Jeremiah 23 - Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Lord and His Sheep

23 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” ^(A) This is the Lord’s declaration. ² “Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend my people: You have scattered my flock,^(B) banished them, and have not attended to them.^(C) I am about to attend to you because of your evil acts”—this is the Lord’s declaration. ³ “I will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands where I have banished them,^(D) and I will return them to their grazing land. They will become fruitful and numerous.^{(E) 4} I will raise up shepherds over them who will tend them.^(F) They will no longer be afraid or discouraged, nor will any be missing.”^(G) This is the Lord’s declaration.

The Righteous Branch of David

⁵ “Look, the days are coming”^(H)—this is the Lord’s declaration—
“when I will raise up a Righteous Branch for David.^(I)
He will reign wisely as king
and administer justice and righteousness in the land.^(J)

⁶ In his days Judah will be saved,
and Israel will dwell securely.^(K)
This is the name he will be called:
The Lord Is Our Righteousness.^[a](L)

⁷ “Look, the days are coming”^(M)—the Lord’s declaration—“when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives^(N) who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,’ ⁸ but, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other countries where I^[b] had banished them.’ They will dwell once more in their own land.”^(O)

False Prophets Condemned

⁹ Concerning the prophets:

My heart is broken within me,^(P)
and all my bones tremble.
I have become like a drunkard,
like a man overcome by wine,
because of the Lord,
because of his holy words.

¹⁰ For the land is full of adulterers;^(Q)
the land mourns^(R) because of the curse,^(S)
and the grazing lands in the wilderness have dried up.
Their way of life^[c] has become evil,
and their power is not rightly used

¹¹ because both prophet and priest are ungodly,^(T)
even in my house^(U) I have found their evil.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
¹² Therefore, their way will seem
like slippery paths in the gloom.^(V)
They will be driven away and fall down there,
for I will bring disaster on them,
the year of their punishment.^(W)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
¹³ Among the prophets of Samaria
I saw something disgusting:
They prophesied by Baal
and led my people Israel astray.^(X)

¹⁴ Among the prophets of Jerusalem also
I saw a horrible thing:^(Y)
They commit adultery and walk in lies.
They strengthen the hands of evildoers,
and none turns his back on evil.
They are all like Sodom^(Z) to me;
Jerusalem’s residents are like Gomorrah.

¹⁵ Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies says concerning the prophets:

I am about to feed them wormwood^(AA)
and give them poisoned water to drink,^(AB)
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness^[d] has spread throughout the land.

¹⁶ This is what the Lord of Armies says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are deluding you. They speak visions from their own minds,^(AC) not from the Lord’s mouth.^{(AD) 17} They keep on saying to those who despise me,^(AE) ‘The Lord has spoken: You will have peace.’^(AF) They have said to everyone who follows the stubbornness of his heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’”

¹⁸ For who has stood in the council^(AG) of the Lord
to see and hear his word?
Who has paid attention to his word and obeyed?
¹⁹ Look, a storm from the Lord!^(AH)
Wrath has gone out,
a whirling storm.
It will whirl about the heads of the wicked.
²⁰ The Lord’s anger will not turn away^(AI)
until he has completely fulfilled the purposes of his heart.
In time to come you will understand it clearly.^(AJ)
21 I did not send out these prophets,^(AK)
yet they ran.^(AL)
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.
²² If they had really stood in my council,
they would have enabled my people to hear my words
and would have turned them from their evil ways
and their evil deeds.^(AM)

²³ “Am I a God who is only near”^(AN)—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and not a God who is far away? ²⁴ Can a person hide in secret places where I cannot see him?” ^(AO)—the Lord’s declaration. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” ^(AP)—the Lord’s declaration.

²⁵ “I have heard what the prophets who prophesy a lie in my name have said: ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ ^{(AQ) 26} How long will this continue in the minds of the prophets prophesying lies, prophets of the deceit of their own minds? ²⁷ Through their dreams that they tell one another, they plan to cause my people to forget my name as their ancestors forgot my name through Baal worship.^{(AR) 28} The prophet who has only a dream should recount the dream, but the one who has my word should speak my word truthfully, for what is straw compared to grain?”—this is the Lord’s declaration. ²⁹ “Is not my word like fire”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and like a hammer that pulverizes rock? ³⁰ Therefore, take note! I am against the prophets”^(AS)—the Lord’s declaration—“who steal my words from each other. ³¹ I am against the prophets”—the Lord’s declaration—“who use their own tongues to make a declaration. ³² I am against those who prophesy false dreams”^(AT)—the Lord’s declaration—“telling them and leading my people astray with their reckless lies. It was not I who sent or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all^(AU) to these people”—this is the Lord’s declaration.

