priest are profane,—Even in my house have I found their wickedness, Declareth Yahweh.

12 Therefore shall their way become to them like slippery places in darkness, They shall be driven on and shall fall therein,—For I will bring in upon them calamity—The year of their visitation, Declareth Yahweh.

13 Even among the prophets of Samaria had I seen a foolish thing,—They prophesied by Baal, And led astray my people Israel.

14 But among the prophets of Jerusalem have I seen a horrible thing,—Committing adultery And walking in falsehood And so strengthening the hands of doers of wickedness, not to return any man from his wickedness: They have all of them become to me as Sodom, And her inhabitants as Gomorrah.

15 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh of hosts Concerning the prophets,—Behold me! Feeding them with wormwood, And I will cause them to drink poisoned water,—For from the prophets of Jerusalem hath there gone forth profanity unto all the land.

16 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts,—Do not hearken unto the words of the prophets who are prophesying unto you, They are filling you with vain hopes,—The vision of their own hearts do they speak, Not from the mouth of Yahweh!

17 They keep on saying to them who despise me, Yahweh hath spoken [saying] Prosperity shall ye have! And to every one who is going on in the stubbornness of his own heart have they said, There shall come on you no calamity;

18 For who hath stood in the council of Yahweh, that he should see and hear his word? Who hath given ear to his word and heard it?

19 Lo! the tempest of Yahweh! Indignation hath come forth, Even a tempest whirling along: On the head of the lawless shall it hurl itself down.

20 The anger of Yahweh wilt not return, Until he hath executed nor Until he hath established The purposes of his heart,—In the afterpart of the days shall ye understand it perfectly.

21 I sent not the prophets yet they ran, I spake not unto them yet they prophesied.

22 But if they had stood in my council Then might they have announced my words unto my people, And have turned them from their wicked way and from the wickedness of their doings.

23 Am I a God at hand, Demandeth Yahweh, And not a God afar off?

24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? Demandeth Yahweh,—The heavens and the earth do I not fill? Demandeth Yahweh.

25 I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy in my name falsely saying,—I have dreamed! I have dreamed!

26 How long shall it be in the heart of the prophets [To be] prophets of falsehood,—And prophets of the deceit of their own heart?

27 Who lay a plot to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they relate every man to his neighbour,—Just as their fathers forgat my name for Baal.

28 The prophet with whom is a dream Let him relate it as a dream, And he with whom is my word Let him speak my word as truth,—What is the chaff to the wheat? Demandeth Yahweh:

29 Is not my word like this, Like fire? Demandeth Yahweh,—And like a hammer that breaketh in pieces a cliff?

30 Therefore! behold me! against the prophets, Declareth Yahweh,—who steal my words every man from his neighbour:

31 Behold me! against the prophets, Declareth Yahweh, who presume with their tongue and declare, He declareth:

32 Behold me! against such as prophesy the dreams of falsehood, Declareth Yahweh, who have related them and led astray my people, with their falsehoods and with their recklessness,—whereas I had not sent them, nor commanded them, so that they could be of no profit to this people, Declareth Yahweh.

33 But when this people or a prophet or a priest shall ask thee saying What is the oracle of Yahweh? Then shalt thou say unto them, Ye yourselves are the oracle, Therefore will I reject you, Declareth Yahweh;

34 But the prophet or the priest or the people who shall say—The oracle of Yahweh I will bring punishment upon that man and upon his house.

35 Thus shall ye say—every man unto his neighbour and every man unto his brother,—What hath Yahweh answered? or What hath Yahweh spoken?

36 but the oracle of Yahweh shall ye not mention any more,—for every man’s oracle shall be his own word, because ye have perverted the words of a Living God, Yahweh of hosts, our God.

37 Thus shalt thou say unto the prophet,—What hath Yahweh answered thee? or What hath Yahweh spoken?

38 But since ye keep on saying The Oracle of Yahweh, therefore Thus saith Yahweh, Because ye have said this word, The oracle of Yahweh, whereas I had sent unto you saying, Ye shall not say, The oracle of Yahweh

39 therefore behold me! I will lift you up,—and carry you away and the city which I gave to you and to your fathers from before my face;

40 and will give unto you reproach age-abiding,—and disgrace age-abiding, which shall not be forgotten.