| International Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1"How terrible for the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!" declares the LORD. | 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. |
| 2Therefore, this is what the LORD God of Israel says about the shepherds who are shepherding my people, "You have scattered my flock and driven them away. You haven't taken care of them, and now I'm about to take care of you because of your evil deeds," declares the LORD. | 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! |
| 3"I'll gather the remnant of my flock from all the countries where I've driven them, and bring them back to their pasture where they'll be fruitful and increase in numbers. | 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. |
| 4I'll raise up shepherds over them, and they'll shepherd them. My flock will no longer be afraid or terrified, and none will be missing," declares the LORD. | 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! |
| 5"The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I'll raise up a righteous branch for David. He will be a king who rules wisely, and he will administer justice and righteousness in the land. | 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. |
| 6In his time Judah will be delivered and Israel will dwell in safety. This is the name by which he will be known: 'The LORD Our Righteousness.' | 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.' |
| 7"Therefore, the time is coming," declares the LORD, "when people will no longer say, 'As surely as the LORD lives who brought up the Israelis from the land of Egypt,' | 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." |
| 8but they'll say, 'As surely as the LORD lives who brought the descendants of the Israelis from the land of the north and from all the lands where I had driven them and brought them into the land.' Then they'll live in their own land." | 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.'" |
| 9Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me, and all my bones shake. I'm like a drunk man, like a person overcome with wine, because of the LORD, and because of his holy words. | 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. |
| 10Indeed, the land is full of adulterers. Indeed, the land mourns because of the curse; the pastures of the wilderness have dried up. The adulterers' lifestyles are evil, and they use their strength for what is not right. | 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. |
| 11Indeed, both priest and prophet are ungodly. Even in my house I find evil," declares the LORD. | 11Moreover, the LORD says, "Both the prophets and priests are godless. I have even found them doing evil in my temple! |
| 12Therefore their way will be slippery. They'll be driven out into the darkness, where they'll fall. For I'll bring disaster on them, the year of their judgment," declares the LORD. | 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! |
| 13"Among the prophets of Samaria I saw a disgusting thing, for they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. | 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. |
| 14Among the prophets of Jerusalem I saw a horrible thing, for they commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of those who do evil, so that no one repents of his evil. All of them are like Sodom to me, and her residents like Gomorrah." | 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. |
| 15Therefore, this is what the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies says about the prophets, "I'm about to make them eat wormwood and drink poisoned water, because godlessness has spread from the prophets of Jerusalem throughout the land." | 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.'" |
| 16This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Don't listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you; they're giving you false hopes. They declare visions from their own minds— they don't come from the LORD! | 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. |
| 17They keep on saying to those who despise me, 'The LORD has said, "You will have peace."' To all who stubbornly follow their own desires they say, 'Disaster won't come upon you.' | 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!' |
| 18But who has stood in the LORD's council to see and hear his message? Who has paid attention to his message and obeyed it? | 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? |
| 19Look, the storm of the LORD's wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest, and it will swirl down around the head of the wicked. | 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. |
| 20The LORD's anger won't turn back until he has accomplished what he intended to do. In the future you will clearly understand it. | 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. |
| 21I didn't send these prophets, but they ran anyway. I didn't speak to them, but they prophesied. | 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. |
| 22If they had stood in my council and had delivered my words to my people, then they would have turned them back from their evil way, from their evil deeds." | 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. |
| 23"Am I a God who is near," declares the LORD, "rather than a God who is far away? | 23Do you people think that I am some local deity and not the transcendent God?" the LORD asks. |
| 24If a person hides himself in secret places, will I not see him?" declares the LORD. "I fill the heavens and the earth, do I not?" declares the LORD. | 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. |
| 25"I've heard what the prophets who prophesy lies in my name have said: 'I had a dream; I had a dream.' | 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!' |
| 26How long will this go on? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy from the deceit that is in their hearts? | 26Those prophets are just prophesying lies. They are prophesying the delusions of their own minds. |
| 27With their dreams that they relate to one another, they plan to make my people forget my name just as their ancestors forgot my name by embracing Baal. | 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. |
| 28Let the prophet who has a dream relate the dream, but let whoever receives my message speak my message truthfully. What does straw have in common with wheat?" declares the LORD. | 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! |
| 29"My message is like fire or like a hammer that shatters rock, is it not?" declares the LORD. | 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! |
| 30"Therefore, look, I'm against the prophets," declares the LORD, "who steal my words from each other. | 30So I, the LORD, affirm that I am opposed to those prophets who steal messages from one another that they claim are from me. |
| 31Look, I'm against the prophets," declares the LORD, "who use their tongues to issue a declaration. | 31I, the LORD, affirm that I am opposed to those prophets who are using their own tongues to declare, 'The LORD declares. . ..' |
| 32Look, I'm against those who prophesy based on false dreams," declares the LORD, "and relate them and lead my people astray with their lies and their recklessness. I didn't send them; I didn't command them, and they provide no benefit at all to these people," declares the LORD. | 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!" |
| 33"Jeremiah, when these people, the prophet, or a priest ask you, 'What is the oracle of the LORD?' say to them, 'You are the burden, and I'll cast you out,'" declares the LORD. | 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! |
| 34"As for the prophet, the priest, or the people who say, 'I have an oracle of the LORD,' I'll judge that person and his household. | 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.'" |
| 35This is what you should say to one another and among yourselves, 'What has the LORD answered?' or 'What has the LORD said?' | 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?' |
| 36But you are to no longer mention the oracle of the LORD, because the oracle is only for the person to whom the LORD gives his message, and you have overturned the words of the living God, the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, our God. | 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. |
| 37This is what you should say to the prophet, 'What has the LORD answered?' or 'What has the LORD said?' | 37Each of you should merely ask the prophet, 'What answer did the LORD give you? Or what did the LORD say?' |
| 38Since you're saying, 'We have an oracle of the LORD,' therefore this is what the LORD says: He will answer your message with this message, 'Burden of the LORD,' and I'll send you away with these words: 'Don't say, "Oracle of the LORD."' | 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. |
| 39Therefore I'll surely forget you and cast you and the city I gave you and your ancestors out of my presence. | 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. |
| 40I'll bring on you everlasting reproach and everlasting humiliation that won't ever be forgotten." | 40I will bring on you lasting shame and lasting disgrace which will never be forgotten!'" |
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