Jeremiah 23:1-40, Ezekiel 34:1-31, Zechariah 11:1-17 - LSB - Legacy Standard Bible

Jeremiah 23:1-40

The Righteous Branch

“^aWoe to the shepherds who are ¹^bdestroying and scattering the ^csheep of My pasture!” declares Yahweh. 2 Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who are shepherding My people: “You have scattered My flock and banished them and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to ^aattend to you for the ^bevil of your deeds,” declares Yahweh. 3 “Then I Myself will ^agather the remnant of My flock out of all the land where I have banished them and cause them to return to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will also raise up ^ashepherds over them, and they will ¹shepherd them; and they will ^bnot be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, ^cnor will any be left unattended,” declares Yahweh.
5

“Behold, the ^adays are coming,” declares Yahweh,

“When I will raise up for David a righteous ¹^bBranch;

And He will ^creign as king and ²prosper

And ^ddo justice and righteousness in the land.

In His days Judah will be saved,

And ^aIsrael will dwell securely;

And this is His ^bname by which He will be called,

‘^cYahweh our righteousness.’

7 “^aTherefore behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when they will no longer say, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8 ^abut, ‘As Yahweh lives, who ^bbrought up and brought back the seed of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the lands where I had banished them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”

False Prophets Condemned

As for the prophets:

My ^aheart is broken within me;

All my bones tremble;

I have become like a drunken man,

Even like a man overcome with wine,

Because of Yahweh

And because of His holy words.

For the land is full of ^aadulterers;

For the land ^bmourns because of the curse.

The ^cpastures of the wilderness have dried up.

Their course also is evil,

And their might is not right.

“For ^aboth prophet and priest are polluted;

Even in My house I have found their evil,” declares Yahweh.

“Therefore their way will be like ^aslippery paths to them;

They will be driven away into the ^bthick darkness and fall down in it;

For I will bring their ^cevil upon them,

The year of their ¹punishment,” declares Yahweh.

“Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an ^aoffensive thing:

They ^bprophesied by Baal and ^cled My people Israel astray.

Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen an ^aappalling thing:

The committing of ^badultery and walking in lying;

And they strengthen the hands of ^cevildoers,

So that no one has turned back from his evil.

All of them have become to Me like ^dSodom,

And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

15 Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts concerning the prophets,

‘Behold, I am going to ^afeed them wormwood

And make them drink ¹poisoned water,

For from the prophets of Jerusalem

Pollution has gone forth into all the land.’”

16 Thus says Yahweh of hosts,

“^aDo not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you.

They are ^bleading you into vanity;

They speak a ^cvision of their own heart,

Not ^dfrom the mouth of Yahweh.

They keep saying to those who ^aspurn Me,

‘Yahweh has said, “^bYou will have peace”’;

And as for everyone who walks in the ^cstubbornness of his own heart,

They say, ‘^dEvil will not come upon you.’

But ^awho has stood in the council of Yahweh,

That he should see and hear His word?

Who has given ^bheed to ¹His word and heard?

Behold, the ^astorm of Yahweh has gone forth in wrath,

Even a whirling storm;

It will whirl down on the head of the wicked.

The ^aanger of Yahweh will not turn back

Until He has ^bdone and established the purposes of His heart;

^cIn the last days you will clearly understand it.

^aI did not send these prophets,

But they ran.

I did not speak to them,

But they prophesied.

But if they had ^astood in My council,

Then they would have ^bcaused My words to be heard by My people

And would have turned them back from their evil way

And from the evil of their deeds.

“Am I a God who is ^anear,” declares Yahweh,

“And not a God far off?

Can a man ^ahide himself in hiding places

So I do not see him?” declares Yahweh.

“^bDo I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares Yahweh.

