Jeremiah 23-25; Psalms 19 - Prayer Tents

The Righteous Descendant

23“What sorrow awaits the leaders of my people—the shepherds of my sheep—for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for,” says the Lord.H1945H7462H6H6327H6629H4830H5002H3068 2Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to these shepherds: “Instead of caring for my flock and leading them to safety, you have deserted them and driven them to destruction. Now I will pour out judgment on you for the evil you have done to them.H559H3068H430H3478H7462H7462H5971H6327H6629H5080H6485H6485H7455H4611H5002H3068 3But I will gather together the remnant of my flock from the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their own sheepfold, and they will be fruitful and increase in number.H6908H7611H6629H776H5080H7725H5116H6509H7235 4Then I will appoint responsible shepherds who will care for them, and they will never be afraid again. Not a single one will be lost or missing. I, the Lord have spoken!H6965H7462H7462H3372H2865H6485H5002H3068 5“For the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will be a King who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land.H3117H935H5002H3068H6965H1732H6662H6780H4428H4427H7919H6213H4941H6666H776 6And this will be his name: ‘The Lord Is Our Righteousness.’ In that day Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety.H3117H3063H3467H3478H7931H983H8034H7121H3072 7“In that day,” says the Lord, “when people are taking an oath, they will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.’H3117H935H5002H3068H559H3068H2416H5927H1121H3478H776H4714 8Instead, they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.’ Then they will live in their own land.”H3068H2416H5927H935H2233H1004H3478H6828H776H776H5080H3427H127

Judgment on False Prophets

9My heart is broken because of the false prophets, and my bones tremble. I stagger like a drunkard, like someone overcome by wine, because of the holy words the Lord has spoken against them.H3820H7130H7665H5030H6106H7363H7910H376H1397H3196H5674H6440H3068H1697H6944 10For the land is full of adultery, and it lies under a curse. The land itself is in mourning—its wilderness pastures are dried up. For they all do evil and abuse what power they have.H776H4390H5003H6440H423H776H56H4999H4057H3001H4794H7451H1369 11“Even the priests and prophets are ungodly, wicked men. I have seen their despicable acts right here in my own Temple,” says the Lord.H5030H3548H2610H1004H4672H7451H5002H3068 12“Therefore, the paths they take will become slippery. They will be chased through the dark, and there they will fall. For I will bring disaster upon them at the time fixed for their punishment. I, the Lord, have spoken!H1870H2519H653H1760H5307H935H7451H8141H6486H5002H3068 13“I saw that the prophets of Samaria were terribly evil, for they prophesied in the name of Baal and led my people of Israel into sin.H7200H8604H5030H8111H5012H1168H5971H3478H8582 14But now I see that the prophets of Jerusalem are even worse! They commit adultery and love dishonesty. They encourage those who are doing evil so that no one turns away from their sins. These prophets are as wicked as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah once were.”H7200H5030H3389H8186H5003H1980H8267H2388H3027H7489H376H7725H7451H5467H3427H6017 15Therefore, this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says concerning the prophets: “I will feed them with bitterness and give them poison to drink. For it is because of Jerusalem’s prophets that wickedness has filled this land.”H559H3068H6635H5030H398H3939H8248H4325H7219H5030H3389H2613H3318H776 16This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says to his people: “Do not listen to these prophets when they prophesy to you, filling you with futile hopes. They are making up everything they say. They do not speak for the Lord!H559H3068H6635H8085H1697H5030H5012H1891H1696H2377H3820H6310H3068 17They keep saying to those who despise my word, ‘Don’t worry! The Lord says you will have peace!’ And to those who stubbornly follow their own desires, they say, ‘No harm will come your way!’H559H559H5006H3068H1696H7965H559H1980H8307H3820H7451H935 18“Have any of these prophets been in the Lord’s presence to hear what he is really saying? Has even one of them cared enough to listen?H5975H5475H3068H7200H8085H1697H7181H1697H8085 19Look! The Lord’s anger bursts out like a storm, a whirlwind that swirls down on the heads of the wicked.H5591H3068H3318H2534H2342H5591H2342H7218H7563 20The anger of the Lord will not diminish until it has finished all he has planned. In the days to come you will understand all this very clearly.H639H3068H7725H6213H6965H4209H3820H319H3117H995H998 21“I have not sent these prophets, yet they run around claiming to speak for me. I have given them no message, yet they go on prophesying.H7971H5030H7323H1696H5012 22If they had stood before me and listened to me, they would have spoken my words, and they would have turned my people from their evil ways and deeds.H5975H5475H5971H8085H1697H7725H7451H1870H7455H4611 23Am I a God who is only close at hand?” says the Lord. “No, I am far away at the same time.H430H7138H5002H3068H430H7350 24Can anyone hide from me in a secret place? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?” says the Lord.H376H5641H4565H7200H5002H3068H4392H8064H776H5002H3068 25“I have heard these prophets say, ‘Listen to the dream I had from God last night.’ And then they proceed to tell lies in my name.H8085H5030H559H5012H8267H8034H559H2492H2492 26How long will this go on? If they are prophets, they are prophets of deceit, inventing everything they say.H3426H3820H5030H5012H8267H5030H8649H3820 27By telling these false dreams, they are trying to get my people to forget me, just as their ancestors did by worshiping the idols of Baal.H2803H5971H7911H8034H2472H5608H376H7453H1H7911H8034H1168 28“Let these false prophets tell their dreams, but let my true messengers faithfully proclaim my every word. There is a difference between straw and grain!H5030H2472H5608H2472H1697H1696H1697H571H8401H1250H5002H3068 29Does not my word burn like fire?” says the Lord. “Is it not like a mighty hammer that smashes a rock to pieces?H1697H3541H784H5002H3068H6360H6327H5553H6327 30“Therefore,” says the Lord, “I am against these prophets who steal messages from each other and claim they are from me.H5030H5002H3068H1589H1697H376H7453 31I am against these smooth-tongued prophets who say, ‘This prophecy is from the Lord!’H5030H5002H3068H3947H3956H5001H5002 32I am against these false prophets. Their imaginary dreams are flagrant lies that lead my people into sin. I did not send or appoint them, and they have no message at all for my people. I, the Lord have spoken!H5012H8267H2472H5002H3068H5608H5971H8582H8267H6350H7971H6680H3276H5971H3276H5002H3068

