| NET Bible | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1The LORD says, "The leaders of my people are sure to be judged. They were supposed to watch over my people like shepherds watch over their sheep. But they are causing my people to be destroyed and scattered. | 1"Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!" This is the LORD's declaration. |
| 2So the LORD God of Israel has this to say about the leaders who are ruling over his people: "You have caused my people to be dispersed and driven into exile. You have not taken care of them. So I will punish you for the evil that you have done. I, the LORD, affirm it! | 2"Therefore, this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who shepherd My people: You have scattered My flock, banished them, and have not attended to them. I will attend to you because of your evil acts"--this is the LORD's declaration. |
| 3Then I myself will regather those of my people who are still alive from all the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their homeland. They will greatly increase in number. | 3"I will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands where I have banished them, and I will return them to their grazing land. They will become fruitful and numerous. |
| 4I will install rulers over them who will care for them. Then they will no longer need to fear or be terrified. None of them will turn up missing. I, the LORD, promise it! | 4I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them. They will no longer be afraid or dismayed, nor will any be missing." This is the LORD's declaration. |
| 5"I, the LORD, promise that a new time will certainly come when I will raise up for them a righteous branch, a descendant of David. He will rule over them with wisdom and understanding and will do what is just and right in the land. | 5"The days are coming"--this is the LORD's declaration-- "when I will raise up a Righteous Branch of David. He will reign wisely as king and administer justice and righteousness in the land. |
| 6Under his rule Judah will enjoy safety and Israel will live in security. This is the name he will go by: 'The LORD has provided us with justice.' | 6In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. This is what He will be named: Yahweh Our Righteousness. |
| 7"So I, the LORD, say: 'A new time will certainly come. People now affirm their oaths with "I swear as surely as the LORD lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt." | 7"The days are coming"--the LORD's declaration--"when it will no longer be said, 'As the LORD lives who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,' |
| 8But at that time they will affirm them with "I swear as surely as the LORD lives who delivered the descendants of the former nation of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them." At that time they will live in their own land.'" | 8but, '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 had banished them.' They will dwell once more in their own land." |
| 9Here is what the LORD says concerning the false prophets: My heart and my mind are deeply disturbed. I tremble all over. I am like a drunk person, like a person who has had too much wine, because of the way the LORD and his holy word are being mistreated. | 9Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me, 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. |
| 10For the land is full of people unfaithful to him. They live wicked lives and they misuse their power. So the land is dried up because it is under his curse. The pastures in the wilderness are withered. | 10For the land is full of adulterers; the land mourns because of the curse, and the grazing lands in the wilderness have dried up. Their way of life has become evil, and their power is not rightly used |
| 11Moreover, the LORD says, "Both the prophets and priests are godless. I have even found them doing evil in my temple! | 11because both prophet and priest are ungodly, even in My house I have found their evil. This is the LORD's declaration. |
| 12So the paths they follow will be dark and slippery. They will stumble and fall headlong. For I will bring disaster on them. A day of reckoning is coming for them." The LORD affirms it! | 12Therefore, their way will be to them like slippery paths in the gloom. They will be driven away and fall down there, for I will bring disaster on them, the year of their punishment. This is the LORD's declaration. |
| 13The LORD says, "I saw the prophets of Samaria doing something that was disgusting. They prophesied in the name of the god Baal and led my people Israel astray. | 13Among the prophets of Samaria I saw something disgusting: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray. |
| 14But I see the prophets of Jerusalem doing something just as shocking. They are unfaithful to me and continually prophesy lies. So they give encouragement to people who are doing evil, with the result that they do not stop their evildoing. I consider all of them as bad as the people of Sodom, and the citizens of Jerusalem as bad as the people of Gomorrah. | 14Among the prophets of Jerusalem also I saw a horrible thing: 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 to Me; Jerusalem's residents are like Gomorrah. |
| 15So then I, the LORD who rules over all, have something to say concerning the prophets of Jerusalem: 'I will make these prophets eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment. For the prophets of Jerusalem are the reason that ungodliness has spread throughout the land.'" | 15Therefore, this is what the LORD of Hosts says concerning the prophets: I am about to feed them wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land. |
| 16The LORD who rules over all says to the people of Jerusalem: "Do not listen to what those prophets are saying to you. They are filling you with false hopes. They are reporting visions of their own imaginations, not something the LORD has given them to say. | 16This is what the LORD of Hosts says: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are making you worthless. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the LORD's mouth. |
| 17They continually say to those who reject what the LORD has said, 'Things will go well for you!' They say to all those who follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts, 'Nothing bad will happen to you!' | 17They keep on saying to those who despise Me, 'The LORD has said: You will have peace.' They have said to everyone who follows the stubbornness of his heart, 'No harm will come to you.'" |
