26b“So I will cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country where you were not born; and there you shall die.
27“But to the land to which they desire to return, there they shall not return.
28“Is this man 12Coniah a despised, broken idol—
c A vessel in which is no pleasure?
Why are they cast out, he and his descendants,
And cast into a land which they do not know?
29d O earth, earth, earth,
Hear the word of the LORD!
30Thus says the LORD:
‘Write this man down as echildless,
A man who shall not prosper in his days;
For fnone of his descendants shall prosper,
Sitting on the throne of David,
And ruling anymore in Judah.’ ”
Jeremiah 23
The Branch of Righteousness
1“Woe ato the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the LORD.
2Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. bBehold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the LORD.
3“But cI will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
4“I will set up dshepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the LORD.
5“Behold, ethe days are coming,” says the LORD,
“That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness;
A King shall reign and 1prosper,
f And execute 2judgment and righteousness in the 3earth.
6g In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel hwill dwell safely;
Now ithis is His name by which He will be called:
4THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
7“Therefore, behold, jthe days are coming,” says the LORD, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’
8“but, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country kand from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own lland.”
False Prophets and Empty Oracles
9My heart within me is broken
Because of the prophets;
m All my bones shake.
I am like a drunken man,
And like a man whom wine has overcome,
Because of the LORD,
And because of His holy words.
10For nthe land is full of adulterers;
For obecause of a curse the land mourns.
p The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up.
Their course of life is evil,
And their might is not right.
11“For qboth prophet and priest are profane;
Yes, rin My house I have found their wickedness,” says the LORD.
12“Therefores their way shall be to them
Like slippery ways;
In the darkness they shall be driven on
And fall in them;
For I twill bring disaster on them,
The year of their punishment,” says the LORD.
13“And I have seen 5folly in the prophets of Samaria:
u They prophesied by Baal
And vcaused My people Israel to err.
14Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem:
w They commit adultery and walk in lies;
They also xstrengthen the hands of evildoers,
So that no one turns back from his wickedness.
All of them are like ySodom to Me,
And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.
15“Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets:
‘Behold, I will feed them with zwormwood,
And make them drink the water of gall;
For from the prophets of Jerusalem
6 Profaneness has gone out into all the land.’ ”
16Thus says the LORD of hosts:
“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you.
They make you worthless;
a They speak a vision of their own heart,
Not from the mouth of the LORD.
17They continually say to those who despise Me,
‘The LORD has said, b“You shall have peace” ’;
And to everyone who cwalks according to the 7dictates of his own heart, they say,
d‘No evil shall come upon you.’ ”
18For ewho has stood in the counsel of the LORD,
And has perceived and heard His word?
Who has marked His word and heard it?
19Behold, a fwhirlwind of the LORD has gone forth in fury—
A violent whirlwind!
It will fall violently on the head of the wicked.
20The ganger of the LORD will not turn back
Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart.
h In the latter days you will understand it perfectly.
21“Ii have not sent these prophets, yet they ran.
I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22But if they had stood in My counsel,
And had caused My people to hear My words,
Then they would have jturned them from their evil way
And from the evil of their doings.
23“ Am I a God near at hand,” says the LORD,
“And not a God afar off?
24Can anyone khide himself in secret places,
So I shall not see him?” says the LORD;
l“Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD.
25“I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’
26“How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart,
27“who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, mas their fathers forgot My name for Baal.
28“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 chaff to the wheat?” says the LORD.
29“ Is not My word like a nfire?” says the LORD,
“And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
30“Therefore behold, oI am against the prophets,” says the LORD, “who steal My words every one from his neighbor.
31“Behold, I am pagainst the prophets,” says the LORD, “who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’
32“Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” says the LORD, “and tell them, and cause My people to err by their qlies and by rtheir recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not sprofit this people at all,” says the LORD.
33“So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, ‘What is tthe 8oracle of the LORD?’ you shall then say to them, 9‘What oracle?’ I will even forsake you,” says the LORD.
34“And as for the prophet and the priest and the people who say, ‘The 10oracle of the LORD!’ I will even punish that man and his house.
35“Thus every one of you shall say to his neighbor, and every one to his brother, ‘What has the LORD answered?’ and, ‘What has the LORD spoken?’
36“And the 11oracle of the LORD you shall mention no more. For every man’s word will be his oracle, for you have uperverted the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God.
37“Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the LORD answered you?’ and, ‘What has the LORD spoken?’
38“But since you say, ‘The 12oracle of the LORD!’ therefore thus says the LORD: ‘Because you say this word, “The ora
cle of the LORD!” and I have sent to you, saying, “Do not say, ‘The oracle of the LORD!’ ”
39‘therefore behold, I, even I, vwill utterly forget you and forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and will cast you out of My presence.
