Jeremiah 23
23
Hope for the Future
1Yahweh declares, “Doomed are the shepherds who scatter the sheep of my pasture and cause them to be destroyed! 2Therefore, this is what I, Yahweh, the God of Israel, say to the shepherds of my people: You have scattered my flock, driven them away, and failed to take care of them. So, I will be sure to take care of you and deal with you for your evil,” Yahweh declares. 3“But I will gather the remnant of my flock from all the countries where I have scattered them and will bring them back to their folds where they will thrive and increase in number.” 4Yahweh declares, “I will raise up faithful shepherds to shepherd them; ones who will really care for them. There will be no more fear or terror for them anymore, and not one will be missing.
5“Listen to me! I, the Lord, promise you that a time is coming when I will raise up a righteous Branch, # 23:5 Or “a righteous Scion.” The prophecy of a coming righteous Branch is clearly Messianic (see Zech. 3:8; 6:12) and fulfilled by Jesus Christ. As the righteous Branch, he now branches out through us, who are “in life-union” with him by faith (John 15:1–9). He is a Branch from the Tree of Life, the Rod of priestly authority that budded in the Holy Place, the Branch of the Lampstand, and the Righteous One who makes all who believe in him righteous before God. who will sprout from David’s lineage. He will rule as their King, and his reign will prosper with wisdom and understanding. He will succeed in bringing justice and righteousness to all. 6Under his rule, Judah and Israel will be kept safe and secure. He will be known by this name: Yahweh, Our Righteousness! # 23:6 Or “Yahweh will Justify [Us].” See Rom. 3:28; 5:1. “Yahweh, Our Righteousness” is likely a play on the name of Zedekiah (Zedekiah means “my righteousness is Yahweh”).
7“So I, Yahweh, declare that a day is coming when people will no longer say, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought the Israelites out of Egypt,’ 8but rather, ‘As surely as Yahweh lives, who brought the Israelites back from the land of the north and from all the lands to which he had banished them.’ Then they will dwell in their own land.”
Jeremiah Heartbroken over the False Prophets
9Concerning the prophets:
my heart is broken within me,
and all my bones tremble. # 23:9 Or “all my bones are weak.”
I am like a drunken man,
like a man overcome with wine.
I’m overcome by the wine of Yahweh,
and his holy words spoken to me.
10The land is full of people unfaithful # 23:10 Or “[spiritual] adulterers.” to him;
they lead wicked lives and misuse their power.
Because of a curse, the land is in mourning,
and the pastures of the wilderness have dried up. # 23:10 The irony is clear: they have committed spiritual adultery by the worship of the fertility deities, which has brought a curse of barrenness, drought, and the loss of a harvest.
Prophecy against the False Prophets
11Yahweh declares, “Even the prophets and priests are ungodly!
I have seen their wickedness in my own temple.
12So the paths they take will be dark and slippery.
Certainly, they will stumble in the dark and fall headlong.”
Yahweh declares, “I will bring disaster on them
when the time for punishment comes.
13The prophets of Samaria # 23:13 The capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel was Samaria, which fell to the Assyrians in 722 BC. were disgusting # 23:13 The Hebrew word for “disgusting” is the word tipelah, which means folly or foolishness. Tipelah comes from the root word tapel, which in its Semitic root means “tasteless” or “unseasoned.” The Phoenicians used the word tapel for unsalted fish. The Hebraic concept of wisdom is often equated with salt. A tasteless (saltless) prophet would therefore be unwise and foolish. See Matt. 5:13. to me!
They prophesied in the name of Baal
and led my people Israel astray.
14And I have seen the prophets of Jerusalem do horrible acts:
adultery, persistent lying,
and promoting the cause of the wicked,
so that no one renounces his evil ways.
To me, they are all depraved like Sodom,
and the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.
15“I, Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies, say this about the prophets:
The prophets of Jerusalem have spewed
their spiritual poison # 23:15 Or “ungodliness.” throughout the land.
Therefore, I will make them drink poisoned water
and feed them bitter food. # 23:15 Or “wormwood.”
16So I, Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies, say:
Ignore what those prophets prophesy to you;
they are deluding you # 23:16 Or “they fill you with emptiness.” and imagining visions of their own,
and not what comes from the mouth of Yahweh.
17“They keep saying to those who despise me, # 23:17 Or “who despise the word of Yahweh” (LXX). ‘Yahweh has spoken: You will have peace!’ And to those who follow their own stubborn ways, they prophesy, ‘No disaster will touch you.’
