Jeremiah 23 (NKJV)

¹ “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lord. ² Therefore thus says the Lord God 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 the Lord. ³ “But I 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 up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the Lord. ⁵ And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. ⁶ THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. ⁷ “Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ ⁸ but, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.” ⁹ And because of His holy words. ¹⁰ And their might is not right. ¹¹ Yes, in My house I have found their wickedness,” says the Lord. ¹² The year of their punishment,” says the Lord. ¹³ And caused My people Israel to err. ¹⁴ And her inhabitants like Gomorrah. ¹⁵ Profaneness has gone out into all the land.’ ” ¹⁶ Not from the mouth of the Lord. ¹⁷ ‘No evil shall come upon you.’ ” ¹⁸ Who has marked His word and heard it? ¹⁹ It will fall violently on the head of the wicked. ²⁰ In the latter days you will understand it perfectly. ²¹ I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. ²² And from the evil of their doings. ²³ “And not a God afar off? ²⁴ “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord. 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 will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets 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 What is the chaff to the wheat?” says the Lord. ²⁹ “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? ³⁰ “Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says the Lord, “who steal My words every one from his neighbor. ³¹ Behold, I am against the prophets,” says the Lord, “who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’ ³² Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” says the Lord, “and tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all,” says the Lord. ³³ “So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, ‘What is the oracle of the Lord?’ you shall then say to them, ‘What oracle?’ I will even forsake you,” says the Lord. ³⁴ “And as for the prophet and the priest and the people who say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ 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 the Lord answered?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁶ And the oracle of the Lord you shall mention no more. For every man’s word will be his oracle, for you have perverted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. ³⁷ Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁸ But since you say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Because you say this word, “The oracle of the Lord!” and I have sent to you, saying, “Do not say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ ” ³⁹ therefore behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you and forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and will 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.’ ”