25 “I have ^aheard what the prophets have said who ^bprophesy a lie in My name, saying, ‘I had a ^cdream, I had a dream!’ 26 How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy a lie, even these prophets of the ^adeception of their own heart, 27 who intend to ^amake My people forget My name by their dreams which they recount to one another, just as their fathers ^bforgot My name because of Baal? 28 The prophet who has a dream may recount his dream, but let him who has ^aMy word speak My word in truth. ^bWhat does straw have in common with grain?” declares Yahweh. 29 “Is not My word like ^afire?” declares Yahweh, “and like a ^bhammer which shatters a rock? 30 Therefore behold, ^aI am against the prophets,” declares Yahweh, “who steal My words from each other. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares Yahweh, “who take their tongues and declare, ‘Yahweh declares.’ 32 Behold, I am against those who have prophesied ^alying dreams,” declares Yahweh, “and who recounted them and led My people astray by their lying and ^breckless boasting; yet ^cI did not send them, and I did not command them, and they do not ^dfurnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares Yahweh.
33 “Now when this people or the prophet or a priest asks you, saying, ‘What is the ¹^aoracle of Yahweh?’ then you shall say to them, ‘What oracle?’ Yahweh declares, ‘I will ^babandon you.’ 34 Then as for the prophet or the priest or the people who say, ‘The ^aoracle of Yahweh,’ I will bring punishment upon that man and his household. 35 Thus will each of you say to his neighbor and to his brother, ‘^aWhat has Yahweh answered?’ or, ‘What has Yahweh spoken?’ 36 For you will no longer remember the oracle of Yahweh because every man’s own word will become the oracle, and you have ^aperverted the words of the ^bliving God, Yahweh of hosts, our God. 37 Thus you will say to that prophet, ‘What has Yahweh answered you?’ and, ‘What has Yahweh spoken?’ 38 For if you all say, ‘The oracle of Yahweh!’ surely thus says Yahweh, ‘Because you said this word, “The oracle of Yahweh!” I have also sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The oracle of Yahweh!’”’ 39 Therefore behold, ^aI will surely forget you and abandon you, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers, so that you are out of My presence. 40 I will put an everlasting ^areproach on you and an everlasting humiliation which will not be forgotten.”

Ezekiel 34:1-31

Prophecy Against the Shepherds of Israel

Then the word of Yahweh came to me saying, 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the ^ashepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to ¹those shepherds, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been ²^bshepherding themselves! Should not the shepherds ^cshepherd the flock? 3 You ^aeat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you ^bsacrifice the fat sheep without shepherding the flock. 4 Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, and the ¹diseased you have not healed, and ^athe broken you have not bound up, and the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you ^bsearched for the lost; but with strength and with severity you have dominated them. 5 They were ^ascattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became ^bfood for every beast of the field and were scattered. 6 My flock ^awandered through all the mountains and on every high hill; ^bMy flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was ^cno one to seek or search for them.”’”
7 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh: 8 “As I live,” declares Lord Yahweh, “surely because My flock has become ^aplunder, My flock has even become food for all the beasts of the field for lack of a shepherd, and My shepherds did not seek for My flock, but rather the shepherds shepherded themselves and did not shepherd My flock; 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh: 10 ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I am ^aagainst the shepherds, and I will seek My flock from their hand and make them ^bcease from shepherding the flock. So the shepherds will not shepherd themselves anymore, but I will ^cdeliver My flock from their mouth so that they will not be food for them.”’”

Yahweh Will Shepherd His Flock

11 For thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I Myself will ^aseek My sheep and care for them. 12 ^aAs a shepherd ¹cares for his herd in the day when he is among his ²sheep which are spread out, so I will ¹^bcare for My ²sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a ^ccloudy and gloomy day. 13 I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will ^ashepherd them on the mountains of Israel, by the ^bstreams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. 14 I will shepherd them in a ^agood pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down on good grazing ground and be shepherded in ¹^brich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 I will ^ashepherd My flock, and I will make them lie down,” declares Lord Yahweh. 16 “I will search for the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick; but the ^afat and the strong I will destroy. I will ^bshepherd them with judgment.
17 “As for you, My flock, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Behold, I will ^ajudge between one ¹sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats. 18 Is it too ^aslight a thing for you that you should be shepherded in the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pastures? Or that you should drink of the clear waters, that you must ¹foul the rest with your feet? 19 As for My flock, they must be shepherded on what you tread down with your feet and drink what you ¹foul with your feet!’”
20 Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh to them, “Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you push with side and with shoulder, and ^athrust at all the sickly with your horns until you have scattered them ¹abroad, 22 therefore, I will ^asave My flock, and they will no longer be plunder; and I will judge between one sheep and another.
23 “Then I will ^aestablish over them one ^bshepherd, My servant ^cDavid, and he will shepherd them; he will shepherd them himself and be their shepherd. 24 And I, Yahweh, will be their God, and My servant ^aDavid will be prince among them; I, Yahweh, have spoken.

