Woe be
unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the
sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord.
02 Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel
against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have
scattered my flock, and driven them away, and
have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon
you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord.
03 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out
of all countries whither I have driven them, and
will bring them again to their folds; and they
shall be fruitful and increase.
04 And I will set up shepherds over them which
shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor
be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith
the Lord.
05 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I
will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a
King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute
judgment and justice in the earth.
06 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel
shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby
he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
07 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the
Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord
liveth, which brought up the children of Israel
out of the land of Egypt;
08 But, The Lord liveth, which brought up and
which led the seed of the house of Israel out of
the north country, and from all countries whither
I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their
own land.
09 Mine 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 hath overcome,
because of the Lord, and because of the words of
his holiness.
10 For the land is full of adulterers; for
because of swearing the land mourneth; the
pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up,
and their course is evil, and their force is not
right.
11 For both prophet and priest are profane; yea,
in my house have I found their wickedness, saith
the Lord.
12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as
slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be
driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring
evil upon them, even the year of their
visitation, saith the Lord.
13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of
Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my
people Israel to err.
14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem
an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk
in lies: they strengthen also the hands of
evildoers, that none doth return from his
wickedness; they are all of them unto me as
Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
15 Therefore thus saith 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 is
profaneness gone forth into all the land.
16 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto
the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you:
they make you vain: they speak a vision of their
own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.
17 They say still unto them that despise me, The
Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say
unto every one that walketh after the imagination
of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.
18 For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord,
and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath
marked his word, and heard it?
19 Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth
in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall
grievously upon the head of the wicked.
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20 The anger of the Lord shall not return, until
he have executed, and till he have performed the
thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye
shall consider it perfectly.
21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran:
I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my counsel, and had
caused my people to hear my words, then they
should have turned them from their evil way, and
from the evil of their doings.
23 Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a
God afar off?
24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I
shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill
heaven and earth? saith the Lord.
25 I have heard what the prophets said, that
prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed,
I have dreamed.
26 How long shall this be in the heart of the
prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are
prophets of the deceit of their own heart;
27 Which think to cause my people to forget my
name by their dreams which they tell every man to
his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my
name for Baal.
28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a
dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my
word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?
saith the Lord.
29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord;
and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in
pieces?
30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets,
saith the Lord, that steal my words every one
from his neighbour.
31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the
Lord, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.
32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy false
dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and
cause my people to err by their lies, and by
their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor
commanded them: therefore they shall not profit
this people at all, saith the Lord.
33 And when this people, or the prophet, or a
priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the
burden of the Lord? thou shalt then say unto
them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith
the Lord.
34 And as for the prophet, and the priest, and
the people, that shall say, The burden of the
Lord, I will even punish that man and his house.
35 Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour,
and every one to his brother, What hath the Lord
answered? and, What hath the Lord spoken?
36 And the burden of the Lord shall ye mention no
more: for every man's word shall be his burden;
for ye have perverted the words of the living
God, of the Lord of hosts our God.
37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath
the Lord answered thee? and, What hath the Lord
spoken?
38 But since ye say, The burden of the Lord;
therefore thus saith the Lord; Because ye say
this word, The burden of the Lord, and I have
sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The
burden of the Lord;
39 Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly
forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city
that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you
out of my presence:
40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon
you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be
forgotten.
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