Good News Translation GNT
World English Bible WEB
1 How terrible will be the Lord's judgment on those rulers who destroy and scatter his people!
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Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says Yahweh.
2 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the rulers who were supposed to take care of his people: "You have not taken care of my people; you have scattered them and driven them away. Now I am going to punish you for the evil you have done.
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Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who feed my people: You have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them; behold, I will visit on you the evil of your doings, says Yahweh.
3 I will gather the rest of my people from the countries where I have scattered them, and I will bring them back to their homeland. They will have many children and increase in number.
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I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
4 I will appoint rulers to take care of them. My people will no longer be afraid or terrified, and I will not punish them again. I, the Lord, have spoken.
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I will set up shepherds over them, who shall feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking, says Yahweh
5 The Lord says, "The time is coming when I will choose as king a righteous descendant of David. That king will rule wisely and do what is right and just throughout the land.
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Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
6 When he is king, the people of Judah will be safe, and the people of Israel will live in peace. He will be called "The Lord Our Salvation.'
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In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name whereby he shall be called: Yahweh our righteousness.
7 "The time is coming," says the Lord, "when people will no longer swear by me as the living God who brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
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Therefore, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that they shall no more say, As Yahweh lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
8 Instead, they will swear by me as the living God who brought the people of Israel out of a northern land and out of all the other countries where I had scattered them. Then they will live in their own land."
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but, As Yahweh lives, who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries where I had driven them. They shall dwell in their own land.
9 My heart is crushed, and I am trembling. Because of the Lord, because of his holy words, I am like a man who is drunk, someone who has had too much wine.
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Concerning the prophets. My heart within me is broken, all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of Yahweh, and because of his holy words.
10 The land is full of people unfaithful to the Lord; they live wicked lives and misuse their power. Because of the Lord's curse the land mourns and the pastures are dry.
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For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourns; the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. Their course is evil, and their might is not right;
11 The Lord says, "The prophets and the priests are godless; I have caught them doing evil in the Temple itself.
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for both prophet and priest are profane; yes, in my house have I found their wickedness, says Yahweh.
12 The paths they follow will be slippery and dark; I will make them stumble and fall. I am going to bring disaster on them; the time of their punishment is coming. I, the Lord, have spoken.
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Therefore their way shall be to them as slippery places in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil on them, even the year of their visitation, says Yahweh.
13 I have seen the sin of Samaria's prophets: they have spoken in the name of Baal and have led my people astray.
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I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.
14 But I have seen the prophets in Jerusalem do even worse: they commit adultery and tell lies; they help people to do wrong, so that no one stops doing what is evil. To me they are all as bad as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah
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In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies; and they strengthen the hands of evil-doers, so that none does return from his wickedness: they are all of them become to me as Sodom, and the inhabitants of it as Gomorrah
15 "So then, this is what I, the Lord Almighty, say about the prophets of Jerusalem: I will give them bitter plants to eat and poison to drink, because they have spread ungodliness throughout the land."
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Therefore thus says Yahweh of Hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem is ungodliness gone forth into all the land.
16 The Lord Almighty said to the people of Jerusalem, "Do not listen to what the prophets say; they are filling you with false hopes. They tell you what they have imagined and not what I have said.
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Thus says Yahweh of Hosts, Don't listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you: they teach you vanity; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of Yahweh.
17 To the people who refuse to listen to what I have said, they keep saying that all will go well with them. And they tell everyone who is stubborn that disaster will never touch them."
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They say continually to those who despise me, Yahweh has said, You shall have peace; and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil shall come on you.
18 I said, "None of these prophets has ever known the Lord's secret thoughts. None of them has ever heard or understood his message, or ever listened or paid attention to what he said.
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For who has stood in the council of Yahweh, that he should perceive and hear his word? who has marked my word, and heard it?
19 His anger is a storm, a furious wind that will rage over the heads of the wicked
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Behold, the tempest of Yahweh, [even his] wrath, is gone forth, yes, a whirling tempest: it shall burst on the head of the wicked
20 and it will not end until he has done everything he intends to do. In days to come his people will understand this clearly."
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The anger of Yahweh shall not return, until he has executed, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days you shall understand it perfectly.
21 The Lord said, "I did not send these prophets, but even so they went. I did not give them any message, but still they spoke in my name
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I sent not these prophets, yet they ran: I didn't speak to them, yet they prophesied
22 If they had known my secret thoughts, then they could have proclaimed my message to my people and could have made them give up the evil lives they live and the wicked things they do.
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But if they had stood in my council, then had they caused my people to hear my words, and had turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
23 "I am a God who is everywhere and not in one place only.
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Am I a God at hand, says Yahweh, and not a God afar off?
24 No one can hide where I cannot see them. Do you not know that I am everywhere in heaven and on earth?
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Can any hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him? says Yahweh. Don't I fill heaven and earth? says Yahweh.
25 I know what those prophets have said who speak lies in my name and claim that I have given them my messages in their dreams.
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I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
26 How much longer will those prophets mislead my people with the lies they have invented?
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How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart?
27 They think that the dreams they tell will make my people forget me, just as their ancestors forgot me and turned to Baal.
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who think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name for 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?
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The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat? says Yahweh.
29 My message is like a fire and like a hammer that breaks rocks in pieces.
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Isn't my word like fire? says Yahweh; and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
30 I am against those prophets who take each other's words and proclaim them as my message.
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Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, says Yahweh, who steal my words everyone from his neighbor.
31 I am also against those prophets who speak their own words and claim they came from me.
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Behold, I am against the prophets, says Yahweh, who use their tongues, and say, He says.
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."
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Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says Yahweh, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting: yet I didn't send them, nor commanded them; neither do they profit this people at all, says Yahweh.
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.'
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When this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask you, saying, What is the burden of Yahweh? then shall you tell them, What burden! I will cast you off, says Yahweh.
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.
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As for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, who shall say, The burden of Yahweh, I will even punish that man and his house.
35 Instead, each one of them should ask their friends and their relatives, "What answer has the Lord given? What has the Lord said?'
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Thus shall you say everyone to his neighbor, and everyone to his brother, What has Yahweh answered? and, What has Yahweh spoken?
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
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The burden of Yahweh shall you mention no more: for every man's own word shall be his burden; for you have perverted the words of the living God, of Yahweh of Hosts our God
37 Jeremiah, ask the prophets, "What answer did the Lord give you? What did the Lord say?'
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Thus shall you say to the prophet, What has Yahweh answered you? and, What has Yahweh spoken?
38 And if they disobey my command and use the words "the Lord's burden,' then tell them tha
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But if you say, The burden of Yahweh; therefore thus says Yahweh: Because you say this word, The burden of Yahweh, and I have sent to you, saying, You shall not say, The burden of Yahweh
39 I will certainly pick them up and throw them far away from me, both them and the city that I gave to them and their ancestors.
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therefore, behold, I will utterly forget you, and I will cast you off, and the city that I gave to you and to your fathers, away from my presence:
40 I will bring on them everlasting shame and disgrace that will never be forgotten."
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and I will bring an everlasting reproach on you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
The World English Bible is in the public domain.