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Jeremiah 23:9 - 23:24

False Prophets Condemned

9
As for the prophets:
My heart is broken within me;
All my bones tremble;
I have become like a drunken man,
Even like a man overcome with wine,
Because of Yahweh
And because of His holy words.
10
For the land is full of adulterers;
For the land mourns because of the curse.
The pastures of the wilderness have dried up.
Their course also is evil,
And their might is not right.
11
“For both prophet and priest are polluted;
Even in My house I have found their evil,” declares Yahweh.
12
“Therefore their way will be like slippery paths to them;
They will be driven away into the thick darkness and fall down in it;
For I will bring their evil upon them,
The year of their punishment,” declares Yahweh.

13
“Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing:
They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.
14
Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen an appalling thing:
The committing of adultery and walking in lying;
And they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
So that no one has turned back from his evil.
All of them have become to Me like Sodom,
And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.
15 Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts concerning the prophets,
‘Behold, I am going to feed them wormwood
And make them drink poisoned water,
For from the prophets of Jerusalem
Pollution has gone forth into all the land.’”

16 Thus says Yahweh of hosts,
“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you.
They are leading you into vanity;
They speak a vision of their own heart,
Not from the mouth of Yahweh.
17
They keep saying to those who spurn Me,
‘Yahweh has said, “You will have peace”’;
And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart,
They say, ‘Evil will not come upon you.’
18
But who has stood in the council of Yahweh,
That he should see and hear His word?
Who has given heed to His word and heard?
19
Behold, the storm of Yahweh has gone forth in wrath,
Even a whirling storm;
It will whirl down on the head of the wicked.
20
The anger of Yahweh will not turn back
Until He has done and established the purposes of His heart;
In the last days you will clearly understand it.
21
I did not send these prophets,
But they ran.
I did not speak to them,
But they prophesied.
22
But if they had stood in My council,
Then they would have caused My words to be heard by My people
And would have turned them back from their evil way
And from the evil of their deeds.

23
“Am I a God who is near,” declares Yahweh,
“And not a God far off?
24
Can a man hide himself in hiding places
So I do not see him?” declares Yahweh.
“Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares Yahweh.