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against the prophets

Jeremiah 23:9-32 (JDV)

Jeremiah 23:9 About the prophets: My heart is broken within me, and all my bones shake. I have become like a drunk, like a man overcome by wine, because of Yahveh, because of his holy words.

Jeremiah 23:10 You see, the land is full of adulterers; the land mourns because of the affliction of a curse, and the pasture lands in the open country have dried up. Their way of life has become evil, and their power is not rightly used

Jeremiah 23:11 because both prophet and priest are ungodly, even in my house I have found their evil. this is what Yahveh declares.

Jeremiah 23:12 Therefore, their way will seem like slippery paths in the gloom. They will be driven away and fall down there, because I will bring disaster on them, the year of their punishment. This is what Yahveh declares.

Jeremiah 23:13 Among the prophets of Samaria I saw something disgusting: They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.

Jeremiah 23:14 Among the prophets of Jerusalem also I saw a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, and none turns his back on evil. They are all like Sodom to me; Jerusalem’s residents are like Gomorrah.

Jeremiah 23:15 Therefore, this is what Yahveh of Armies says concerning the prophets: I am about to feed them wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink, because from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.

Jeremiah 23:16 This is what Yahveh of Armies says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are deluding you. They speak visions from their own minds, not from Yahveh’s mouth.

Jeremiah 23:17 They keep on saying to those who despise me, ‘Yahveh has spoken: You will have peace.’ They have said to everyone who follows the stubbornness of his heart, ‘No harm will come to you.'”

Jeremiah 23:18 You see, who has stood in the council of Yahveh to see and hear his word? Who has paid attention to his word and obeyed?

Jeremiah 23:19 Look, a tornado from Yahveh! Wrath has gone out, a whirling storm. It will whirl about the heads of the wicked.

Jeremiah 23:20 Yahveh’s anger will not turn away until he has completely fulfilled the purposes of his heart. In a time to come you will understand it clearly.

Jeremiah 23:21 I did not send out these prophets, yet they ran. I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.

Jeremiah 23:22 If they had really stood in my council, they would have enabled my people to hear my words and would have turned them from their evil ways and their evil deeds.

Jeremiah 23:23 “Am I a God who is only near” – this is what Yahveh declares – “and not a God who is far away?

Jeremiah 23:24 Can a person hide in secret places where I cannot see him?” – what Yahveh declares. “Do I not fill the sky and the land?” – what Yahveh declares.

Jeremiah 23:25 “I have heard what the prophets who prophesy a lie in my name have said: ‘I had a dream! I had a dream! ‘

Jeremiah 23:26 How long will this continue in the minds of the prophets prophesying lies, prophets of the deceit of their own minds?

Jeremiah 23:27 Through their dreams that they tell one another, they plan to cause my people to forget my name as their fathers forgot my name through Baal worship.

Jeremiah 23:28 The prophet who has only a dream should recount the dream, but the one who has my word should speak my word truthfully, because what is straw compared to grain?” – this is what Yahveh declares.

Jeremiah 23:29 “Is not my word like fire” – this is what Yahveh declares – “and like a hammer that pulverizes rock?

Jeremiah 23:30 Therefore, take note! I am against the prophets” – what Yahveh declares – “who steal my words from each other.

Jeremiah 23:31 I am against the prophets” – what Yahveh declares – “who use their own tongues to make a declaration.

Jeremiah 23:32 I am against those who prophesy false dreams” – what Yahveh declares – “telling them and leading my people astray with their reckless lies. It was not I who sent or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all to these people” – this is what Yahveh declares.

against the prophets

Jeremiah was not a bullfrog, he was a prophet. Yet the Lord spoke through him to condemn the prophets of his time because they only said what people wanted them to say, and it was hopelessly wrong.

There is a strong pull in today’s churches for us to stay positive, and I can understand that. Nobody likes to be preached at. But we need to be careful that our positive and encouraging message is balanced with the unwanted truth: God is still against the prophets who ignore his message.

Lord, give us the courage to speak your truth to a generation who will not tolerate it.

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