[1] "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!"
says the LORD. [2] Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,
concerning the shepherds who care for my people: "You have scattered my
flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them.
Behold, I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the LORD. [3] Then
I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have
driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be
fruitful and multiply. [4] I will set shepherds over them who will care for
them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be
missing, says the LORD. [5] "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as
king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the
land. [6] In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely.
And this is the name by which he will be called: `The LORD is our
righteousness.' [7] "Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD,
when men shall no longer say, `As the LORD lives who brought up the people
of Israel out of the land of Egypt,' [8] but `As the LORD lives who brought
up and led the descendants of the house of Israel out of the north country
and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' Then they shall
dwell in their own land." [9] Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken
within me, all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome
by wine, because of the LORD and because of his holy words. [10] For the
land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land mourns, and the
pastures of the wilderness are dried up. Their course is evil, and their
might is not right. [11] "Both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in my
house I have found their wickedness, says the LORD. [12] Therefore their
way shall be to them like slippery paths in the darkness, into which they
shall be driven and fall; for I will bring evil upon them in the year of
their punishment, says the LORD. [13] In the prophets of Sama'ria I saw an
unsavory thing: they prophesied by Ba'al and led my people Israel astray.
[14] But in 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 from his wickedness; all of them have become like
Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomor'rah." [15] Therefore thus says
the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: "Behold, I will feed them with
wormwood, and give them poisoned water to drink; for from the prophets of
Jerusalem ungodliness has gone forth into all the land." [16] Thus says the
LORD of hosts: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to
you, filling you with vain hopes; they speak visions of their own minds,
not from the mouth of the LORD. [17] They say continually to those who
despise the word of the LORD, `It shall be well with you'; and to every one
who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, `No evil shall come upon
you.'" [18] For who among them has stood in the council of the LORD to
perceive and to hear his word, or who has given heed to his word and
listened? [19] Behold, the storm of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, a
whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. [20] The anger
of the LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the
intents of his mind. In the latter days you will understand it clearly.
[21] "I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied. [22] But if they had stood in my council, then they
would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned
them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. [23] "Am I a
God at hand, says the LORD, and not a God afar off? [24] Can a man hide
himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? says the LORD. Do I not
fill heaven and earth? says the LORD. [25] I have heard what the prophets
have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, `I have dreamed, I have
dreamed!' [26] How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets
who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, [27] who
think to make my people forget my name by their dreams which they tell one
another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Ba'al? [28] Let the
prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak
my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? says the LORD.
[29] Is not my word like fire, says the LORD, and like a hammer which
breaks the rock in pieces? [30] Therefore, behold, I am against the
prophets, says the LORD, who steal my words from one another. [31] Behold,
I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who use their tongues and say,
`Says the LORD.' [32] Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams,
says the LORD, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies
and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them; so they do
not profit this people at all, says the LORD. [33] "When one of this
people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, `What is the burden of the
LORD?' you shall say to them, `You are the burden, and I will cast you off,
says the LORD.' [34] And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people
who says, `The burden of the LORD,' I will punish that man and his
household. [35] Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one
to his brother, `What has the LORD answered?' or `What has the LORD
spoken?' [36] But `the burden of the LORD' you shall mention no more, for
the burden is every man's own word, and you pervert the words of the living
God, the LORD of hosts, our God. [37] Thus you shall 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,' thus says the LORD, `Because you have
said these words, "The burden of the LORD," when I sent to you, saying,
"You shall not say, `The burden of the LORD,'" [39] therefore, behold, I
will surely lift you up and cast you away from my presence, you and the
city which I gave to you and your fathers. [40] And I will bring upon you
everlasting reproach and perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.'"