Jeremiah 23:9-40

Concerning the prophets: my heart is broken within me, and all my bones tremble. 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. The land is full of people unfaithful 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. YAHWEH declares, “Even the prophets and priests are ungodly! I have seen their wickedness in my own temple. So 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. The prophets of Samaria were disgusting to me! They prophesied in the name of Baal and led my people Israel astray. And 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. “I, YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies, say this about the prophets: The prophets of Jerusalem have spewed their spiritual poison throughout the land. Therefore, I will make them drink poisoned water and feed them bitter food. So I, YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies, say: Ignore what those prophets prophesy to you; they are deluding you and imagining visions of their own, and not what comes from the mouth of YAHWEH. “They keep saying to those who despise me, ‘YAHWEH has spoken: You will have peace!’ And to those who follow their own stubborn ways, they prophesy, ‘No disaster will touch you.’ “Yet which of these prophets ever stood in YAHWEH’s council to hear and receive his word? Who has truly heard and paid attention to his message? Behold, YAHWEH’s anger is like the fury of a fearsome whirlwind about to hit the wicked head-on with gale-force winds. YAHWEH’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.” YAHWEH 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. Had 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. “Am I just a God nearby,” demands YAHWEH, “and not a God who is both near and far away? Can 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. “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!’ How long must this go on? These prophets of falsehood preach illusions from their own minds. Their dreams, by which one tries to outdo the other, make my people forget me just as their ancestors forgot me in favor of Baal. Let 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?” declares YAHWEH. “Is not my word like a mighty fire? Is it not like a powerful hammer shattering a rock in pieces?” declares YAHWEH. “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! I am against the lying prophets who make up their prophecies and say, ‘Thus says the Lord!’ I am against the prophets who boast in their lies,” declares YAHWEH. “They lead my people astray by their lying prophecies, dreams, and exaggerations. I affirm that I never sent them or commissioned them; they are no good at all for these people,” declares YAHWEH. “Jeremiah, when these people, a prophet, or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of YAHWEH’s heart?’ you must answer, ‘YAHWEH declares, “You are my burden, and I will cast you aside!” ’ “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. Instead, you must ask each other, ‘What has YAHWEH said?’ or ‘What is YAHWEH’s answer?’ But 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. “This is the way to speak to a prophet: ‘What has YAHWEH said?’ or ‘What answer has YAHWEH given you?’ But 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,’ then believe me, I will pick you up and fling you from my presence. And I will also do the same thing to the city I gave to you and your ancestors. I will bring down everlasting shame on you, everlasting disgrace that will never be forgotten.”