Jeremiah 23

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 'Disaster for the shepherds who lose and scatter the sheep of my pasture, Yahweh declares.	1 Woe to the pastors, that destroy and tear the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord.
2 This, therefore, is what Yahweh, God of Israel, says about the shepherds who shepherd my people,"You have scattered my flock, you have driven them away and have not taken care of them. Right, I shal takecare of you for your misdeeds, Yahweh declares!	2 Therefore thus saith the Lord the God of Israel to the pastors that feed my people: You have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold I will visit upon you for the evil of your doings, saith the Lord.
3 But the remnant of my flock I myself shal gather from all the countries where I have driven them, andbring them back to their folds; they will be fruitful and increase in numbers.	3 And I will gather together the remnant of my flock, out of all the lands into which I have cast them out: and I will make them return to their own fields, and they shall increase and be multiplied.
4 For them I shall raise up shepherds to shepherd them and pasture them. No fear, no terror for themany more; not one shal be lost, Yahweh declares!	4 And I will set up pastors over them, and they shall feed them: they shall fear no more, and they shall not be dismayed: and none shall be wanting of their number, saith the Lord.
5 Look, the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when I shal raise an upright Branch for David; he willreign as king and be wise, doing what is just and upright in the country.	5 Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will raise up to David a just branch: and a king shall reign, and shall be wise, and shall execute judgement and justice in the earth.
6 In his days Judah wil triumph and Israel live in safety. And this is the name he wil be called, 'Yahweh-is-our-Saving-Justice.' "	6 In those days shall Juda be saved, and Israel shall dwell confidently: and this is the name that they shall call him: the Lord our just one.
7 'So, look, the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when people wil no longer say, "As Yahweh liveswho brought the Israelites out of Egypt,"	7 Therefore behold the days to come, saith the Lord, and they shall say no more: The Lord liveth, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt:
8 but, "As Yahweh lives who led back and brought home the offspring of the House of Israel from theland of the north and all the countries to which he had driven them, to live on their own soil." '	8 But the Lord liveth, who hath brought out, and brought hither the seed of the house of Israel from the land of the north, and out of all the lands, to which I had cast them forth: and they shall dwell in their own land.
9 On the prophets. My heart is broken within me, I tremble in al my bones; I am like a drunken man, likea man overcome with wine, because of Yahweh and his holy words:	9 To the prophets: My heart is broken within me, all my bones tremble: I am become as a drunken man, and as a man full of wine, at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of his holy words.
10 'For the country is ful of adulterers; yes, because of a curse, the country is in mourning and thepasturage in the desert has dried up; they are prompt to do wrong, make no effort to do right.	10 Because the land is full of adulterers, because the land hath mourned by reason of cursing, the fields of the desert are dried up: and their course is become evil, and their strength unlike.
11 Yes, even prophet and priest are godless, I have detected their wickedness in my own House,Yahweh declares.	11 For the prophet and the priest are defiled: and in my house I have found their wickedness, saith the Lord.
12 Because of this, their way wil prove treacherous going for them; in the darkness where they aredriven, there they wil fall. For I shal bring disaster on them, when the year for punishing them comes, Yahwehdeclares.	12 Therefore their way shall be as a slippery way in the dark: for they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evils upon them, the year of their visitation, saith the Lord.
13 'In the prophets of Samaria I have seen insanity: they prophesied in the name of Baal and led mypeople Israel astray.	13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: they prophesied in Baal, and deceived my people Israel.
14 But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: adultery, persistent lying, suchabetting of the wicked that no one renounces his wickedness. To me they are al like Sodom and its inhabitantsare like Gomorrah.	14 And I have seen the likeness of adulterers, and the way of lying in the peophets of Jerusalem: and they strengthened the hand of the wicked, that no man should return from his evil doings: that are all become unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gamorrha.
15 So this is what Yahweh Sabaoth says about the prophets, "Now I shal give them wormwood to eatand make them drink poisoned water, since from the prophets of Jerusalem godlessness has spread throughoutthe land."	15 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts to the prophets: Behold I will feed them with wormwood, and I will give them gall to drink: for from the prophets of Jerusalem corruption has gone forth into all the land.
16 'Yahweh Sabaoth says this, "Do not listen to what those prophets prophesy to you; they are deludingyou, they retail visions of their own, and not what comes from Yahweh's mouth.	16 Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Hearken not to the words of the prophets that prophesy to you, and deceive you: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.
17 To those who despise me, they keep saying: Yahweh has spoken: you wil have peace! and to al whofol ow their own stubborn inclinations: No disaster wil touch you."	17 They say tothem that blaspheme me: The Lord hath said: You shall have peace: and to every one that walketh in the perverseness of his own heart, they have said: No evil shall come to you.
18 But who has been present in Yahweh's council and seen, and heard his word? Who has paidattention to his word and listened to it?	18 For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath seen and heard his word? Who hath considered his word and heard it?
