1   Shame on the shepherds who let the sheep of my flock scatter and be lost! says the Lord. 2   Therefore these are the words of the Lord the God of Israel about the shepherds who tend my people: You have scattered and dispersed my flock. You have not watched over them; but I am watching you to punish you for your evil doings, says the Lord. 3   I will myself gather the remnant of my sheep from all the lands to which I have dispersed them. I will bring them back to their homes, and they shall be fruitful and increase. 4   I will appoint shepherds to tend them; they shall never again know fear or dismay or punishment. This is the very word of the Lord.

   5   The days are now coming, says the Lord,
when I will make a righteous Branch spring from David's line,
  a king who shall rule wisely,
maintaining law and justice in the land.
   6   In his days Judah shall be kept safe,
  and Israel ^note shall live undisturbed.
  This is the name to be given to him:
    The Lord is our Righteousness.

7   Therefore the days are coming, says the Lord, when men shall no longer swear, ‘By the life of the Lord who brought Israel up from Egypt’, 8   but, ‘By the life of the Lord who brought the descendants of the Israelites back from a northern land and from all the lands to which he ^note had dispersed them, to live again on their own soil.’

Kings and prophets denounced

9   On the prophets.
  Deep within me my heart is broken,
  there is no strength in my bones;
  because of the Lord, because of his dread words
  I have become like a drunken man,
  like a man overcome with wine.
   10   For the land is full of adulterers,
  and because of them the earth lies parched,
    the wild pastures have dried up.
  The course that they run is evil,
    and their powers are misused.
   11   For prophet and priest alike are godless;
I have come upon the evil they are doing even in my own house.
    This is the very word of the Lord.


12   Therefore the path shall turn slippery beneath their feet;
they shall be dispersed in the dark and shall fall there.
For I will bring disaster on them when their day of reckoning comes.
    This is the very word of the Lord.
   13   I found the prophets of Samaria men of no sense:
they prophesied in Baal's name and led my people Israel astray.
14   In the prophets of Jerusalem I see a thing most horrible:
  adulterers and hypocrites that they are,
    they encourage evildoers,
  so that no man turns back from his sin;
to me all her inhabitants are like Sodom and Gomorrah.

15   These then are the words of the Lord of Hosts concerning the prophets:

I will give them wormwood to eat
  and a bitter poison to drink;
  for a godless spirit has spread over all the land
  from the prophets of Jerusalem.

16   These are the words of the Lord of Hosts:

  Do not listen to what the prophets say,
  who buoy you up with false hopes;
the vision they report springs from their own imagination,
    it is not from the mouth of the Lord.
17   They say to those who spurn the word of the Lord,
  ‘Prosperity shall be yours’;
and to all who follow the promptings of their own stubborn heart they say,
  ‘No disaster shall befall you.’

Kings and prophets denounced
18   But which of them has stood in the council of the Lord,
  seen him and heard his word?
  Which of them has listened to his word and obeyed?
   19   See what a scorching wind has gone out from the Lord,
    a furious whirlwind;
    it whirls round the heads of the wicked.
     20   The Lord's anger is not to be turned aside,
  until he has accomplished and fulfilled his deep designs.
  In days to come you will fully understand.
   21   I did not send these prophets, yet they went in haste;
  I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.
   22   If they have stood in my council,
  let them proclaim my words to my people
and turn them from their evil course and their evil doings.
23   Am I a god only near at hand, ^note not far away? ^note
24   Can a man hide in any secret place and I not see him? ^note
Do I not fill heaven and earth?
    This is the very word of the Lord.

25   I have heard what the prophets say, the prophets who speak lies in my name and cry, ‘I have had a dream, a dream!’ 26   How long will it be till they change their tune, these prophets who prophesy lies and give voice to their own inventions? 27   By these dreams which they tell one another these men think they will make my people forget my name, as their fathers forgot my name for the name of ^note Baal. 28   If a prophet has a dream, let him tell his dream; if he has my word, let him speak my word in truth. 29   What has chaff to do with grain? says the Lord. Do not my words scorch ^note like fire? says the Lord. Are they not like a hammer that splinters rock? 30   I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who steal my words from one another for their own use. 31   I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who concoct words of their own and then say, ‘This is his very word.’ 32   I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who dream lies and retail them, misleading my people with wild and reckless falsehoods. It was not I who sent them or commissioned them, and they will do this people no good. This is the very word of the Lord.

33   When you are asked by this people or by a prophet or priest what the burden of the Lord's message is, you shall answer, You are his burden, and I shall throw you down, says the Lord. 34   If prophet or priest or layman uses the term ‘the Lord's burden’, I will punish that man and his family. 35   The form of words you shall use in speaking amongst yourselves is: ‘What answer has the Lord given?’ or, ‘What has the Lord

Kings and prophets denounced said?’ 36   You shall never again mention ‘the burden of the Lord’; that is reserved for the man to whom he entrusts his message. If you do, you will make nonsense of the words of the living God, the Lord of Hosts our God. 37   This is the form you shall use in speaking to a prophet: ‘What answer has the Lord given?’ or, ‘What has the Lord said?’ 38   But to any of you who do say, ‘the burden of the Lord’, the Lord speaks thus: Because you say, ‘the burden of the Lord’, though I sent to tell you not to say it, 39   therefore I myself will carry you like a burden ^note and throw you down, casting out of my sight both you and the city which I gave to you and to your forefathers. 40   I will inflict on you endless reproach, endless shame which shall never be forgotten.

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