Jeremiah 23

NEW JERUSALEM	KING JAMES BIBLE
1 'Disaster for the shepherds who lose and scatter the sheep of my pasture, Yahweh declares.	1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter 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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 wil triumph and Israel live in safety. And this is the name he wil be called, 'Yahweh-is-our-Saving-Justice.' "	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 '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 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, "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, 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 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 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 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 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 Yes, even prophet and priest are godless, I have detected their wickedness in my own House,Yahweh declares.	11 For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I 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 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 '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 caused my people Israel to err.
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 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 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 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 '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 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 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 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 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 perceived and heard his word? who hath marked 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, 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 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 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 did not send these prophets, yet they ran! I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied!	21 I have not sent these 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 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 when near, Yahweh demands, and not a God when far away?	23 Am I 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 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 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 prophesy lies in my name, saying, 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? yea, they are prophets of the deceit 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 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 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 faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.
29 Is my word not like fire, Yahweh demands, is it not like a hammer shattering a rock?	29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like 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, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.
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, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.
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 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 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 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 '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 even punish that man and 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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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 not be forgotten.