40‘And I will bring wan everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual xshame, which shall not be forgotten.’ ”
Jeremiah 24
The Sign of Two Baskets of Figs
1The aLORD showed me, and there were two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD, after Nebuchadnezzar bking of Babylon had carried away captive cJeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
2One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten, they were so dbad.
3Then the LORD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad.”
4Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
5“Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I 1acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans.
6‘For I will set My eyes on them for good, and eI will bring them back to this land; fI will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up.
7‘Then I will give them ga heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be hMy people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me iwith their whole heart.
8‘And as the bad jfigs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad’—surely thus says the LORD—‘so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the kresidue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and lthose who dwell in the land of Egypt.
9‘I will deliver them to mtrouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, nto be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them.
10‘And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are 2consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’ ”
Jeremiah 25
Seventy Years of Desolation
1The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, ain the fourth year of bJehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),
2which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:
3c“From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the LORD has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, dbut you have not listened.
4“And the LORD has sent to you all His servants the prophets, erising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear.
5“They said, f‘Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers forever and ever.
6‘Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will not harm you.’
7“Yet you have not listened to Me,” says the LORD, “that you might gprovoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.
8“Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words,
9‘behold, I will send and take hall the families of the north,’ says the LORD, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, iMy servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and jmake them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations.
10‘Moreover I will 1take from them the kvoice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, lthe sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.
11‘And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy myears.
12‘Then it will come to pass, nwhen 2seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the LORD; o‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation.
13‘So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations.
14p‘(For many nations qand great kings shall rbe served by them also; sand I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.)’ ”
Judgment on the Nations
15For thus says the LORD God of Israel to me: “Take this twine cup of 3fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.
16“And uthey will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.”
17Then I took the cup from the LORD’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the LORD had sent me:
18Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes, to make them va desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and wa curse, as it is this day;
19Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and all his people;
20all the mixed multitude, all the kings of xthe land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the yPhilistines (namely, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and zthe remnant of Ashdod);
21aEdom, Moab, and the people of Ammon;
22all the kings of bTyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are across the csea;
23dDedan, Tema, Buz, and all who are in the farthest corners;
24all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the emixed multitude who dwell in the desert;
25all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of fElam, and all the kings of the gMedes;
26hall the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. Also the king of 4Sheshach shall drink after them.
27“Therefore you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: i“Drink, jbe drunk, and vomit! Fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.” ’
28“And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “You shall certainly drink!
29“For behold, kI begin to bring calamity on the city lwhich is called by My name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished, for mI will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth,” says the LORD of hosts.’
30“Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:
‘The LORD will nroar from on high,
And utter His voice from oHis holy habitation;
He will roar mightily against pHis fold.
He will give qa shout, as those who tread the grapes,
Against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31A noise will come to the ends of the earth—
For the LORD has ra controversy with the nations;
s He will plead His case with all flesh.
He will give those who are wicked to the sword,’ says the LORD.”
32Thus says the LORD of hosts:
“Behold, disaster shall go forth
From nation to nation,
And ta great whirlwind shall be raised up
From the farthest parts of the earth.
33u“And at that day the slain of the LORD shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be vlamented, wor gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground.
34“Wail,x shepherds, and cry!
Roll about in the ashes,
You leaders of the flock!
F
or the days of your slaughter and your dispersions are fulfilled;
You shall fall like a precious vessel.
35And the shepherds will have no 5way to flee,
Nor the leaders of the flock to escape.
36A voice of the cry of the shepherds,
And a wailing of the leaders to the flock will be heard.
For the LORD has plundered their pasture,
37And the peaceful dwellings are cut down
Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
38He has left His lair like the lion;
For their land is desolate
Because of the fierceness of the Oppressor,
And because of His fierce anger.”
Jeremiah 26
Jeremiah Saved from Death
(cf. Jer. 7:1–15)
1In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the LORD, saying,
2“Thus says the LORD: ‘Stand in athe court of the LORD’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD’s house, ball the words that I command you to speak to them. cDo not diminish a word.
3d‘Perhaps everyone will listen and turn from his evil way, that I may erelent concerning the calamity which I purpose to bring on them because of the evil of their doings.’
4“And you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: f“If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My law which I have set before you,
5“to heed the words of My servants the prophets gwhom I sent to you, both rising up early and sending them (but you have not heeded),
6“then I will make this house like hShiloh, and will make this city ia curse to all the nations of the earth.” ’ ”
7So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.
8Now it happened, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You will surely die!
9“Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be jdesolate, without an inhabitant’?” And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.
The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV Page 357