The Branch of Righteousness
1 “Woeto the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says theLord.
2 Therefore thus says theLordGod of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them.Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says theLord.
3 “ButI will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
4 I will set upshepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says theLord.
5 “Behold,thedays are coming,” says theLord,
“That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness;
A King shall reign and prosper,
# And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
6 In His days Judah will be saved,
# And Israelwill dwell safely;
# NowthisisHis name by which He will be called:
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
7 “Therefore, behold,thedays are coming,” says theLord, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As theLordlives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’
8 but, ‘As theLordlives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north countryand from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their ownland.”
False Prophets and Empty Oracles
9 My 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 has overcome,
Because of theLord,
And because of His holy words.
10 Forthe land is full of adulterers;
# Forbecause of a curse the land mourns.
# The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up.
Their course of life is evil,
And their mightisnot right.
11 “Forboth prophet and priest are profane;
# Yes,in My house I have found their wickedness,” says theLord.
12 “Thereforetheir way shall be to them
Like slipperyways;
In the darkness they shall be driven on
And fall in them;
# For Iwill bring disaster on them,
The year of their punishment,” says theLord.
13 “And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria:
# They prophesied by Baal
# Andcaused My people Israel to err.
14 Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem:
# They commit adultery and walk in lies;
# They alsostrengthen the hands of evildoers,
So that no one turns back from his wickedness.
# All of them are likeSodom to Me,
And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.
15 “Therefore thus says theLordof hosts concerning the prophets:
# ‘Behold, I will feed them withwormwood,
And make them drink the water of gall;
For from the prophets of Jerusalem
Profaneness has gone out into all the land.’ ”
16 Thus says theLordof hosts:
“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you.
They make you worthless;
# They speak a vision of their own heart,
Not from the mouth of theLord.
17 They continually say to those who despise Me,
# ‘TheLordhas said,“You shall have peace” ’;
# Andtoeveryone whowalks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say,
# ‘No evil shall come upon you.’ ”
18 Forwho has stood in the counsel of theLord,
And has perceived and heard His word?
Who has marked His word and heardit?
19 Behold, awhirlwind of theLordhas gone forth in fury—
A violent whirlwind!
It will fall violently on the head of the wicked.
20 Theanger of theLordwill not turn back
Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart.
# In the latter days you will understand it perfectly.
21 “Ihave 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 would haveturned them from their evil way
And from the evil of their doings.
23 “AmI a God near at hand,” says theLord,
“And not a God afar off?
24 Can anyonehide himself in secret places,
So I shall not see him?” says theLord;
# “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says theLord.
25 “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’
26 How long willthisbe in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeedtheyareprophets of the deceit of their own heart,
27 who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor,as their fathers forgot My name for 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.
Whatisthe chaff to the wheat?” says theLord.
29 “Isnot My word like afire?” says theLord,
“And like a hammerthatbreaks the rock in pieces?
30 “Therefore behold,Iamagainst the prophets,” says theLord, “who steal My words every one from his neighbor.
31 Behold, Iamagainst the prophets,” says theLord, “who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’
32 Behold, Iamagainst those who prophesy false dreams,” says theLord, “and tell them, and cause My people to err by theirlies and bytheir recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall notprofit this people at all,” says theLord.
33 “So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, ‘What isthe oracle of theLord?’ you shall then say to them, ‘What oracle?’ I will even forsake you,” says theLord.
34 “Andasforthe prophet and the priest and the people who say, ‘The oracle of theLord!’ I will even punish that man and his house.
35 Thus every one of you shall say to his neighbor, and every one to his brother, ‘What has theLordanswered?’ and, ‘What has theLordspoken?’
36 And the oracle of theLordyou shall mention no more. For every man’s word will be his oracle, for you haveperverted the words of the living God, theLordof hosts, our God.
37 Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has theLordanswered you?’ and, ‘What has theLordspoken?’
38 But since you say, ‘The oracle of theLord!’ therefore thus says theLord: ‘Because you say this word, “The oracle of theLord!” and I have sent to you, saying, “Do not say, ‘The oracle of theLord!’ ”
39 therefore behold, I, even I,will utterly forget you and forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, andwillcastyouout of My presence.
40 And I will bringan everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetualshame, which shall not be forgotten.’ ”