1. You leaders of my people are like shepherds that kill and scatter the sheep.
2. You were supposed to take care of my people, but instead you chased them away. So now I'll really take care of you, and believe me, you will pay for your crimes!
3. I will bring the rest of my people home from the lands where I have scattered them, and they will grow into a mighty nation.
4. I promise to choose leaders who will care for them like real shepherds. All my people will be there, and they will never again be frightened.
5. Some day I will appointan honest kingfrom the family of David,a king who will be wiseand rule with justice.
6. As long as he is king,Israel will have peace,and Judah will be safe.The name of this king will be“The Lord Gives Justice”.
7. A time will come when you will again worship me. But you will no longer call me the Living God who rescued Israel from Egypt.
8. Instead, you will call me the Living God who rescued you from the land in the north and from all the other countries where I had forced you to go. And you will once again live in your own land.
9. When I think of the prophets,I am shocked, and I tremblelike someone drunk,because of the Lordand his sacred words.
10. Those unfaithful prophetsmisuse their powerall over the country.So God turned the pasture landsinto scorching deserts.
11. The Lord told me to say:You prophets and prieststhink so little of me, the Lord,that you even sinin my own temple!
12. Now I will punish youwith disaster,and you will slip and fallin the darkness.I, the Lord, have spoken.
13. The prophets in Samariawere disgusting to me,because they preachedin the name of Baaland led my people astray.
14. And you prophets in Jerusalemare even worse.You're unfaithful in marriageand never tell the truth.You even lead others to sininstead of helping themturn back to me.You and the people of Jerusalemare evil like Sodomand Gomorrah.
15. You prophets in Jerusalemhave spread evil everywhere.That's why I, the Lord, promiseto give you bitter poisonto eat and drink.
16. Don't listen to the liesof these false prophets,you people of Judah!The message they preachis something they imagined;it did not come from me,the Lord All-Powerful.
17. These prophets go to peoplewho refuse to respect meand who are stubbornand do whatever they want.The prophets tell them,“The Lord has promisedeverything will be fine.”
18. But I, the Lord, tell youthat these prophetshave never attended a meetingof my council in heavenor heard me speak.
19. They are evil! So in my angerI will strike themlike a violent storm.
20. I won't calm down,until I have finishedwhat I have decided to do.Some day you will understandexactly what I mean.
21. I did not send these prophetsor speak to them,but they ran to find youand to preach their message.
22. If they had been in a meetingof my council in heaven,they would have toldyou people of Judahto give up your sinsand come back to me.
23. I am everywhere—both near and far,
24. in heaven and on earth.There are no secret placeswhere you can hide from me.
25. These unfaithful prophets claim that I have given them a dream or a vision, and then they tell lies in my name.
26. But everything they say comes from their own twisted minds. How long can this go on?
27. They tell each other their dreams and try to get my people to reject me, just as their ancestors left me and worshipped Baal.
28. Their dreams and my truth are as different as straw and wheat. But when prophets speak for me, they must say only what I have told them.
29. My words are a powerful fire; they are a hammer that shatters rocks.
30-32. These unfaithful prophets claim I give them their dreams, but it isn't true. I didn't choose them to be my prophets, and yet they babble on and on, speaking in my name, while stealing words from each other. And when my people hear these liars, they are led astray instead of being helped. So I warn you that I am now the enemy of these prophets. I, the Lord, have spoken.
33. Jeremiah, when a prophet or a priest or anyone else comes to you and asks, “Does the Lord have news for us?” tell them, “You people are a nuisance to the Lord, and he will get rid of you.”
34. If any of you say, “Here is news from the Lord,” I will punish you and your families, even if you are a prophet or a priest.
35. Instead, you must ask your friends and relatives, “What answer did the Lord give?” or “What has the Lord said?”
36. It seems that you each have your own news! So if you say, “Here is news from the Lord,” you are twisting my words into a lie. Remember that I am your God, the Lord All-Powerful.
37. If you go to a prophet, it's all right to ask, “What answer did the Lord give to my question?” or “What has the Lord said?”
38. But if you disobey me and say, “Here is news from the Lord,”
39. I will pick you up and throw you far away. And I will abandon this city of Jerusalem that I gave to your ancestors.
40. You will never be free from your shame and disgrace.