1 Woe be unto the
pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith
the LORD.
2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors
that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven
them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon
you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.
3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries
whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their
folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them:
and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall
they be lacking, saith the LORD.
5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto
David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper,
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely:
and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS.
7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they
shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children
of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
8 But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed
of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all
countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in
their own land.
9 Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all
my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom
wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the
words of his holiness.
10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing
the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are
dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.
11 For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house
have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.
12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in
the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for
I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation,
saith the LORD.
13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied
in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.
14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible
thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen
also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his
wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants
thereof as Gomorrah.
15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets;
Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink
the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness
gone forth into all the land.
16 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words
of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain:
they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth
of the LORD.
17 They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said,
Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh
after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon
you.
18 For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived
and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?
19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even
a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head
of the wicked.
20 The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed,
and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the
latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.
21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not
spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people
to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their
evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
23 Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?
24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see
him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the
LORD.
25 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in
my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that
prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their
own heart;
27 Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their
dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their
fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.
28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and
he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What
is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.
29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a
hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD,
that steal my words every one from his neighbour.
31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use
their tongues, and say, He saith.
32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith
the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their
lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded
them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith
the LORD.
33 And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall
ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt
then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith
the LORD.
34 And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that
shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man
and his house.
35 Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one
to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath
the LORD spoken?
36 And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for
every man's word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted
the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.
37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered
thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
38 But since ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus
saith the LORD; Because ye say this word, The burden of the
LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The
burden of the LORD;
39 Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and
I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers,
and cast you out of my presence:
40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a
perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.
Chapter 24
1 The LORD shewed
me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple
of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried
away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and
the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem,
and had brought them to Babylon.
2 One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are
first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which
could not be eaten, they were so bad.
3 Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And
I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil,
that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
4 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
5 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs,
so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of
Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the
Chaldeans for their good.
6 For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring
them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull
them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
7 And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD:
and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they
shall return unto me with their whole heart.
8 And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil;
surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king
of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that
remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:
9 And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms
of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb,
a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence,
among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave
unto them and to their fathers.
Chapter 25
1 The word that
came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth
year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was
the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;
2 The which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of
Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,
3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of
Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year,
the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto
you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.
4 And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets,
rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor
inclined your ear to hear.
5 They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way,
and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that
the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and
ever:
6 And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship
them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands;
and I will do you no hurt.
7 Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye
might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your
own hurt.
8 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not
heard my words,
9 Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,
saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant,
and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants
thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will
utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an
hissing, and perpetual desolations.
10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the
voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice
of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of
the candle.
11 And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment;
and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished,
that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith
the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans,
and will make it perpetual desolations.
13 And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have
pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book,
which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.
14 For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of
them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds,
and according to the works of their own hands.
15 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine
cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom
I send thee, to drink it.
16 And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of
the sword that I will send among them.
17 Then took I the cup at the LORD's hand, and made all the
nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:
18 To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings
thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation,
an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;
19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes,
and all his people;
20 And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land
of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and
Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,
21 Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,
22 And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and
the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea,
23 Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost
corners,
24 And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled
people that dwell in the desert,
25 And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and
all the kings of the Medes,
26 And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another,
and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of
the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
27 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of
hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue,
and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will
send among you.
28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine
hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the
LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.
29 For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called
by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not
be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants
of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.
30 Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and
say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his
voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon
his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the
grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the
LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with
all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith
the LORD.
32 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth
from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised
up from the coasts of the earth.
33 And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end
of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall
not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be
dung upon the ground.
34 Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the
ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter
and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall
like a pleasant vessel.
35 And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal
of the flock to escape.
36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the
principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD hath spoiled
their pasture.
37 And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the
fierce anger of the LORD.
38 He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land
is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and
because of his fierce anger. |