Jeremiah 23 — Read & Listen Online | Father's Heart Bible™

The Father Promises His Righteous King

Chapter 23.

"Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" declares our Father. Therefore this is what our Father of Israel says concerning the shepherds who tend my people: "You have scattered my flock and driven them away, and you have not cared for them. So now I will call you to account for the evil you have done, declares our Father." "Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply." "I will raise up shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or dismayed, and not one of them will be missing, declares our Father." "Look, the days are coming, declares our Father, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he will reign as king and act wisely, and he will administer justice and righteousness in the land." "In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness." ^a

"Therefore, look, the days are coming, declares our Father, when they will no longer say, 'As surely as our Father lives, who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,'" "but instead, 'As surely as our Father lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the house of Israel out of the land of the north and out of all the lands where he had driven them.' Then they will dwell in their own land."

The Father Exposes the False Prophets

Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble. I have become like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of our Father and because of his holy words. For the land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land mourns, and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. Their ways are evil, and they abuse their power.

"Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my house I have found their evil, declares our Father." "Therefore their way will become to them like slippery paths in the darkness, into which they will be driven and fall; for I will bring disaster upon them in the year of their punishment, declares our Father." "In the prophets of Samaria I saw a repulsive thing: they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray." "But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness. To me they have all become like Sodom, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah."

Therefore this is what the Father of heaven's armies says concerning the prophets: "Look, I will feed them bitter food and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem godlessness has spread through all the land."

This is what the Father of heaven's armies says: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you; they are filling you with false hope. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of our Father." "They keep saying to those who despise the word of our Father, 'You will have peace,' and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart they say, 'No disaster will come upon you.'"

For who among them has stood in the council of our Father to see and to hear his word? Who has paid attention to his word and listened? Look, the storm of our Father has gone out in wrath, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the heads of the wicked. The anger of our Father will not relent until he has fully carried out the purposes of his heart. In the days to come you will understand it clearly.

"I did not send these prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied." "But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds." "Am I your Father only nearby, declares our Father, and not your Father far away as well?" "Can anyone hide in secret places where I cannot see him? declares our Father. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares our Father."

"I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name, claiming, 'I have dreamed! I have dreamed!'" "How long will this continue in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy lies, these prophets of the deceit of their own hearts?" "They intend to make my people forget my name through the dreams they tell one another, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal." "Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What does straw have in common with wheat? declares our Father." "Is not my word like fire, declares our Father, and like a hammer that shatters rock?"

"Therefore, look, I am against the prophets, declares our Father, who steal my words from one another." "Look, I am against the prophets, declares our Father, who wag their own tongues and yet declare, 'Our Father has spoken.'" "Look, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares our Father; they tell them and lead my people astray with their lies and their reckless boasting. I did not send them or command them, and they do not benefit this people at all, declares our Father."

You Are the Burden

"When this people, or a prophet or a priest, asks you, 'What is the burden of our Father?' you are to say to them, 'You are the burden! And I will cast you off, declares our Father.'" ^b "And the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, 'The burden of our Father,' I will punish that man and his household." "This is what each of you is to say to his neighbor and to his brother: 'What has our Father answered?' or 'What has our Father spoken?'" "But you must no longer mention 'the burden of our Father,' because each man's own word becomes his burden; for you have twisted the words of our living Father of heaven's armies." This is what you are to say to the prophet: "What has our Father answered you?" or "What has our Father spoken?" "But if you say, 'The burden of our Father,' then this is what our Father says: Because you have spoken these words, 'The burden of our Father,' even though I sent word to you saying, 'You must not say, The burden of our Father,'" "therefore, look, I will surely lift you up like a burden and cast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your ancestors." "And I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and perpetual shame that will never be forgotten."

❤️ FHB? Review Now