Jeremiah 23 — WBMS
23Verse 1Woe to the shepherds, that scatter and draw the flock of my pasture, saith the Lord.Verse 2Therefore the Lord God of Israel saith these things to the shepherds that feed my people, Ye have scattered my flock, and have cast them out, and have not visited them; lo! I shall visit on you the malice of your studies, saith the Lord.Verse 3And I shall gather together the remnants of my flock from all lands, to which I shall cast them out thither; and I shall turn them to their fields, and they shall increase, and shall be multiplied.Verse 4And I shall raise up shepherds on them, and they shall feed them; they shall no more dread, and shall not be afeared; and none shall be sought of the number, saith the Lord.Verse 5Lo! days come, saith the Lord, and I shall raise a just [or rightwise] burgeoning, either seed, to David; and he shall reign a king, and he shall be wise, and he shall make doom and rightfulness [or rightwiseness] in earth.Verse 6In those days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell trustily; and this is the name which they shall call him, The Lord our rightful [or Our rightwise Lord].Verse 7For this thing lo! days come, saith the Lord, and they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, that led the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt;Verse 8but, The Lord liveth, that led out, and brought the seed of the house of Israel from the land of the north, and from all lands to which I had cast them out thither; and they shall dwell in their [own] land.Verse 9To the prophets; Mine heart is contrite, either all-broken for sorrow, in the midst of me, all my bones trembled together; I am made as a man drunken, and as a man wet of wine, of the face of the Lord, and of the face of the holy words of him;Verse 10for the land is filled with adulterers. For the earth mourned of the face of cursing; the fields of desert be made dry, the course of them is made evil, and their strength is unlike.Verse 11For why the prophet and the priest be defouled; and in mine house, saith the Lord, I found the evil of them.Verse 12Therefore the way of them shall be as slidery thing in darknesses, for they shall be hurtled, either shoved, and shall fall down therein; for I shall bring on them evils, the year of [the] visitation of them, saith the Lord.Verse 13And in the prophets of Samaria I saw fondness [or folly], and they prophesied in Baal, and deceived my people Israel.Verse 14And in the prophets of Jerusalem I saw, likeness, adultery, and the way of leasing; and they comforted the hands of the worst men, that each man should not convert from his malice; all they be made as Sodom to me, and all the dwellers thereof be made as Gomorrah.Verse 15Therefore the Lord of hosts saith these things to the prophets, Lo! I shall feed them with wormwood, and I shall give drink to them with gall; for why defouling is gone out of the prophets of Jerusalem on all the land.Verse 16The Lord of hosts saith these things, Do not ye hear the words of [the] prophets, that prophesy to you, and deceive you; they speak the vision of their heart, not of the mouth of the Lord.Verse 17They say to them that blaspheme me, The Lord spake, Peace shall be to you; and they said to each man that goeth in the shrewdness of his heart, Evil shall not come [up] on you.Verse 18For why who is present in the counsel of the Lord, and saw, and heard his word? who beheld, and heard the word of him?Verse 19Lo! the whirlwind of the Lord’s indignation shall go out, and tempest breaking [out] shall come [up] on the head of wicked men.Verse 20The strong vengeance of the Lord shall not turn again, till that he do, and till that he [ful] fill the thought of his heart. In the last days ye shall understand the counsel of him.Verse 21I sent not the prophets, and they ran; I spake not to them, and they prophesied.Verse 22If they had stood in my counsel, and had made known my words to my people, forsooth I had turned them away from their evil way, and from their worst thoughts.Verse 23Guessest thou, whether I am God of nigh, saith the Lord, and not God afar?Verse 24A man shall not be privy in hid places, and I shall not see him, saith the Lord. Whether I fill not heaven and earth? saith the Lord.Verse 25I heard what things the prophets said, prophesying leasing in my name, and saying, I dreamed dreams.Verse 26How long is this thing in the heart of prophets, prophesying leasing, and prophesying the deceit of their heart?Verse 27Which will make, that my people forget my name for the dreams of them, which each man telleth to his neighbour, as the fathers of them forgat my name for Baal.Verse 28A prophet that hath a dream, tell a dream; and he that hath my word, speak verily my word. What is with [the] chaffs to the wheat? saith the Lord.Verse 29Whether my words be not as fire burning, saith the Lord, and as an hammer all-breaking a stone?Verse 30Therefore lo! I am ready to the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words, each man from his neighbour.Verse 31Lo! I to the prophets, saith the Lord, that take their tongues, and say, The Lord saith.Verse 32Lo! I to the prophets, dreaming leasing, saith the Lord; which told them, and deceived my people in their leasing, and in their miracles, when I had not sent them, neither had commanded to them; which profited nothing to this people, saith the Lord.Verse 33Therefore if this people, either prophet, either priest, asketh thee, and saith, What is the burden of the Lord? thou shalt say to them, Ye be the burden, for I shall cast you away, saith the Lord;Verse 34and a prophet, and a priest, and the people, that saith, The burden of the Lord, I shall visit on that man, and on his house.Verse 35Ye shall say these things, each man to his neighbour, and to his brother, What answered the Lord? and, What spake the Lord?Verse 36For the burden of the Lord shall no more be remembered, and the word of each man shall be a burden to him; and ye have perverted the words of [the] living God, of the Lord of hosts, your God.Verse 37Thou shalt say these things to the prophet, What answered the Lord to thee? and, What spake the Lord?Verse 38Forsooth if ye say, The burden of the Lord, for this thing the Lord saith these things, For ye said this word, The burden of the Lord, and I sent to you, and I said, Do not ye say, The burden of the Lord;Verse 39therefore lo! I shall take you away, and shall bear, and I shall forsake you, and the city which I gave to you, and to your fathers, from my face.Verse 40And I shall give you into everlasting shame, and into everlasting scandal, that shall never be done away by forgetting.