Woe to the shepherds who scatter the flock. God promises a righteous Branch of David, a King who will reign and prosper, called The LORD our righteousness. Jeremiah condemns the false prophets who speak visions from their own hearts.
1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture ! saith the LORD .
2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people ; Ye have scattered my flock , and driven them away , and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings , saith the LORD .
3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds ; and they shall be fruitful and increase .
4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed , neither shall they be lacking , saith the LORD .
5 Behold, the days come , saith the LORD , that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch , and a King shall reign and prosper , and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth .
6 In his days Judah shall be saved , and Israel shall dwell safely : and this is his name whereby he shall be called , THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS .
7 Therefore, behold, the days come , saith the LORD , that they shall no more say , The LORD liveth , which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt ;
8 But, The LORD liveth , which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country , and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land .
9 Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets ; all my bones shake ; I am like a drunken man , and like a man whom wine hath overcome , because of the LORD , and because of the words of his holiness .
10 For the land is full of adulterers ; for because of swearing the land mourneth ; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up , and their course is evil , and their force is not right.
11 For both prophet and priest are profane ; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness , saith the LORD .
12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness : they shall be driven on , and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation , saith the LORD .
13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria ; they prophesied in Baal , and caused my people Israel to err .
14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing : they commit adultery , and walk in lies : they strengthen also the hands of evildoers , that none doth return from his wickedness : they are all of them unto me as Sodom , and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah .
15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets ; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood , and make them drink the water of gall : for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land .
16 Thus saith the LORD of hosts , Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain : they speak a vision of their own heart , and not out of the mouth of the LORD .
17 They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said , Ye shall have peace ; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart , No evil shall come upon you.
18 For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD , and hath perceived and heard his word ? who hath marked his word , and heard it?
19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury , even a grievous whirlwind : it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked .
20 The anger of the LORD shall not return , until he have executed , and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart : in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly .
21 I have not sent these prophets , yet they ran : I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied .
22 But if they had stood in my counsel , and had caused my people to hear my words , then they should have turned them from their evil way , and from the evil of their doings .
23 Am I a God at hand , saith the LORD , and not a God afar off ?
24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD . Do not I fill heaven and earth ? saith the LORD .
25 I have heard what the prophets said , that prophesy lies in my name , saying , I have dreamed , I have dreamed .
26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies ? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart ;
27 Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour , as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal .
28 The prophet that hath a dream , let him tell a dream ; and he that hath my word , let him speak my word faithfully . What is the chaff to the wheat ? saith the LORD .
29 Is not my word like as a fire ? saith the LORD ; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces ?
30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets , saith the LORD , that steal my words every one from his neighbour .
31 Behold, I am against the prophets , saith the LORD , that use their tongues , and say , He saith .
32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams , saith the LORD , and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies , and by their lightness ; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all , saith the LORD .
33 And when this people , or the prophet , or a priest , shall ask thee, saying , What is the burden of the LORD ? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden ? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD .
34 And as for the prophet , and the priest , and the people , that shall say , The burden of the LORD , I will even punish that man and his house .
35 Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour , and every one to his brother , What hath the LORD answered ? and, What hath the LORD spoken ?
36 And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man's word shall be his burden ; for ye have perverted the words of the living God , of the LORD of hosts our God .
37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet , What hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken ?
38 But since ye say , The burden of the LORD ; therefore thus saith the LORD ; Because ye say this word , The burden of the LORD , and I have sent unto you, saying , Ye shall not say , The burden of the LORD ;
39 Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers , and cast you out of my presence :
40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame , which shall not be forgotten .