The Righteous Branch

1“Woe to the shepherds who are [†]destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” declares Yahweh. 2Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who are shepherding My people: “You have scattered My flock and banished them and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds,” declares Yahweh. 3“Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the land where I have banished them and cause them to return to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. 4I will also raise up shepherds over them, and they will [†]shepherd them; and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be left unattended,” declares Yahweh.

5“Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh,

“When I will raise up for David a righteous [†]Branch;

And He will reign as king and [†]prosper

And do justice and righteousness in the land.

6In His days Judah will be saved,

And Israel will dwell securely;

And this is His name by which He will be called,

‘Yahweh our righteousness.’

7“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when they will no longer say, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8but, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up and brought back the seed of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the lands where I had banished them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”

False Prophets Condemned

9As for the prophets:

My heart is broken within me;

All my bones tremble;

I have become like a drunken man,

Even like a man overcome with wine,

Because of Yahweh

And because of His holy words.

10For the land is full of adulterers;

For the land mourns because of the curse.

The pastures of the wilderness have dried up.

Their course also is evil,

And their might is not right.

11“For both prophet and priest are polluted;

Even in My house I have found their evil,” declares Yahweh.

12“Therefore their way will be like slippery paths to them;

They will be driven away into the thick darkness and fall down in it;

For I will bring their evil upon them,

The year of their [†]punishment,” declares Yahweh.

13“Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing:

They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.

14Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen an appalling thing:

The committing of adultery and walking in lying;

And they strengthen the hands of evildoers,

So that no one has turned back from his evil.

All of them have become to Me like Sodom,

And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

15Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts concerning the prophets,

‘Behold, I am going to feed them wormwood

And make them drink [†]poisoned water,

For from the prophets of Jerusalem

Pollution has gone forth into all the land.’”

16Thus says Yahweh of hosts,

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

They are leading you into vanity;

They speak a vision of their own heart,

Not from the mouth of Yahweh.

17They keep saying to those who spurn Me,

‘Yahweh has said, “You will have peace”’;

And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart,

They say, ‘Evil will not come upon you.’

18But who has stood in the council of Yahweh,

That he should see and hear His word?

Who has given heed to [†]His word and heard?

19Behold, the storm of Yahweh has gone forth in wrath,

Even a whirling storm;

It will whirl down on the head of the wicked.

20The anger of Yahweh will not turn back

Until He has done and established the purposes of His heart;

In the last days you will clearly understand it.

21I did not send these prophets,

But they ran.

I did not speak to them,

But they prophesied.

22But if they had stood in My council,

Then they would have caused My words to be heard by My people

And would have turned them back from their evil way

And from the evil of their deeds.

23“Am I a God who is near,” declares Yahweh,

“And not a God far off?

24Can a man hide himself in hiding places

So I do not see him?” declares Yahweh.

“Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares Yahweh.

25“I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy a lie in My name, saying, ‘I had a dream, I had a dream!’ 26How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy a lie, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, 27who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they recount to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal? 28The prophet who has a dream may recount his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain?” declares Yahweh. 29“Is not My word like fire?” declares Yahweh, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock? 30Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” declares Yahweh, “who steal My words from each other. 31Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares Yahweh, “who take their tongues and declare, ‘Yahweh declares.’ 32Behold, I am against those who have prophesied lying dreams,” declares Yahweh, “and who recounted them and led My people astray by their lying and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them, and I did not command them, and they do not furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares Yahweh.

33“Now when this people or the prophet or a priest asks you, saying, ‘What is the [†]oracle of Yahweh?’ then you shall say to them, ‘What oracle?’ Yahweh declares, ‘I will abandon you.’ 34Then as for the prophet or the priest or the people who say, ‘The oracle of Yahweh,’ I will bring punishment upon that man and his household. 35Thus will each of you say to his neighbor and to his brother, ‘What has Yahweh answered?’ or, ‘What has Yahweh spoken?’ 36For you will no longer remember the oracle of Yahweh because every man’s own word will become the oracle, and you have perverted the words of the living God, Yahweh of hosts, our God. 37Thus you will say to that prophet, ‘What has Yahweh answered you?’ and, ‘What has Yahweh spoken?’ 38For if you all say, ‘The oracle of Yahweh!’ surely thus says Yahweh, ‘Because you said this word, “The oracle of Yahweh!” I have also sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The oracle of Yahweh!’”’ 39Therefore behold, I will surely forget you and abandon you, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers, so that you are out of My presence. 40I will put an everlasting reproach on you and an everlasting humiliation which will not be forgotten.”