The Burden of the Lord

³³ “Now when these people or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden^[e] of the Lord?’ you will respond to them, ‘What is the burden? I will throw you away! This is the Lord’s declaration.’ ³⁴ As for the prophet, priest, or people who say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ I will punish that man and his household. ³⁵ This is what each man is to say to his friend and to his brother: ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁶ But no longer refer to^[f] the burden of the Lord, for each man’s word becomes his burden and you pervert the words of the living God, the Lord of Armies, our God. ³⁷ Say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁸ But if you say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ then this is what the Lord says: Because you have said, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ and I specifically told you not to say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ ³⁹ I will surely forget you.^[g] I will throw you away from my presence—both you and the city that I gave you and your ancestors. ⁴⁰ I will bring on you everlasting disgrace and humiliation^(AV) that will never be forgotten.”

Footnotes

1. 23:6 = Yahweh-zidkenu
2. 23:8 LXX reads he
3. 23:10 Lit Their manner of running
4. 23:15 Or pollution
5. 23:33 The Hb word for burden (Ex 23:5; 2Sm 15:33) can also mean “oracle” (Is 13:1; Nah 1:10).
6. 23:36 Or longer remember
7. 23:39 Some Hb mss; other Hb mss, LXX, Syr, Vg read surely lift you up

Cross references

1. 23:1 : Ps 100:3; Ezk 34:2,31; Zch 11:5–7,15–17
2. 23:2 : Jr 10:21; 50:6; Ezk 34:5,12,31
3. 23:2 : Ps 8:4; Is 23:16; Ezk 34:3
4. 23:3 : Ezk 34:12–13
5. 23:3 : Gn 1:26–28; 9:1–7; 35:11
6. 23:4 : Ezk 34:23; Mc 5:2–6
7. 23:4 : Ezk 34:25; Mc 7:14
8. 23:5 : Jr 7:32; 9:25; 16:14; 19:6; 23:5,7; 30:3; 31:27,31; 33:14–16; 48:12; 49:2; 51:47,52
9. 23:5 : 1Kg 12:16; Is 4:2; 55:3–4; Jr 30:9; 33:15; Ezk 34:23; 37:24–25; Hs 3:5; Zch 3:8; 6:12
10. 23:5 : 1Ch 18:14; Ps 99:4; Is 9:7; 11:1–9; 33:5; Jr 9:24; 22:15; 33:15
11. 23:6 : Dt 33:12,28; Ps 16:9; Pr 1:33; Jr 33:16
12. 23:6 : Ps 4:1; Jr 33:16; 1Co 1:30
13. 23:7 : Jr 7:32; 16:14; 19:6; 48:12; 49:2; 51:47,52
14. 23:7 : Jdg 8:19; 1Sm 14:39,45; 2Sm 4:9; 1Kg 1:29; 2:24; Jr 4:1–2; 5:2; 16:14–15; 38:16; Hs 4:15
15. 23:8 : Jr 16:15
16. 23:9 : Hab 3:16
17. 23:10 : Jr 9:2; Hs 7:4; Mal 3:5
18. 23:10 : Jr 12:4; Am 1:2; Rm 8:22
19. 23:10 : Dt 11:29; 27:13; Gl 3:13
20. 23:11 : Jr 6:13; 14:18; Zph 3:4
21. 23:11 : 1Ch 17:14; 28:6; Is 56:5,7; Jr 11:15; 12:7; Ezk 23:39; Hs 9:15; Hab 1:9; Zch 1:16; Mal 3:10
22. 23:12 : Ps 35:6; 73:18
23. 23:12 : Jr 11:23; 48:44
24. 23:13 : Pr 12:26; Is 3:12; Jr 50:6; Mc 3:5
25. 23:14 : Jr 5:30; Hs 6:10
26. 23:14 : Gn 13:10–13; 18:16–19:28; Is 1:10–17
27. 23:15 : Am 5:7; 6:12
28. 23:15 : Jr 8:14; 9:15
29. 23:16 : Jr 14:14; Lm 2:9; Ezk 7:26; 12:24; 13:16; Mc 3:6
30. 23:16 : Is 1:20; 40:5; 58:14; 62:2; Jr 9:12; Mc 4:4
31. 23:17 : Is 5:24
32. 23:17 : Jr 4:10
33. 23:18 : Jb 15:8; Ps 25:14; 89:7
34. 23:19 : Ps 83:15; Is 29:6; Zch 9:14
35. 23:20 : Gn 27:45; Is 5:25; 9:12,17,21; 10:4; Jr 2:35
36. 23:19–20 : Jr 30:23–24
37. 23:21 : Jr 14:14
38. 23:21 : Jos 7:22; 2Sm 18:21; Ps 147:15
39. 23:22 : Jr 4:18
40. 23:23 : Ps 139:1–10; Am 9:2–3
41. 23:24 : Gn 3:8; 4:14; Jb 34:22
42. 23:24 : Ps 139:7–12; Am 9:2–4
43. 23:25 : Jr 5:31; 14:14; 20:6; 23:32; 27:10,14–16; 29:9,21,31
44. 23:27 : Jdg 3:7; 8:33–34
45. 23:30 : Dt 18:20; Jr 14:14–15; Ezk 13:8
46. 23:32 : Dt 18:20
47. 23:32 : Is 30:5–6; Jr 2:8,11
48. 23:40 : Ps 78:66; Jr 20:11