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The
Righteous Branch
23:1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and
scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
23:2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against
the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock,
and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I
will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.
23:3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all
countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them
again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and
increase.
23:4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed
them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither
shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.
23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will
raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign
and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the
earth.
23:6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall
dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be
called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
23:7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that
they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up
the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
23:8 But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led
the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country,
and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they
shall dwell in their own land.
Lying Prophets
23:9 Mine heart within me is broken because of the
prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and
like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and
because of the words of his holiness.
23:10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of
swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the
wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their
force is not right.
23:11 For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my
house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.
23:12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery
ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall
therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of
their visitation, saith the LORD.
23:13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria;
they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.
23:14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an
horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they
strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth
return from his wickedness; they are all of them unto me as
Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
23:15 Therefore thus saith the LORD 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 profaneness gone forth into all the land.
23:16 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the
words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you
vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of
the mouth of the LORD.
23:17 They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD
hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one
that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil
shall come upon you.
23:18 For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and
hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word,
and heard it?
23:19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in
fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously
upon the head of the wicked.
23:20 The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have
executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his
heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.
23:21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have
not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
23:22 But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused
my people to hear my words, then they should have turned
them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
23:23 Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God
afar off?
23:24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall
not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth?
saith the LORD.
23:25 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy
lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
23:26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets
that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of
their own heart;
23:27 Which think to cause my people to forget my name by
their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as
their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.
23:28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream;
and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully.
What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.
23:29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and
like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
23:30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith
the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.
23:31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD,
that use their tongues, and say, He saith.
23:32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams,
saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err
by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not,
nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this
people at all, saith the LORD.
False Prophecy
23:33 And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest,
shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou
shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake
you, saith the LORD.
23:34 And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the
people, that shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even
punish that man and his house.
23:35 Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and
every one to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and,
What hath the LORD spoken?
23:36 And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more:
for every man's word shall be his burden; for ye have
perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts
our God.
23:37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the
LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
23:38 But since ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore
thus saith the LORD; Because ye say this word, The burden of
the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not
say, The burden of the LORD;
23:39 Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget
you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you
and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence:
23:40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you,
and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten. |
Cults 
Why Did God Permit Sin?
