The Righteous Orient
Jeremiah 23, verse 1. “Woe to the shepherds who scatter and destroy the sheep of My pasture!” Jeremiah 23, verse 2. Therefore thus says the Lord against those who tend My people: “You have scattered My sheep and driven them out. You did not care for them. Behold, I shall punish you according to your evil practices. Jeremiah 23, verse 3. I will receive the remnant of My people from every land where I have driven them. I will establish them in their pasture, and they shall increase and be multiplied. Jeremiah 23, verse 4. I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. They shall fear no more, nor be terrified,” says the Lord. Jeremiah 23, verse 5. “Behold, days are coming,” says the Lord, “when I will raise up for David the Righteous Orient, and a King shall reign. He will understand and bring about judgment and righteousness on the earth. Jeremiah 23, verse 6. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel shall dwell in confidence. This is His name by which the Lord will call him: ‘The Lord Our Righteousness.’” Jeremiah 23, verse 7. The Lord says, “Therefore behold, days are coming when they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the house of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ Jeremiah 23, verse 8. but they will say, ‘The Lord lives who gathered all the descendants of Israel from the north country, from all the countries where He drove them, and restored them into their land.’”
False Prophets and Priests
Jeremiah 23, verse 9. Among the prophets, my heart is broken within me, and all my bones are shaken. I am as a broken-down man overcome with wine, because of the Lord's presence and the excellence of His glory. Jeremiah 23, verse 10. Because of these things, the land mourns and the pastures of the desert are dried up. Their way of life has become evil, and so has their strength. Jeremiah 23, verse 11. “For both prophet and priest are defiled, and I see their evils within My house,” says the Lord. Jeremiah 23, verse 12. “Therefore let their way be to them as a fall into darkness; and they shall be tripped up and fall therein, because in the year of their visitation I will bring calamities upon them. Jeremiah 23, verse 13. In the prophets of Samaria I have seen lawless actions. They prophesy through Baal and lead astray My people Israel. Jeremiah 23, verse 14. Also in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen horrible things. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evil men, so they might not turn back each from his evil path. They are to me like Sodom, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah.” Jeremiah 23, verse 15. Therefore thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will feed them pain and give them bitter water to drink, because from the prophets of Jerusalem defilement goes out into all the land.” Jeremiah 23, verse 16. Thus says the Lord Almighty: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets, for they invent a futile vision for themselves. They speak from their own heart, and not from the mouth of the Lord. Jeremiah 23, verse 17. They say to those who reject the word of the Lord, ‘You shall have peace.’ To those who walk according to their own wishes, and to everyone who walks in the error of his heart, they say, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’ Jeremiah 23, verse 18. For who stands in the camp of the Lord and sees His word? Who gives ear to His word and hears it? Jeremiah 23, verse 19. Behold, there is an earthquake from the Lord, and wrath goes forth as an earthquake. It shall come violently on the ungodly. Jeremiah 23, verse 20. The anger of the Lord shall not turn away until He establishes it, because of the undertaking of His heart. They shall understand this in the last days. Jeremiah 23, verse 21. I did not send these prophets, but they went forth. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied. Jeremiah 23, verse 22. If they had stood in My counsel and heard My words, then they would have turned my people away from their evil practices. Jeremiah 23, verse 23. “I am a God who is near,” says the Lord, “and not a God afar off. Jeremiah 23, verse 24. Can a man hide in secret, and I not see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord. Jeremiah 23, verse 25. “I heard what the prophets said, and what lies they prophesied in My name, saying falsely, ‘I have dreamed a dream.’ Jeremiah 23, verse 26. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, when they prophesy the wishes of their heart? Jeremiah 23, verse 27. They reason by their dreams so men will forget My law. Each prophet tells his neighbor to forget Me, as their fathers forgot My name in their worship of Baal. Jeremiah 23, verse 28. The prophet in whom there is a dream, let him tell his dream; and the prophet in whom there is My word, let him tell it truthfully. What is chaff in comparison to wheat? So are My words,” says the Lord. Jeremiah 23, verse 29. “Are not My words like a blazing fire?” says the Lord. “Are they not like an ax striking a rock? Jeremiah 23, verse 30. “Behold therefore, I am against the prophets,” says the Lord God, “who steal My words, each prophet from his neighbor. Jeremiah 23, verse 31. Behold, I am against the prophets who are drowsy and put forth prophecies as mere words. Jeremiah 23, verse 32. Behold, I am against the prophets who prophesy false dreams, and they relate them. They lead My people astray with their lies and in their deceits. Yet I did not send them or command them. Therefore, they shall not profit this people at all.” Jeremiah 23, verse 33. The Lord says, “So if these people, or a prophet, or a priest, ask you, saying, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ you shall then say to them, ‘You are the burden, and I will strike you down.’ Jeremiah 23, verse 34. As for the prophet and the priest and the people who say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ then I will take vengeance on that man and his house. Jeremiah 23, verse 35. Thus each shall say to his neighbor, and each to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered? What has the Lord spoken?’ Jeremiah 23, verse 36. Do not mention the burden of the Lord anymore, for the burden on a man shall be his word. Jeremiah 23, verse 37. ‘But why,’ you say, ‘has the Lord our God spoken?’ Jeremiah 23, verse 38. Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you spoke this word: “The burden of the Lord”; therefore I instructed you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The burden of the Lord.’” Jeremiah 23, verse 39. Therefore behold, I take and strike you, and the city I gave to you and to your fathers. Jeremiah 23, verse 40. I will bring everlasting disgrace upon you, and a perpetual dishonor which shall not be forgotten.’ Jeremiah 23, verse 41. “Therefore behold, days are coming,” says the Lord, “when they will no longer say, ‘The Lord lives who brought the house of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ Jeremiah 23, verse 42. but, ‘The Lord lives who brought all the seed of Israel from the north, and from all the countries where He banished them, and restored them to this land.’”