18“Yet which of these prophets
ever stood in Yahweh’s council # 23:18 The word for “council” (Hb. sod) is the same as the word for “secret.” The divine council is where God reveals his secrets and his plans (see Deut. 29:29). The divine council is said to meet with God to decide the fate of people and nations. For example, in 1 Kings 22:19–23, God allows the spirit-members of his council to decide how to carry out his decree that Ahab must die. See Job 15:8; Pss. 82:1; 89:5–7. Some see this divine council as made up of a rank of heavenly beings. The throne room of God has many thrones, indicating other ranks of rulers and powers in the heavenly realm. See Dan. 7:9–10; Rev. 4–5. Apparently, Jeremiah felt that God admitted a true prophet to these meetings, where he received Yahweh’s message (see Isa. 6:1–8), but the false prophets had not been present in the heavenly council.
to hear and receive his word?
Who has truly heard and paid attention to his message?
19Behold, Yahweh’s anger is like
the fury of a fearsome whirlwind
about to hit the wicked head-on with gale-force winds.
20Yahweh’s anger will not relent
until he has perfectly carried out what he has in mind.
In the latter days, you will clearly understand this.”
21Yahweh says: “I did not send these so-called prophets,
yet they ran eagerly to prophesy their message.
I did not speak to them,
yet they claimed to prophesy in my name. # 23:21 The false prophets led the people astray by their bad examples and false messages of hope when judgment was pending.
22Had they been present in my divine council and heard my words,
they would have proclaimed my words to my people
and caused them to turn from their evil ways
and their wicked deeds. # 23:22 The false prophets could have become true prophets who spoke in the name of Yahweh if they had given themselves to God and heard his true message for the people. One purpose of the prophetic is to turn the wayward back to God and away from evil.
23“Am I just a God nearby,” demands Yahweh, “and not a God who is both near and far away? # 23:23 Another possible meaning of this verse could be similar to “Am I a local deity or the God of the universe?” 24Can anyone hide somewhere in secret where I do not see him?” declares Yahweh. “Is there anywhere in heaven or on earth where I am not present?” declares Yahweh.
25“I have heard the lies of those prophets who claim to have received a message from me. ‘I dreamed a dream,’ they say, ‘I dreamed a dream!’ 26How long must this go on? These prophets of falsehood preach illusions from their own minds. 27Their dreams, by which one tries to outdo the other, make my people forget me just as their ancestors forgot me in favor of Baal. 28Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. For what do straw and grain have in common?” # 23:28 The “straw” is the dream, but the “grain” is the life-giving message spoken through God’s true prophets. Dreams are legitimate avenues of divine communication, but they can never take the place of the words of God. One is subjective, but the other contains life. declares Yahweh.
29“Is not my word like a mighty fire? Is it not like a powerful hammer shattering a rock in pieces?” # 23:29 In this context, it is God’s prophetic word that burns like fire and is a hammer that shatters the most stubborn resistance. In vv. 28–29, God gives three distinguishing marks of the word that comes from God’s mouth, in contrast to the words that come from lying prophets. (1) The word of God is wheat that has substance and nourishes God’s people. (2) The word of God is like fire that will kindle an awareness of the Holy God instead of leaving the hearer unmoved and untouched. (3) The word of God is like a powerful hammer that shatters the strongholds in the human heart. declares Yahweh. 30“So then I, Yahweh, affirm that I am against the prophets who steal prophetic words from someone else and yet affirm that they came from me! 31I am against the lying prophets who make up their prophecies and say, ‘Thus says the Lord!’ 32I am against the prophets who boast in their lies,” declares Yahweh. “They lead my people astray by their lying prophecies, dreams, and exaggerations. # 23:32 Or “recklessness.” I affirm that I never sent them or commissioned them; they are no good at all for these people,” declares Yahweh.
33“Jeremiah, when these people, a prophet, or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden # 23:33 Or “message” or “oracle.” of Yahweh’s heart?’ you must answer, ‘Yahweh declares, “You are my burden, and I will cast you aside!” ’
34“If any of you flippantly says, ‘This is Yahweh’s message,’ I will punish you and your household, even if you are a prophet or a priest. 35Instead, you must ask each other, ‘What has Yahweh said?’ or ‘What is Yahweh’s answer?’ 36But stop using the expression ‘This is Yahweh’s message,’ for their message is nothing more than their own opinion. Otherwise, you distort the words of Yahweh our God, the living God, the Commander of Angel Armies.
37“This is the way to speak to a prophet: ‘What has Yahweh said?’ or ‘What answer has Yahweh given you?’ 38But if you disobey me and say, ‘The message of Yahweh,’ though I spoke to you and told you not to say, ‘The message of Yahweh,’ 39then believe me, I will pick you up # 23:39 The Hebrew verb for “pick . . . up” is of a similar root as the Hebrew word for “burden.” God is saying, “I will pick you up like a burden.” There is a continuing wordplay in the narrative that is lost in translation. and fling you from my presence. And I will also do the same thing to the city I gave to you and your ancestors. 40I will bring down everlasting shame on you, everlasting disgrace that will never be forgotten.”
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Jeremiah 23: TPT
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