The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah 23 Against the False Prophets

 The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah 23

Against the False Prophets

9 Concerning the prophets. My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble; I am like a drunken man, and like a man overcome with wine, because of the Lord, and because of the words of his holiness.

10 For the land is full of adulterers, and the land mourns because of the curse; the pastures of the wilderness are dried up; for their course is evil, and their strength is not right.

11 For both prophet and priest are defiled; even in my house I have found their wickedness, says the Lord.

12 Therefore their way shall be to them as slippery places in the darkness; they shall be driven and fall therein; for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, says the Lord.

13 In the prophets of Samaria I have seen folly; they prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. 

14 But among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: They commit adultery and walk in falsehood; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that they do not turn from their wickedness. They have become like Sodom to me, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem like Gomorrah.

15 Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says concerning the prophets: “I will make them eat wormwood and drink gall, because from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”

16 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They teach you falsehood; they speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.

17 They continually say to those who despise me, ‘The Lord says: “You will have peace,”’ and to everyone who walks according to the purpose of his heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’” 18 For who has stood in the council of the Lord, and has seen and heard his word? Who has paid attention to his word and heard it?

19 Behold, the storm of the Lord has gone forth in indignation; a tempestuous storm will fall cruelly on the head of the wicked.

20 The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and fulfilled the purposes of his heart. In the latter days you will understand this clearly.

21 I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.

22 But if they had stood in my council, then they would have caused my people to hear my words, and would have turned them from their evil way and from the wickedness of their deeds.

23 Am I only a God nearby, declares the Lord, and not a God far away?

24 Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? Thus says the Lord.

25 I have heard what those prophets say, prophesying lies in my name, saying, “I have dreamed, I have dreamed.”

26 How long will this continue in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who are only prophets of the deceit of their own hearts?

27 Who think that they will make my people forget my name by their dreams which each one tells to his neighbor, just as their fathers forgot my name because of Baal.

28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream; and let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What does straw have in common with wheat? says the Lord.

29 Is not my word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who steal my words, each one from his neighbor.

31 “Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who use their tongues and say, ‘He said.’

32 “Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams,” declares the Lord, “and tell them, and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness. I did not send them or command them; they have brought no profit to this people,” declares the Lord.

33 “When this people or any prophet or priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ you shall say to them, ‘What burden? I will leave you,’ declares the Lord.

34 “As for the prophet, the priest, or the people who say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ I will punish that person and his household.

35 Thus you shall say, each to his neighbor and each to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered? What has the Lord spoken?’”

36 But you shall no longer remember the burden of the Lord; For each one will be burdened by his own word; for you pervert the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God.

37 Thus you shall say to the prophet: What has the Lord answered you? And what has the Lord spoken?

38 But because you say, “The burden of the Lord,” thus says the Lord: Because you say this word, “The burden of the Lord,” when I commanded you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’”

39 Therefore, behold, I also will utterly forget you, and I will remove you and the city that I gave to you and to your fathers from my presence.

40 And I will bring upon you perpetual reproach and everlasting shame, which shall not be forgotten.