False Prophecies and False Prophets

33“Suppose one of the people or one of the prophets or priests asks you, ‘What prophecy has the Lord burdened you with now?’ You must reply, ‘You are the burden! The Lord says he will abandon you!’H5971H5030H3548H7592H559H4853H3068H559H4853H5203H5002H3068 34“If any prophet, priest, or anyone else says, ‘I have a prophecy from the Lord,’ I will punish that person along with his entire family.H5030H3548H5971H559H4853H3068H6485H376H1004 35You should keep asking each other, ‘What is the Lord’s answer?’ or ‘What is the Lord saying?’H559H376H7453H376H251H3068H6030H3068H1696 36But stop using this phrase, ‘prophecy from the Lord.’ For people are using it to give authority to their own ideas, turning upside down the words of our God, the living God, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.H4853H3068H2142H376H1697H4853H2015H1697H2416H430H3068H6635H430 37“This is what you should say to the prophets: ‘What is the Lord’s answer?’ or ‘What is the Lord saying?’H559H5030H3068H6030H3068H1696 38But suppose they respond, ‘This is a prophecy from the Lord!’ Then you should say, ‘This is what the Lord says: Because you have used this phrase, “prophecy from the Lord,” even though I warned you not to use it,H518H559H4853H3068H559H3068H559H1697H4853H3068H7971H559H559H4853H3068 39I will forget you completely. I will expel you from my presence, along with this city that I gave to you and your ancestors.H5377H5382H5203H5892H5414H1H6440 40And I will make you an object of ridicule, and your name will be infamous throughout the ages.’”H5414H5769H2781H5769H3640H7911