Yahweh’s Covenant of Peace

25 “I will cut a ^acovenant of peace with them and ^bcause harmful beasts to cease from the land so that they may ^clive securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. 26 I will make them and the places all around My hill a ^ablessing. And I will cause ^bshowers to come down in their season; they will be showers of ^cblessing. 27 Also the tree of the field will yield its fruit, and the earth will yield its produce, and they will be ^asecure on their land. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I have ^bbroken the bars of their yoke and have delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them. 28 They will no longer be plunder to the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not devour them; but they will ^alive securely, and no one will make them tremble. 29 I will establish for them a ¹^arenowned planting place, and they will ^bnot again be ²victims of famine in the land, and they will not ^cbear the dishonor of the nations anymore. 30 Then they will know that ^aI, Yahweh their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people,” declares Lord Yahweh. 31 “As for you, My ^asheep, the ^bsheep of My pasture, you are men, and I am your God,” declares Lord Yahweh.

Zechariah 11:1-17

Woe to the Worthless Shepherd

Open your doors, O Lebanon,

That a ^afire may consume your ^bcedars.

Wail, O ¹cypress, for the cedar has fallen,

Because the mighty trees have been destroyed;

Wail, O oaks of Bashan,

For the ²impenetrable forest has come down.

There is a sound of the shepherds’ ^awail,

For their might is destroyed;

There is a ^bsound of the young lions’ roar,

For the ¹pride of the Jordan is destroyed.

4 Thus says Yahweh my God, “Shepherd the flock doomed to ^aslaughter. 5 Those who buy them slaughter them and are not ^aheld guilty, and each of those who sell them says, ‘Blessed be Yahweh. Indeed, ^bI have become rich!’ And their ^cown shepherds do not spare them. 6 For I will ^ano longer spare the inhabitants of the land,” declares Yahweh; “but behold, I will ^bcause the men to ¹fall, each into another’s hand and into the hand of his king; and they will crush the land, and I will ^cnot deliver them from their hand.”
7 So I ^ashepherded the flock doomed to slaughter—¹hence the ^bafflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two ^cstaffs: the one I called ²^dFavor, and the other I called ³^eUnion; so I shepherded the flock. 8 Then I annihilated the three shepherds in ^aone month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also ¹was weary of me. 9 Then I said, “I will not shepherd you. What is to ^adie, ¹let it die, and what is to be annihilated, ²let it be annihilated; and ³let those who remain consume one another’s flesh.” 10 And I took my staff ¹^aFavor and cut it in pieces, to ²^bbreak my covenant which I had cut with all the peoples. 11 So it was ¹broken on that day, and ²thus the ^aafflicted of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of Yahweh. 12 And I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my ^awages; but if not, ¹never mind!” So they weighed out ^bthirty ²shekels of silver as my wages. 13 Then Yahweh said to me, “Throw it to the ^apotter, that valuable price at which I was valued by them.” So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of Yahweh. 14 Then I cut in pieces my second staff ¹^aUnion, to ^bbreak the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 Then Yahweh said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment of a ¹^afoolish shepherd. 16 For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will ^anot care for those who face annihilation, seek the young, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will ^bconsume the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs.
17

^aWoe to the worthless shepherd

Who forsakes the flock!

A ^bsword will be on his arm

And on his right eye!

His ^carm will be totally dried up,

And his right eye will be utterly dimmed.”