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Moff JER Chapter 23

◄ JER 23 ► ║ ©

Woe to rulers who ruin and scatter

the flock that was theirs to shepherd!

This therefore is the Eternal’s sentence

on the rulers in charge of his flock:

“You scattered my flock and drove them away,

you took no care of them;

so I will take good care to punish you

for the evil you have done.

I will gather all that is left of my flock

from every land where I have driven them,

I will bring them back to their folds,

and they shall be fruitful and multiply;

over them I will put rulers,

to shepherd them,

and they shall be no longer scared

or startled or dismayed.

The day comes, the Eternal promises,

when I raise up a true scion of David,

to reign both royally and ably,

to enforce law and justice in the land;

under him Judah shall be safe,

and Israel live secure,

and this shall be his title,

‘The Eternal our champion.’

7 So the day will come, the Eternal declares, when men no longer say, ‘As surely as the Eternal lives, who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt!’ 8 but, ‘As surely as the Eternal lives, who brought the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country!’-- and from every country where I drove them; they shall dwell in their own land.” * * *

On the prophets;--

My heart is broken within me,

my limbs are all relaxed,

I feel like a drunken man,

like a man overcome by wine,

at the thought of the Eternal

and his glorious majesty!

For the land is full of faithless men,

running an evil course,

with might that is not right.

Prophet and priest are alike profane;

and, says the Eternal, “even inside my fane

I come upon their crimes.

Therefore their path shall prove to them

a slippery place,

they shall be driven along it in the dark

to their downfall;

for I will bring disaster upon them,

in their year of doom.

Sickening things have I seen

e in Samaria’s prophets;

they prophesied by Baal,

and misled my people Israel.

But horrible things have I seen

in the prophets of Jerusalem;

they are adulterers, they lie,

they abet evildoers,

till not a soul will repent;

they are all as bad as Sodom,

and the citizens bad as Gomorrah.” 15 This therefore is the sentence of the Lord of hosts upon the prophets:

“I will feed them with bitter wormwood,

and give them poisonous drugs;

for the prophets of Jerusalem have spread profanity

over the whole land.” 16 This is the warning of the Lord of hosts:

“Never listen to what the prophets say;

they fill you up with idle hopes,

they tell you fancies of their own,

not anything the Eternal says;

‘All will be well,’ they repeat,

to people who scorn what the Eternal says;

‘No harm will come to you,’ they tell

the folk who follow their own stubborn minds.

Which of these prophets ever saw

the council of the Eternal?

Which of them ever heard

or grasped a word of his?

I never sent the prophets,

yet they ran;

I never spoke to them,

and yet they prophesied.

If they had ever stood within my council,

and heard a word of mine,

they would have made my people turn

from evil ways and evil deeds.

Am I a God at hand,

and not a God far off?

Can any man conceal himself

out of my sight?

Do not I fill heaven and earth?--

the Eternal asks.

I have heard what the prophets say,

who prophesy falsely in my name--

‘I’ve had a dream,’ they cry,

‘I’ve had a dream!’

Will they never give over,

these prophets of falsehood,

who preach their own illusions,

and would make my folk forget my name,

by the dreams they tell each other,

as once their fathers forgot me for Baal?

If a prophet has had a dream,

then let him tell his dream;

but he who has a word of mine,

then let him tell it faithfully.

Why mix straw with wheat?--

the Eternal asks.

Is not my word like fire,

like a hammer that shatters stone?

30 Well then, the Eternal declares, I am against prophets who pick up my words, each from his fellow. 31 I am against prophets who mouth the prophets’ formula about what ‘the Eternal says.’ 32 I am against prophets who recount lying dreams, leading my people astray with their lies and their empty pretensions, though I never sent them, never commissioned them; they are no help whatever to this people, says the Eternal. 33 When a layman or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Eternal’s oracle?’ tell them this from the Eternal: ‘Burden! you are the burden, and I mean to throw you off. 34 Any prophet or priest or layman who talks of “the Eternal’s oracle” or of “what the Eternal says,” I will punish that man and his household. 35 No, this is what every man of you must say to his fellow, to his brother: “What is the Eternal’s answer?” “What is the Eternal’s message?” 36 You must never again mention the Eternal’s “burden.” 38 (A man’s own word shall be the “burden” of his oracle!) If you dare to mention “the burden of the Eternal’s oracle,” though I have expressly told you never to mention it, 39 then, the Eternal declares, I will lift you like a burden and throw you away, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers, far away from me, 40 and I will cover you with a lasting reproach and an unending disgrace, never to be forgotten.’ ”

◄ JER 23 ► ║ ©

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