| New King James Version | Berean Study Bible |
| 1“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the LORD. | 1“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” declares the LORD. |
| 2Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the LORD. | 2Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your deeds, declares the LORD. |
| 3“But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. | 3Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands to which I have banished them, and I will return them to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and multiply. |
| 4I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the LORD. | 4I will raise up shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or dismayed, nor will any go missing, declares the LORD. |
| 5“Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. | 5Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign wisely as King and will administer justice and righteousness in the land. |
| 6In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. | 6In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is His name by which He will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness. |
| 7“Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ | 7So behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of Egypt.’ |
| 8but, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.” | 8Instead they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought and led the descendants of the house of Israel up out of the land of the north and all the other lands to which He had banished them.’ Then they will dwell once more in their own land.” |
| 9My heart within me is broken Because of the prophets; All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, And like a man whom wine has overcome, Because of the LORD, And because of His holy words. | 9As for 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 adulterers; For because of a curse the land mourns. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. Their course of life is evil, And their might is not right. | 10For the land is full of adulterers—because of the curse, the land mourns and the pastures of the wilderness have dried up—their course is evil and their power is misused. |
| 11“For both prophet and priest are profane; Yes, in My house I have found their wickedness,” says the LORD. | 11“For both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in My house I have found their wickedness,” declares the LORD. |
| 12“Therefore their way shall be to them Like slippery ways; In the darkness they shall be driven on And fall in them; For I will bring disaster on them, The year of their punishment,” says the LORD. | 12“Therefore their path will become slick; they will be driven away into the darkness and fall into it. For I will bring disaster upon them in the year of their punishment,” declares the LORD. |
| 13“And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: They prophesied by Baal And caused My people Israel to err. | 13“Among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray. |
| 14Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: They commit adultery and walk in lies; They also strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to Me, And her inhabitants like Gomorrah. | 14And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns his back on wickedness. They are all like Sodom to Me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.” |
| 15“Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: ‘Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, And make them drink the water of gall; For from the prophets of Jerusalem Profaneness has gone out into all the land.’ ” | 15Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says concerning the prophets: “I will feed them wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.” |
| 16Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the LORD. | 16This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are filling you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. |
| 17They continually say to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD has said, “You shall have peace” ’; And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’ ” | 17They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD says that you will have peace,’ and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’ |
| 18For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD, And has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it? | 18But which of them has stood in the council of the LORD to see and hear His word? Who has given heed to His word and obeyed it? |
| 19Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD has gone forth in fury— A violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked. | 19Behold, the storm of the LORD has gone out with fury, a whirlwind swirling down upon the heads of the wicked. |
| 20The anger of the LORD will not turn back Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly. | 20The anger of the LORD will not turn back until He has fully accomplished the purposes of His heart. In the days to come you will understand this clearly. |
| 21“I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. | 21I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet 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 their evil way And from the evil of their doings. | 22But if they had stood in My council, they would have proclaimed My words to My people and turned them back from their evil ways and deeds.” |
| 23“Am I a God near at hand,” says the LORD, “And not a God afar off? | 23“Am I only a God nearby,” declares the LORD, “and not a God far away?” |
| 24Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the LORD; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD. | 24“Can a man hide in secret places where I cannot see him?” declares the LORD. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the LORD. |
| 25“I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ | 25“I have heard the sayings of the prophets who prophesy lies in My name: ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ |
| 26How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, | 26How long will this continue in the hearts of these prophets who prophesy falsehood, these prophets of the delusion of their own minds? |
| 27who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal. | 27They suppose the dreams that they tell one another will make My people forget My name, just as their fathers forgot My name through the worship of Baal. |
| 28“The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; And he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?” says the LORD. | 28Let the prophet who has a dream retell it, but let him who has My word speak it truthfully. For what is straw compared to grain?” declares the LORD. |
| 29“Is not My word like a fire?” says the LORD, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? | 29“Is not My word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that smashes a rock?” |
| 30“Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says the LORD, “who steal My words every one from his neighbor. | 30“Therefore behold,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words they attribute to Me.” |
| 31Behold, I am against the prophets,” says the LORD, “who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’ | 31“Yes,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and proclaim, ‘The LORD declares it.’ ” |
| 32Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” says the LORD, “and tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all,” says the LORD. | 32“Indeed,” declares the LORD, “I am against those who prophesy false dreams and retell them to lead My people astray with their reckless lies. It was not I who sent them or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all to these people,” declares the LORD. |
| 33“So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, ‘What is the oracle of the LORD?’ you shall then say to them, ‘What oracle?’ I will even forsake you,” says the LORD. | 33“Now when this people or a prophet or priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the LORD?’ you are to say to them, ‘What burden? I will forsake you, declares the LORD.’ |
| 34“And as for the prophet and the priest and the people who say, ‘The oracle of the LORD!’ I will even punish that man and his house. | 34As for the prophet or priest or anyone who claims, ‘This is the burden of the LORD,’ I will punish that man and his household. |
| 35Thus every one of you shall say to his neighbor, and every one to his brother, ‘What has the LORD answered?’ and, ‘What has the LORD spoken?’ | 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?’ |
| 36And the oracle of the LORD you shall mention no more. For every man’s word will be his oracle, for you have perverted the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God. | 36But refer no more to the burden of the LORD, for each man’s word becomes the burden, so that you pervert the words of the living God, the LORD of Hosts, our God. |
| 37Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the LORD answered you?’ and, ‘What has the LORD spoken?’ | 37Thus you are to say to the prophet: ‘What has the LORD answered you?’ and ‘What has the LORD spoken?’ |
| 38But since you say, ‘The oracle of the LORD!’ therefore thus says the LORD: ‘Because you say this word, “The oracle of the LORD!” and I have sent to you, saying, “Do not say, ‘The oracle of the LORD!’ ” | 38But if you claim, ‘This is the burden of the LORD,’ then this is what the LORD says: Because you have said, ‘This is the burden of the LORD,’ and I specifically told you not to make this claim, |
| 39therefore behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you and forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and will cast you out of My presence. | 39therefore I will surely forget you and will cast you out of My presence, both you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers. |
| 40And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’ ” | 40And I will bring upon you everlasting shame and perpetual humiliation that will never be forgotten.” |
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