19 Look, Yahweh's hurricane, his wrath, bursts out, a fearsome hurricane, to burst on the heads of thewicked;	19 Behold the whirlwind of the Lord's indignation shall come forth, and a tempest shall break out and come upon the head of the wicked.
20 Yahweh's anger wil not withdraw until he has performed, has carried out, what he has in mind. In thefinal days, you wil understand this clearly,	20 The wrath of the Lord shall not return till he execute it, and till he accomplish the thought of his heart: in the latter days you shall understand his counsel.
21 'I did not send these prophets, yet they ran! I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied!	21 I did not send prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22 Had they been present in my council, they could have proclaimed my words to my people and turnedthem from their evil way and from the wickedness of their deeds!	22 If they stood in my counsel, and had made my words known to my people, I should have turned them from their evil way and from their wicked doings.
23 'Am I a God when near, Yahweh demands, and not a God when far away?	23 Am I, think ye, a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?
24 Can anyone hide somewhere secret without my seeing him? Yahweh demands. Do I not fil heavenand earth? Yahweh demands.	24 Shall a man be hid in secret places, and I not see him, saith the Lord? do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?
25 'I have heard what the prophets say who make their lying prophecies in my name. "I have had adream," they say, "I have had a dream!"	25 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesylies in my name, and say: I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
26 How long are there to be those among the prophets who prophesy lies and are in fact prophets oftheir own delusions?	26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, and that prophesy the delusions of their own heart?
27 They are doing their best, by means of the dreams that they keep tel ing each other, to make mypeople forget my name, just as their ancestors forgot my name in favour of Baal.	27 Who seek to make my people forget my name through their dreams, which they tell every man to his neighbor: as their fathers forgot my name for Baal.
28 Let the prophet who has had a dream tel it for a dream! And let him who receives a word from me,deliver my word accurately! 'What have straw and wheat in common? Yahweh demands.	28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream: and he that hath my word, let him speak my word with truth: what hath the chaff to do with the wheat, saith the Lord?
29 Is my word not like fire, Yahweh demands, is it not like a hammer shattering a rock?	29 Are not my words as a fire, saith the Lord: and as a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
30 'So, then, I have a quarrel with the prophets, Yahweh declares, that steal my words from one another.	30 Therefore behold I am against the prophets, saith the Lord: who steal my words every one from his neighbor.
31 I have a quarrel with the prophets, Yahweh declares, who wag their tongues to utter prophecies.	31 Behold I am against the prophets, saith the Lord: who use their tongues, and say: The Lord saith it.
32 I have a quarrel with the prophets who make prophecies out of lying dreams, Yahweh declares, whorecount them, and lead my people astray by their lies and their bragging. I certainly never sent them orcommissioned them, and they serve no good purpose for this people, Yahweh declares.	32 Behold I am against the prophets that have lying dreams, saith the Lord: and tell them, and cause my people to err by their lying, and by their wonders: when I sent them not, nor commanded them, who have not profited this people at all, saith the Lord.
33 'And when this people, or a prophet, or a priest, asks you, "What is Yahweh's burden?" you mustanswer, "You are the burden, and I shal get rid of you, Yahweh declares!"	33 If therefore this people, or the prophet, or the priest shall ask thee, saying: What is the burden of the Lord? thou shalt say to them: You are the burden: for I will cast you away, saith the Lord.
34 'As for the prophet, the priest, or anyone else, who says, "Yahweh's burden", I shall punish that man,and his household too.	34 And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people that shall say: The burden of the Lord: I will visit upon that man, and upon his house.
35 This is what you must say to one another, among yourselves, "What answer has Yahweh given?" or"What has Yahweh said?"	35 Thus shall you say every one to his neighbor, and to his brother: What hath the Lord answered? and what hath the Lord spoken?
36 But stop using the expression "Yahweh's burden", for what each man says will be his ownresponsibility. And you twist the words of the living God, of Yahweh Sabaoth, our God.	36 And the burden of the Lord shall be mentioned no more, for every man's word shall be his burden: for you have perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts our God.
37 This is the way to speak to a prophet, "What answer has Yahweh given?" or "What has Yahwehsaid?"	37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet: What hath the Lord answered thee? and what hath the Lord spoken?
38 But if you say, "Yahweh's burden", then Yahweh says this, "Since you use the expression 'Yahweh'sburden', when I have warned you to stop saying, 'Yahweh's burden',	38 But if you shall say: The burden of the Lord: therefore thus saith the Lord: Because you have said this word: The burden of the Lord: and I have sent to you saying: Say not, Tne burden of the Lord:
39 believe me, I shal pick you up and fling you from my presence, you and the city I gave to you and toyour ancestors.	39 Therefore behold I will take you away carrying you, and will forsake you, and the city which I gave to you, and to your fathers, out of my presence.
40 I shal bring down everlasting shame on you, everlasting and unforgettable disgrace." '	40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame which shall never be forgotten.