Good and Bad Figs

24After King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon exiled Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, to Babylon along with the officials of Judah and all the craftsmen and artisans, the Lord gave me this vision. I saw two baskets of figs placed in front of the Lord’s Temple in Jerusalem.H3068H7200H8147H1736H8384H3259H6440H1964H3068H310H5019H4428H894H1540H3204H1121H3079H4428H3063H8269H3063H2796H4525H3389H935H894 2One basket was filled with fresh, ripe figs, while the other was filled with bad figs that were too rotten to eat.H259H1731H3966H2896H8384H8384H1073H259H1731H3966H7451H8384H398H7455 3Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I replied, “Figs, some very good and some very bad, too rotten to eat.”H559H3068H7200H3414H559H8384H2896H8384H3966H2896H7451H3966H7451H398H7455 4Then the Lord gave me this message:H1697H3068H559 5“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: The good figs represent the exiles I sent from Judah to the land of the Babylonians.H559H3068H430H3478H2896H8384H5234H1546H3063H7971H4725H776H3778H2896 6I will watch over and care for them, and I will bring them back here again. I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not uproot them.H7760H5869H2896H7725H776H1129H2040H5193H5428 7I will give them hearts that recognize me as the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me wholeheartedly.H5414H3820H3045H3068H5971H430H7725H3820 8“But the bad figs,” the Lord said, “represent King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, all the people left in Jerusalem, and those who live in Egypt. I will treat them like bad figs, too rotten to eat.H7451H8384H398H7455H559H3068H5414H6667H4428H3063H8269H7611H3389H7604H776H3427H776H4714 9I will make them an object of horror and a symbol of evil to every nation on earth. They will be disgraced and mocked, taunted and cursed, wherever I scatter them.H5414H2189H2113H4467H776H7451H2781H4912H8148H7045H4725H5080 10And I will send war, famine, and disease until they have vanished from the land of Israel, which I gave to them and their ancestors.”H7971H2719H7458H1698H8552H127H5414H1

Seventy Years of Captivity

25This message for all the people of Judah came to Jeremiah from the Lord during the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign over Judah. This was the year when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon began his reign.H1697H3414H5971H3063H7243H8141H3079H1121H2977H4428H3063H7224H8141H5019H4428H894 2Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people in Judah and Jerusalem,H3414H5030H1696H5971H3063H3427H3389H559 3“For the past twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until now—the Lord has been giving me his messages. I have faithfully passed them on to you, but you have not listened.H7969H6240H8141H2977H1121H526H4428H3063H3117H7969H6242H8141H1697H3068H1696H7925H1696H8085 4“Again and again the Lord has sent you his servants, the prophets, but you have not listened or even paid attention.H3068H7971H5650H5030H7925H7971H8085H5186H241H8085 5Each time the message was this: ‘Turn from the evil road you are traveling and from the evil things you are doing. Only then will I let you live in this land that the Lord gave to you and your ancestors forever.H559H7725H376H7451H1870H7455H4611H3427H127H3068H5414H1H5704H5769H5769 6Do not provoke my anger by worshiping idols you made with your own hands. Then I will not harm you.’H3212H310H312H430H5647H7812H3707H4639H3027H7489 7“But you would not listen to me,” says the Lord. “You made me furious by worshiping idols you made with your own hands, bringing on yourselves all the disasters you now suffer.H8085H5002H3068H3707H4639H3027H7451 8And now the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Because you have not listened to me,H559H3068H6635H8085H1697 9I will gather together all the armies of the north under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whom I have appointed as my deputy. I will bring them all against this land and its people and against the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy you and make you an object of horror and contempt and a ruin forever.H7971H3947H4940H6828H5002H3068H5019H4428H894H5650H935H776H3427H1471H5439H2763H7760H8047H8322H5769H2723 10I will take away your happy singing and laughter. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard. Your millstones will fall silent, and the lights in your homes will go out.H6H6963H8342H6963H8057H6963H2860H6963H3618H6963H7347H216H5216 11This entire land will become a desolate wasteland. Israel and her neighboring lands will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.H776H2723H8047H1471H5647H4428H894H7657H8141 12“Then, after the seventy years of captivity are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his people for their sins,” says the Lord. “I will make the country of the Babylonians a wasteland forever.H7657H8141H4390H6485H4428H894H1471H5002H3068H5771H776H3778H7760H5769H8077 13I will bring upon them all the terrors I have promised in this book—all the penalties announced by Jeremiah against the nations.H935H776H1697H1696H3789H5612H3414H5012H1471 14Many nations and great kings will enslave the Babylonians, just as they enslaved my people. I will punish them in proportion to the suffering they cause my people.”H7227H1471H1419H4428H5647H7999H6467H4639H3027

