Jer 14, Jer 23 | ESV | STEP | The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought :

1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning ^athe drought:

2 ^b“Judah mourns,
and ^cher gates languish;
her people lament on the ground,
and ^dthe cry of Jerusalem goes up.
3 Her nobles send their servants for water;
they come to the cisterns;
they find no water;
they return with their vessels empty;
they are ^eashamed and confounded
and ^fcover their heads.
4 Because of the ground that is dismayed,
since there is ^gno rain on the land,
the farmers are ashamed;
they cover their heads.
5 Even ^hthe doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn
because there is no grass.
6 ⁱThe wild donkeys stand on the bare heights;
they pant for air like jackals;
their eyes fail
because there is no vegetation.
7 “Though our iniquities testify against us,
act, O Lord, ^jfor your name’s sake;
^kfor our backslidings are many;
^lwe have sinned against you.
8 ^mO you hope of Israel,
its savior in time of trouble,
why should you be like a stranger in the land,
like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?
9 Why should you be like a man confused,
ⁿlike a mighty warrior who cannot save?
Yet ^oyou, O Lord, are in the midst of us,
and ^pwe are called by your name;
^qdo not leave us.”
10 Thus says the Lord concerning this people:
“They have loved to wander thus;
they have not restrained their feet;
^rtherefore the Lord does not accept them;
^snow he will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins.”
11 The Lord said to me: ^t“Do not pray for the welfare of this people. 12 Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, ^uand though they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them ^vby the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.”

Lying Prophets

13 Then I said: “Ah, Lord God, behold, the prophets ^wsay to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.’” 14 And the Lord said to me: “The ^xprophets are prophesying lies in my name. ^yI did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, ^zworthless divination, and ^aathe deceit of their own minds. 15 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name although ^abI did not send them, and who say, ^ac‘Sword and famine shall not come upon this land’: ^adBy sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. 16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword, ^aewith none to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their evil upon them.

17 “You shall say to them this word:
^af‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day,
and let them not cease,
for the virgin ^agdaughter of my people is shattered with a great wound,
^ahwith a very grievous blow.
18 ^aiIf I go out into the field,
behold, those pierced by the sword!
^ajAnd if I enter the city,
behold, the diseases of famine!
^akFor both prophet and priest ply their trade through the land
and have no knowledge.’”
19 ^alHave you utterly rejected Judah?
Does your soul loathe Zion?
Why have you struck us down
^amso that there is no healing for us?
^anWe looked for peace, but no good came;
^aofor a time of healing, but behold, terror.
20 ^apWe acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord,
and the iniquity of our fathers,
^aqfor we have sinned against you.
21 Do not spurn us, ^arfor your name’s sake;
do not dishonor your glorious throne;
^asremember and do not break your covenant with us.
22 Are there any among ^atthe false gods of the nations ^authat can bring rain?
Or can the heavens give showers?
Are you not he, O Lord our God?
We set our hope on you,
^avfor you do all these things.

Jeremiah 23

The Righteous Branch

1 ^aw“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning ^axthe shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. ^ayBehold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. 3 ^azThen I will gather the remnant of my flock ^baout of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, ^bband they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 ^bcI will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.

5 ^bd“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous ^beBranch, and ^bfhe 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 ^bgIsrael will ^bhdwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ^bi‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

7 ^bj“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they 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 offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he ^{▼▼Septuagint; Hebrew I} had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”

Lying Prophets

9 Concerning the prophets:

^blMy heart is broken within me;
^bmall 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 ^bnFor the land is full of adulterers;
^bobecause of the curse ^bpthe land mourns,
and ^bqthe pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
^brTheir course is evil,
and their might is not right.
11 ^bs“Both prophet and priest are ungodly;
even ^btin my house I have found their evil,

declares the Lord.
12 ^buTherefore their way shall be to them
like slippery paths ^bvin the darkness,
into which they shall be driven and fall,
for I will bring disaster upon them
^bwin the year of their punishment,

declares the Lord.
13 In the prophets of ^bxSamaria
^byI saw an unsavory thing:
^bzthey prophesied by Baal
^caand led my people Israel astray.
14 But in the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen a horrible thing:
^cbthey commit adultery and walk in lies;
^ccthey strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns from his evil;
^cdall of them have become like Sodom to me,
^ceand its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
15 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:
^cf“Behold, I will feed them with bitter food
^cgand give them ^chpoisoned water to drink,
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”
16 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, ^cifilling you with vain hopes. ^cjThey 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, ^ck‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who ^clstubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ^cm‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”

18 For ^cnwho among them has stood in the council of the Lord
to see and to hear his word,
or who has paid attention to his word and listened?
19 ^coBehold, the storm of the Lord!
Wrath has gone forth,
^cpa whirling tempest;
it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
20 ^cqThe anger of the Lord will not turn back
until he has executed and ^craccomplished
the intents of his heart.
^csIn the latter days you will understand it clearly.
21 ^ct“I did not send the prophets,
yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.
22 ^cuBut if they had stood in my council,
then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
^cvand they would have turned them from their evil way,
and ^cwfrom the evil of their deeds.
23 ^cx“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? 24 ^cyCan a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. ^czDo I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. 25 I have heard what the prophets have said ^dawho prophesy lies in my name, saying, ^db‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ 26 How long shall there be lies in the heart of ^dcthe prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, 27 who think to make my people forget my name ^ddby their dreams that they tell one another, even as their ^defathers forgot my name for Baal? 28 ^dfLet the prophet who has a dream ^dgtell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. ^dhWhat has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. 29 ^diIs not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and ^djlike a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? 30 ^dkTherefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the Lord.’ 32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and ^dllead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when ^dmI did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.

33 ^dn“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, ^{▼▼Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew What burden?} and ^dpI will cast you off, declares the Lord.’ 34 And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ ^dqI 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 ^dryou pervert the words of ^dsthe 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 ^dtcast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers. 40 ^duAnd I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and ^dvperpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’”