1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith theLord.
2 Therefore thus saith theLordGod 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 theLord.
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 theLord.
5 Behold, the days come, saith theLord, 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, THELordOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith theLord, that they shall no more say, TheLordliveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
8 But, TheLordliveth, 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 theLord, 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 theLord.
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 theLord.
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 theLordof 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 theLordof 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 theLord.
17 They say still unto them that despise me, TheLordhath 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 theLord, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?
19 Behold, a whirlwind of theLordis gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.
20 The anger of theLordshall 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 theLord, and not a God afar off?
24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith theLord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith theLord.
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 theLord.
29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith theLord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith theLord, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.
31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith theLord, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.
32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith theLord, 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 theLord.
33 And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of theLord? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith theLord.
34 And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of theLord, 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 theLordanswered? and, What hath theLordspoken?
36 And the burden of theLordshall ye mention no more: for every man’s word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of theLordof hosts our God.
37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath theLordanswered thee? and, What hath theLordspoken?
38 But since ye say, The burden of theLord; therefore thus saith theLord; Because ye say this word, The burden of theLord, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of theLord;
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.
—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/8/32k/JER/23-3c8e3b12e95f3019ce02949d743afad3.mp3?version_id=1—