The Cup of the Lord’s Anger

15This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup filled to the brim with my anger, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.H559H3068H430H3478H3947H3196H3563H2534H3027H1471H7971H8248 16When they drink from it, they will stagger, crazed by the warfare I will send against them.”H8354H1607H1984H6440H2719H7971 17So I took the cup of anger from the Lord and made all the nations drink from it—every nation to which the Lord sent me.H3947H3563H3068H3027H1471H8248H3068H7971 18I went to Jerusalem and the other towns of Judah, and their kings and officials drank from the cup. From that day until this, they have been a desolate ruin, an object of horror, contempt, and cursing.H3389H5892H3063H4428H8269H5414H2723H8047H8322H7045H3117 19I gave the cup to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, his attendants, his officials, and all his people,H6547H4428H4714H5650H8269H5971 20along with all the foreigners living in that land. I also gave it to all the kings of the land of Uz and the kings of the Philistine cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what remains of Ashdod.H6153H4428H776H5780H4428H776H6430H831H5804H6138H7611H795 21Then I gave the cup to the nations of Edom, Moab, and Ammon,H123H4124H1121H5983 22and the kings of Tyre and Sidon, and the kings of the regions across the sea.H4428H6865H4428H6721H4428H339H5676H3220 23I gave it to Dedan, Tema, and Buz, and to the people who live in distant places.H1719H8485H938H7112H6285 24I gave it to the kings of Arabia, the kings of the nomadic tribes of the desert,H4428H6152H4428H6153H7931H4057 25and to the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media.H4428H2174H4428H5867H4428H4074 26And I gave it to the kings of the northern countries, far and near, one after the other—all the kingdoms of the world. And finally, the king of Babylon himself drank from the cup of the Lord’s anger.H4428H6828H7350H7138H376H251H4467H776H6440H127H4428H8347H8354H310 27Then the Lord said to me, “Now tell them, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: Drink from this cup of my anger. Get drunk and vomit; fall to rise no more, for I am sending terrible wars against you.’H559H559H3068H6635H430H3478H8354H7937H7006H5307H6965H6440H2719H7971 28And if they refuse to accept the cup, tell them, ‘The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: You have no choice but to drink from it.H3985H3947H3563H3027H8354H559H559H3068H6635H8354H8354 29I have begun to punish Jerusalem, the city that bears my name. Now should I let you go unpunished? No, you will not escape disaster. I will call for war against all the nations of the earth. I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!’H2490H7489H5892H7121H8034H5352H5352H5352H7121H2719H3427H776H5002H3068H6635 30“Now prophesy all these things, and say to them, “‘The Lord will roar against his own land from his holy dwelling in heaven. He will shout like those who tread grapes; he will shout against everyone on earth.H5012H1697H559H3068H7580H4791H5414H6963H6944H4583H7580H7580H5116H6030H1959H1869H3427H776 31His cry of judgment will reach the ends of the earth, for the Lord will bring his case against all the nations. He will judge all the people of the earth, slaughtering the wicked with the sword. I, the Lord, have spoken!’”H7588H935H7097H776H3068H7379H1471H8199H1320H5414H7563H2719H5002H3068 32This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: “Look! Disaster will fall upon nation after nation! A great whirlwind of fury is rising from the most distant corners of the earth!”H559H3068H6635H7451H3318H1471H1471H1419H5591H5782H3411H776 33In that day those the Lord has slaughtered will fill the earth from one end to the other. No one will mourn for them or gather up their bodies to bury them. They will be scattered on the ground like manure.H2491H3068H3117H7097H776H7097H776H5594H622H6912H1828H6440H127 34Weep and moan, you evil shepherds! Roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock! The time of your slaughter has arrived; you will fall and shatter like a fragile vase.H3213H7462H2199H6428H117H6629H3117H2873H8600H4390H5307H2532H3627 35You will find no place to hide; there will be no way to escape.H7462H4498H6H117H6629H6413 36Listen to the frantic cries of the shepherds. The leaders of the flock are wailing in despair, for the Lord is ruining their pastures.H6963H6818H7462H3215H117H6629H3068H7703H4830 37Peaceful meadows will be turned into a wasteland by the Lord’s fierce anger.H7965H4999H1826H6440H2740H639H3068 38He has left his den like a strong lion seeking its prey, and their land will be made desolate by the sword of the enemy and the Lord’s fierce anger.H5800H5520H3715H776H8047H6440H2740H3238H6440H2740H639