David’s Righteous Branch

1“Woe to the shepherds destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture! A declaration of YHWH.

2Therefore, thus says YHWH God of Israel, against the shepherds who shepherd My people: “You⁺ have scattered My flock and driven them away, and you⁺ have not attended to them. Behold, I am going to attend to you⁺ for the evil of your⁺ deeds! A declaration of YHWH.

3And I will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands to which I have driven them there, and I will bring them back to their pastures, and they shall be fruitful and shall multiply. 4And I will raise up over them shepherds who will shepherd them, and they will not fear anymore, nor be dismayed, and they will not be lacking, a declaration of YHWH.

5Behold, the days are coming,

a declaration of YHWH,

when I will raise up for David†

a Branch of Righteousness,

and a King shall reign who will deal wisely,

and he will do justice and righteousness in the land.

6In his days Judah will be saved,

and Israel will dwell in security;

and this is his name that He will be called:

YHWH Tsidqenu.†

7Therefore, behold, the days are coming, a declaration of YHWH, and they will no longer say, ‘YHWH lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt; 8but instead ‘YHWH lives, who brought up and led the seed of the house of Israel from the north country, and from all the lands to which I had driven them there,’ and they will dwell upon their own land.

Lying Prophets

9Concerning the prophets:

My heart is broken within me;

all my bones shake;

I am like a drunken man,

and like a man overcome by wine,

from the face of YHWH

and from the face of His holy words.

10For the land is filled with adulterers,

and the land mourns because of the face of the curse,

and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up;

and their course has come to be evil,

and their strength is not right.

11“For both prophet and priest are polluted,

and even in My house I have found their evil!”

A declaration of YHWH.

12“Therefore their way shall be for them as slippery;

into the darkness they will be driven away and fall in it!

For I will bring on them disaster,

the year of their punishment,”

a declaration of YHWH.

13“And among the prophets of Samaria

I have seen folly:

They prophesied by Baal,

and led astray My people Israel.

14And I have seen a horrible thing

among the prophets of Jerusalem:

They commit adultery

and walk in deception,

and they strengthen the hands of evildoers,

so that a man does not turn back from his evil;

all of them have become to Me like Sodom,

and her inhabitants like Gomorrah!”

15Therefore, thus says YHWH of Hosts concerning the prophets:

“Behold, I am going to feed them wormwood,

and make them drink the water of gall!

For from the prophets of Jerusalem

profaneness has gone forth into all the land.”

16Thus says YHWH of Hosts:

“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you⁺.

They make you⁺ vain;

they speak a vision of their own heart,

and not from the mouth of YHWH.

17They keep saying to those despising Me,

‘YHWH has said you⁺ will have peace.’

And as for everyone walking in the stubbornness of his heart, they say,

‘Evil shall not come upon you⁺.’

18But who has stood in the counsel of YHWH,

and has perceived and has heard His word?

Who has paid attention to His word,

and has heard it?

19Behold, the tempest of YHWH

in fury goes forth,

and a whirling tempest swirling down

upon on the head of the wicked.

20The nose of YHWH will not turn back until He has done it,

and until He has performed the thoughts of His heart;

in the following days

you⁺ will understand it clearly.

21I have not sent these prophets,

and they have run;

I have not spoken to them,

and they have prophesied.

22But if they had stood in My counsel

and had caused My people to hear My words,

then they would have turned them

from the evil of their way and from the evil of their deeds.”

23“Am I a God nearby,” a declaration of YHWH, “And not a God far away?”

24“Can a man hide himself in the hidden places, and I shall not see him?” A declaration of YHWH.

“Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” A declaration of YHWH.

25“I have heard what the prophets say, those prophesying in My name deception, saying, ‘I have dreamed! I have dreamed! 26How long will it be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? And indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, 27who are devising to make My people forget My name by their dreams that tell, a man to his neighbor, just as their fathers forgot My name for Baal.

28The prophet with whom is a dream, let him recount the dream, and with whom is My word, let him speak My word in faithfulness. What is the chaff to the wheat?” A declaration of YHWH. 29“Is it not thus, My word is like the fire,” a declaration of YHWH, “And like a hammer that dashes a rock?”

30“Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets,” a declaration of YHWH, “Those stealing My words, each man from his neighbor.”

“Behold, I am against the prophets—” says YHWH—“Those taking their own tongues, and prophesying, ‘His utterance.”

“Behold, I am against those prophesying False dreams,” a declaration of YHWH, “And they recount them and lead astray My people by their lies and by their recklessness; and I did not send them and did not command them, and there shall not be profit for this people,” a declaration of YHWH.

False Prophecies

33“And when this people, or the prophet, or the priest asks you, ‘Saying, What is the oracle of YHWH?’ Then you shall say to them ‘What oracle? And I will forsake you⁺, a declaration of YHWH.’

34And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, who say, ‘The oracle of YHWH,’ even I will visit punishment upon that man and upon his house.

35Thus you⁺ shall say, everyone to his neighbor and everyone to his brother, ‘What has YHWH answered, and what has YHWH spoken?’ 36And the burden of YHWH you shall not mention anymore, for each man’s word will be the burden, and you⁺ have overturned the words of the living God, YHWH of Hosts, our God.

37Thus you shall say to the prophet: ‘What has YHWH answered you, and what has YHWH spoken?’

38And if you⁺ say, ‘The burden of YHWH,’ therefore thus says YHWH: Because you⁺ say ‘This word is the burden of YHWH,’ and I sent to you⁺ saying, you shall not say, ‘The burden of YHWH,’ 39therefore, behold, I will also utterly forget you⁺, and I will cast away you⁺ and the city that I gave to you⁺ and to your⁺ fathers—from before My face, 40and I will bring upon you⁺ reproach forever and shame forever that will never be forgotten.