| 18Yet which of them has ever stood in the LORD's inner circle so they could see and hear what he has to say? Which of them have ever paid attention or listened to what he has said? | 18For who has stood in the council of the LORD to see and hear His word? Who has paid attention to His word and obeyed? |
| 19But just watch! The wrath of the LORD will come like a storm! Like a raging storm it will rage down on the heads of those who are wicked. | 19Look, a storm from the LORD! Wrath has gone out, a whirling storm. It will whirl about the heads of the wicked. |
| 20The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has fully carried out his intended purposes. In days to come you people will come to understand this clearly. | 20The LORD's anger will not turn back until He has completely fulfilled the purposes of His heart. In time to come you will understand it clearly. |
| 21I did not send those prophets. Yet they were in a hurry to give their message. I did not tell them anything. Yet they prophesied anyway. | 21I did not send these prophets, yet they ran with a message. I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. |
| 22But if they had stood in my inner circle, they would have proclaimed my message to my people. They would have caused my people to turn from their wicked ways and stop doing the evil things they are doing. | 22If they had really stood in My council, they would have enabled My people to hear My words and would have turned them back from their evil ways and their evil deeds. |
| 23Do you people think that I am some local deity and not the transcendent God?" the LORD asks. | 23"Am I a God who is only near"--this is the LORD's declaration--"and not a God who is far away? |
| 24"Do you really think anyone can hide himself where I cannot see him?" the LORD asks. "Do you not know that I am everywhere?" the LORD asks. | 24Can a man hide himself in secret places where I cannot see him?"--the LORD's declaration. "Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?"--the LORD's declaration. |
| 25The LORD says, "I have heard what those prophets who are prophesying lies in my name are saying. They are saying, 'I have had a dream! I have had a dream!' | 25"I have heard what the prophets who prophesy a lie in My name have said, 'I had a dream! I had a dream!' |
| 26Those prophets are just prophesying lies. They are prophesying the delusions of their own minds. | 26How long will this continue in the minds of the prophets prophesying lies, prophets of the deceit of their own minds? |
| 27How long will they go on plotting to make my people forget who I am through the dreams they tell one another? That is just as bad as what their ancestors did when they forgot who I am by worshiping the god Baal. | 27Through their dreams that they tell one another, they plan to cause My people to forget My name as their fathers forgot My name through Baal worship. |
| 28Let the prophet who has had a dream go ahead and tell his dream. Let the person who has received my message report that message faithfully. What is like straw cannot compare to what is like grain! I, the LORD, affirm it! | 28The 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. |
| 29My message is like a fire that purges dross! It is like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces! I, the LORD, so affirm it! | 29"Is not My word like fire"--this is the LORD's declaration--"and like a hammer that pulverizes rock? |
| 30So I, the LORD, affirm that I am opposed to those prophets who steal messages from one another that they claim are from me. | 30Therefore, take note! I am against the prophets"--the LORD's declaration--"who steal My words from each other. |
| 31I, the LORD, affirm that I am opposed to those prophets who are using their own tongues to declare, 'The LORD declares. . ..' | 31I am against the prophets"--the LORD's declaration--"who use their own tongues to make a declaration. |
| 32I, the LORD, affirm that I am opposed to those prophets who dream up lies and report them. They are misleading my people with their reckless lies. I did not send them. I did not commission them. They are not helping these people at all. I, the LORD, affirm it!" | 32I am against those who prophesy false dreams"--the LORD's declaration--"telling them and leading My people astray with their falsehoods and their boasting. It was not I who sent or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all to these people"--this is the LORD's declaration. |
| 33The LORD said to me, "Jeremiah, when one of these people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, 'What burdensome message do you have from the LORD?' Tell them, 'You are the burden, and I will cast you away. I, the LORD, affirm it! | 33"Now when these people or a prophet or a priest asks you, 'What is the burden of the LORD?' you will respond to them: What is the burden? I will throw you away"--this is the LORD's declaration. |
| 34I will punish any prophet, priest, or other person who says "The LORD's message is burdensome." I will punish both that person and his whole family.'" | 34"As for the prophet, priest, or people who say, 'The burden of the LORD,' I will punish that man and his household. |
| 35So I, Jeremiah, tell you, "Each of you people should say to his friend or his relative, 'How did the LORD answer? Or what did the LORD say?' | 35This 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?' |
| 36You must no longer say that the LORD's message is burdensome. For what is 'burdensome' really pertains to what a person himself says. You are misrepresenting the words of our God, the living God, the LORD who rules over all. | 36But no longer refer to 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 Hosts, our God. |
| 37Each of you should merely ask the prophet, 'What answer did the LORD give you? Or what did the LORD say?' | 37You must say to the prophet: What has the LORD answered you? and What has the LORD spoken? |
| 38But just suppose you continue to say, 'The message of the LORD is burdensome.' Here is what the LORD says will happen: 'I sent word to you that you must not say, "The LORD's message is burdensome." But you used the words "The LORD's message is burdensome" anyway. | 38But 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,' |
| 39So I will carry you far off and throw you away. I will send both you and the city I gave to you and to your ancestors out of my sight. | 39I will surely forget you and throw away from My presence both you and the city that I gave you and your fathers. |
| 40I will bring on you lasting shame and lasting disgrace which will never be forgotten!'" | 40I will bring on you everlasting shame and humiliation that will never be forgotten." |
|
