KJ3 Literal Translation
Jeremiah 23
He prophesies a restoration of the scattered flock. Christ shall rule and save them. Against false prophets, and mockers of true prophets.
1Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture, says Jehovah!
2Therefore, so says Jehovah the God of Israel against the shepherds who are feeding My people: You have scattered My flock, and have driven them away, and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit on you the evil of your doings, says Jehovah.
3And I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the lands where I have driven them there, and I will bring them back to their fold. And they shall be fruitful and multiply.
4And I will raise up shepherds over them who will feed them. And they will fear no more, and not be terrified; and not will they be missing anything, a statement of Jehovah.
5Behold, the days come, a statement of Jehovah, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and act wisely, and He shall do judgment and righteousness in the earth.
6In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is His name by which He shall be called, Jehovah Our Righteousness.
7Behold, so the days come, a statement of Jehovah, that they shall no more say, As Jehovah lives who brought the sons of Israel up out of the land of Egypt;
8but, As Jehovah lives who brought up and led the seed of the house of Israel out of the land of the north, and from all the lands where I have driven them there. And they shall dwell on their own land.
9My heart within me is broken concerning the prophets; all my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man passed out by wine, because of Jehovah, and because of the words of His holiness.
10For the land is full of those doing adultery. For the land mourns because of a curse. The pastures of the wilderness are dried up. And their course is evil, and their might is not right.
11For both prophet and priest are being defiled; yea, I have found their evil in My house, a statement of Jehovah.
12So their way shall be to them as slippery places in the darkness; they shall be driven out and fall by it. For I will bring evil on them, the year of their calling to account, a statement of Jehovah.
13And I have seen frivolity among the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal and led astray My people Israel.
14And I have seen a horrible thing among the prophets of Jerusalem; they commit adultery and walk in falsehood. And they make the hands of evildoers strong, so that not a man turns back from his evil. They are all of them like Sodom to Me, and those living in her like Gomorrah.
15So Jehovah of Hosts says this concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them wormwood, and make them drink poisonous water, for ungodliness has gone forth from the prophets of Jerusalem into all the land.
16So says Jehovah of Hosts, Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you; they make you vain; they speak a vision of their heart, not out of the mouth of Jehovah.
17Saying they say to those who spurn Me, Jehovah has said, You shall have peace. And they say to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, Evil things shall not come on you.
18For who has stood in the counsel of Jehovah, and has seen and heard His Word? Who has paid attention to His Word and heard?
19Behold, the tempest of Jehovah has gone forth in wrath, even a whirling tempest; it will whirl on the head of the wicked ones.
20The anger of Jehovah shall not turn back until He has executed, and until He has raised up the purposes of His heart. In latter days understanding you shall understand it.
21I have not sent the prophets, and they ran; I have not spoken to them, and they prophesied.
22But if they had stood in My counsel and had caused My people to hear My words, then they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
23Am I a God near by, a statement of Jehovah, and not a God from afar?
24Or can a man hide himself in secret places so that I do not see him, says Jehovah? Do I not fill the heavens and the earth, a statement of Jehovah?
25I have heard what the prophets said, those who prophesy lies in My name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
26How long is this there in the heart of the prophets, the prophets of lies; yea, the prophets of the deceit of their heart?
27They are plotting to cause My people to forget My name by their dreams which they relate, each man to his neighbor, even as their fathers have forgotten My name for Baal.
28The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream. And he who has My Word, let him speak My Word faithfully. What has the straw to do with the grain, a statement of Jehovah?
29Is not My Word thus like fire, says Jehovah, and like a hammer which shatters rock?
30Therefore, a statement of Jehovah, Behold, I am against the prophets who steal My words, each man from his neighbor
31Behold I am against those who take their tongues and say, a statement of Jehovah.
32Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams, and speak them, and cause My people to go astray by their lies, and by their frivolity, and I did not send them, and I did not command them, a statement of Jehovah.
33And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask you, saying, What is the burden of Jehovah? Even you shall say to them, What burden? I will even forsake you, a statement of Jehovah.
34And the prophet, and the priest, and the people who shall say, The burden of Jehovah, I will even call that man and his house to account.
35And you shall say each man to his his companion and each man to his brother, What has Jehovah answered? And what has Jehovah spoken?
36And you shall not mention the burden of Jehovah again, for each man's word shall be his burden. But you have perverted the words of the living God, of Jehovah of Hosts, our God.
37So you shall say to the prophet, What has Jehovah answered you? And what has Jehovah spoken?
38But if you say, The burden of Jehovah, therefore so says Jehovah: Because you say this word, the burden of Jehovah; and I have sent to you saying, You shall not say, The burden of Jehovah;
39therefore, behold! I, even I will utterly forget you and deceive you and cast off you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers, away from My face.
40And I will put on you everlasting reproach and everlasting shame on you, which shall not be forgotten.
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