Chapter 23
1 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” says Yahweh. 2 Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says against the shepherds who feed my people: “You have scattered my flock, driven them away, and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit on you the evil of your doings,” says Yahweh. 3 “I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they will be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will set up shepherds over them, who will feed them. They will no longer be afraid or dismayed, neither will any be lacking,” says Yahweh.
5 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh,
“that I will raise to David a righteous Branch,
and he will reign as king and deal wisely,
and will execute justice and righteousness in the land.
6 In his days Judah will be saved,
and Israel will dwell safely.
This is his name by which he will be called:
Yahweh our righteousness.
7 “Therefore behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that they will no more say, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;’ 8 but, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up and who led the offspring*or, seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will dwell in their own land.”
9 Concerning the prophets:
My heart within me is broken.
All my bones shake.
I am like a drunken man,
and like a man whom wine has overcome,
because of Yahweh,
and because of his holy words.
10 For the land is full of adulterers;
for because of the curse the land mourns.
The pastures of the wilderness have dried up.
Their course is evil,
and their might is not right;
11 for both prophet and priest are profane.
Yes, in my house I have found their wickedness,” says Yahweh.
12 Therefore their way will be to them as slippery places in the darkness.
They will be driven on,
and fall therein;
for I will bring evil on them,
even the year of their visitation,” says Yahweh.
13 “I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria.
They prophesied by Baal,
and caused my people Israel to err.
14 In the prophets of Jerusalem I have also seen a horrible thing:
they commit adultery and walk in lies.
They strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one returns from his wickedness.
They have all become to me as Sodom,
and its inhabitants as Gomorrah.”
15 Therefore Yahweh of Armies says concerning the prophets:
“Behold, I will feed them with wormwood,
and make them drink the water of gall;
for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”
16 Yahweh of Armies says,
“Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you.
They teach you vanity.
They speak a vision of their own heart,
and not out of the mouth of Yahweh.
17 They say continually to those who despise me,
‘Yahweh has said, “You will have peace;”’
and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say,
‘No evil will come on you.’
18 For who has stood in the council of Yahweh,
that he should perceive and hear his word?
Who has listened to my word, and heard it?
19 Behold, Yahweh’s storm, his wrath, has gone out.
Yes, a whirling storm:
It will burst on the head of the wicked.
20 Yahweh’s anger will not return until he has executed,
and until he has performed the intents of his heart.
In the latter days, you will understand it perfectly.
21 I didn’t send these prophets, yet they ran.
I didn’t 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 evil of their doings.
23 “Am I a God at hand,” says Yahweh,
“and not a God afar off?
24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places
so that I can’t see him?” says Yahweh.
“Don’t I fill heaven and earth?” says Yahweh.
25 “I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ 26 How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart? 27 They intend to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they each tell his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name because of Baal. 28 The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat?” says Yahweh. 29 “Isn’t my word like fire?” says Yahweh; “and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
30 “Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says Yahweh, “who each steal my words from his neighbor. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets,” says Yahweh, “who use their tongues, and say, ‘He says.’ 32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams,” says Yahweh, “who tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting; yet I didn’t send them or command them. They don’t profit this people at all,” says Yahweh.
33 “When this people, or the prophet, or a priest, asks you, saying, ‘What is the message from Yahweh?’ Then you shall tell them, ‘“What message? I will cast you off,” says Yahweh.’ 34 As for the prophet, the priest, and the people, who say, ‘The message from Yahweh,’ I will even punish that man and his household. 35 You will say everyone to his neighbor, and everyone to his brother, ‘What has Yahweh answered?’ and, ‘What has Yahweh said?’ 36 You will mention the message from Yahweh no more: for every man’s own word has become his message; for you have perverted the words of the living God, of Yahweh of Armies, our God. 37 You will say to the prophet, ‘What has Yahweh answered you?’ and, ‘What has Yahweh spoken?’ 38 Although you say, ‘The message from Yahweh;’ therefore Yahweh says: ‘Because you say this word, “The message from Yahweh,” and I have sent to you, telling you not to say, “The message from Yahweh;” 39 therefore, behold, I will utterly forget you, and I will cast you off, and the city that I gave to you and to your fathers, away from my presence. 40 I will bring an everlasting reproach on you, and a perpetual shame, which will not be forgotten.’”