166 lines
6.4 KiB
Markdown
166 lines
6.4 KiB
Markdown
The Lord and His Sheep
|
|
|
|
# Chapter 23
|
|
1. "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" This is
|
|
the Lord's declaration.
|
|
2. "Therefore, this is what
|
|
the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend my people: You have scattered my flock, banished them, and have not attended to them. I am about to attend to you because of your evil acts"--this is
|
|
the Lord's declaration.
|
|
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.
|
|
4. I will raise up shepherds over them who will tend them. They will no longer be afraid or discouraged, nor will any be missing." This is
|
|
the Lord's declaration.
|
|
|
|
The Righteous Branch of David
|
|
|
|
|
|
5. "Look, the days are coming"--this is
|
|
the Lord's declaration--
|
|
"when I will raise up a Righteous Branch for David.
|
|
|
|
He will reign wisely as king
|
|
and administer justice and righteousness in the land.
|
|
|
|
6. In his days Judah will be saved,
|
|
and Israel will dwell securely.
|
|
This is the name he will be called:
|
|
The Lord Is Our Righteousness.
|
|
|
|
7. "Look, 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,'
|
|
8. but, '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."
|
|
False Prophets Condemned
|
|
|
|
|
|
9. Concerning 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.
|
|
|
|
10. For 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
|
|
|
|
|
|
11. because both prophet and priest are ungodly,
|
|
even in my house I have found their evil.
|
|
This is
|
|
the Lord's declaration.
|
|
|
|
12. Therefore, their way will seem
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
13. Among the prophets of Samaria
|
|
I saw something disgusting:
|
|
They prophesied by Baal
|
|
and led my people Israel astray.
|
|
|
|
14. Among 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.
|
|
|
|
15. Therefore, this is what
|
|
the Lord of Armies 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.
|
|
|
|
16. This is what
|
|
the Lord of Armies says: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are deluding you. They speak visions from their own minds, not from
|
|
the Lord's mouth.
|
|
17. They keep on saying to those who despise me,
|
|
'
|
|
The Lord has spoken: You will have peace.' They have said to everyone who follows the stubbornness of his heart, 'No harm will come to you.'"
|
|
|
|
18. For who has stood in the council of
|
|
the Lord
|
|
to see and hear his word?
|
|
Who has paid attention to his word and obeyed?
|
|
|
|
19. Look, a storm from
|
|
the Lord!
|
|
Wrath has gone out,
|
|
a whirling storm.
|
|
It will whirl about the heads of the wicked.
|
|
|
|
20.
|
|
The Lord's anger will not turn away
|
|
until he has completely fulfilled the purposes of his heart.
|
|
In time to come you will understand it clearly.
|
|
|
|
21. I did not send out these prophets,
|
|
yet they ran.
|
|
I did not speak to them,
|
|
yet they prophesied.
|
|
|
|
22. If they had really stood in my council,
|
|
they would have enabled my people to hear my words
|
|
and would have turned them from their evil ways
|
|
and their evil deeds.
|
|
|
|
23. "Am I a God who is only near"--this is
|
|
the Lord's declaration--"and not a God who is far away?
|
|
24. Can a person hide 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.
|
|
|
|
25. "I have heard what the prophets who prophesy a lie in my name have said: 'I had a dream! I had a dream!'
|
|
26. How long will this continue in the minds of the prophets prophesying lies, prophets of the deceit of their own minds?
|
|
27. Through their dreams that they tell one another, they plan to cause my people to forget my name as their ancestors forgot my name through Baal worship.
|
|
28. The 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.
|
|
29. "Is not my word like fire"--this is
|
|
the Lord's declaration--"and like a hammer that pulverizes rock?
|
|
30. Therefore, take note! I am against the prophets"--
|
|
the Lord's declaration--"who steal my words from each other.
|
|
31. I am against the prophets"--
|
|
the Lord's declaration--"who use their own tongues to make a declaration.
|
|
32. I am against those who prophesy false dreams"--
|
|
the Lord's declaration--"telling them and leading my people astray with their reckless lies. 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.The Burden of
|
|
the Lord
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.'
|
|
34. As for the prophet, priest, or people who say, 'The burden of
|
|
the Lord,' I will punish that man and his household.
|
|
35. This 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?'
|
|
36. But 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 Armies, our God.
|
|
37. Say to the prophet, 'What has
|
|
the Lord answered you?' or 'What has
|
|
the Lord spoken?'
|
|
38. But 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,'
|
|
39. I will surely forget you. I will throw you away from my presence--both you and the city that I gave you and your ancestors.
|
|
40. I will bring on you everlasting disgrace and humiliation that will never be forgotten."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|