Jeremiah 23:26-36

26 How much longer will those prophets mislead my people with the lies they have invented?
27 They think that the dreams they tell will make my people forget me, just as their ancestors forgot me and turned to Baal.
28 The prophet who has had a dream should say it is only a dream, but the prophet who has heard my message should proclaim that message faithfully. What good is straw compared with wheat?
29 My message is like a fire and like a hammer that breaks rocks in pieces.
30 I am against those prophets who take each other's words and proclaim them as my message.
31 I am also against those prophets who speak their own words and claim they came from me.
32 Listen to what I, the Lord, say! I am against the prophets who tell their dreams that are full of lies. They tell these dreams and lead my people astray with their lies and their boasting. I did not send them or order them to go, and they are of no help at all to the people. I, the Lord, have spoken."
33 The Lord said to me, "Jeremiah, when one of my people or a prophet or a priest asks you, "What is the Lord's message?' you are to say, "You are a burden to the Lord, and he is going to get rid of you.'
34 If any of my people or a prophet or a priest even uses the words "the Lord's burden,' I will punish them and their families.
35 Instead, each one of them should ask their friends and their relatives, "What answer has the Lord given? What has the Lord said?'
36 So they must no longer use the words "the Lord's burden,' because if any of them do, I will make my message a real burden to them. The people have perverted the words of their God, the living God, the Lord Almighty

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. [The Hebrew word for] message [and] burden [is the same.]
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.