Jeremiah 23 · The Lantern

David’s Righteous Branch

Woe to shepherds destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture — the utterance of the LORD.

Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: You have scattered my flock and driven them away, and you have not attended to them. See, I am attending to you for the evil of your deeds — the utterance of the LORD.

And I myself will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their pasture; and they will be fruitful and multiply.

And I will raise up over them shepherds, and they will shepherd them; and they will fear no more and will not be shattered, and none will be missing — the utterance of the LORD.

See, days are coming — the utterance of the LORD — when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and a king will reign and have insight, and will do judgment and righteousness in the land.

(Vers. 5, 6.) Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch (or a righteous king); and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: The Lord is our righteousness.

These things were fulfilled according to the type in the case of Zerubbabel and Jeshua, the son of Jozadak. However, this prophecy was not altogether fulfilled, for many would rise up against them—not only their neighbors but also later on the Macedonians and finally the Romans. But the prophecy proclaims the everlasting nature of grace.

There was only one remedy in the secret of the divine plan that could help the fallen living in the general ruin of the entire human race. This remedy was that one of the sons of Adam should be born free and innocent of original transgression, to prevail for the rest by his example and by his merits. This was not permitted by natural generation.

In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell secure; and this is his name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.

Therefore, see, days are coming — the utterance of the LORD — when they will no longer say, As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,

Now I have shown a short time ago that the church is the seed of Abraham; and for this reason, that we may know that He who in the New Testament "raises up from the stones children unto Abraham," is He who will gather, according to the Old Testament, those that shall be saved from all the nations, Jeremiah says: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more sa…

(Vers. 7, 8.) Because of this, behold, days are coming, says the Lord. And they shall no longer say, As the Lord lives, who brought the sons of Israel up from the land of Egypt; but they shall say, As the Lord lives, who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where I had driven them, and they shall live on…

but, As the LORD lives, who brought up and who brought the seed of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where I had driven them; and they will dwell on their own ground.

Lying Prophets

Concerning the prophets: my heart is broken within me, all my bones tremble. I have become like a drunken man, like a man whom wine has overcome, because of the LORD and because of his holy words.

For the land is full of adulterers; for because of an imprecation the land mourns, the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. And their course is evil, and their might is not right.

For even prophet, even priest, are godless; even in my house I have found their evil — the utterance of the LORD.

Therefore their way will be to them like slippery places in the gloom; they will be driven on and fall in it, for I will bring evil on them, the year of their attending — the utterance of the LORD.

And among the prophets of Samaria I have seen an unseemly thing: they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.

And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a shocking thing: committing adultery and walking in falsehood; and they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one returns from his evil. They have all become to me like Sodom, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: See, I am feeding them wormwood and giving them poisoned water to drink; for from the prophets of Jerusalem godlessness has gone out to all the land.

Thus says the LORD of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you; they make you into breath. A vision of their own heart they speak, not from the mouth of the LORD.

Against such people as these the Lord cries out, from these he reins in and recalls his erring people, saying, "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who invent a vain vision for themselves, which they speak as false prophets from their own heart and not from the mouth of the Lord.

I know other persons, however, whom an abysmal lack of wisdom and prudence so deceives and tricks that they think that the faith that they pretend to have will help them before God without the works of justice. They commit abominable crimes without fear by reason of this kind of error, while they believe that God is the avenger not of crimes but of lack of faith.

God gives the promise, "I will deliver them from the hand of the grave, and from death I will redeem them." So the blessed prophets are in harmony with the decrees from on high. They speak to us not of their own heart or of the will of people but from the mouth of God, as it is written.

They keep saying to those who spurn me: The LORD has spoken — peace will be yours. And to everyone walking in the stubbornness of his heart they say: Evil will not come upon you.

For who has stood in the circle of the LORD and seen and heard his word? Who has listened to his word and heard?

See, the storm of the LORD — wrath has gone out, and a whirling storm; on the head of the wicked it will whirl.

The anger of the LORD will not return until he has done and until he has raised up the schemes of his heart. In the end of days you will understand it with understanding.

I did not send the prophets, yet they ran. I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.

And if they had stood in my circle, they would have made my people hear my words, and would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds.

Am I a God near at hand — the utterance of the LORD — and not a God far off?

Jeremiah the prophet, gifted with consummate wisdom, or rather the Holy Spirit in Jeremiah, exhibits God. "Am I a God at hand," he says, "and not a God afar off? Shall a man do ought in secret, and I not see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth?

He also observes the rule, "Whether you eat or drink or whatever else you do, do all to the glory of God." But one who departs from the strict observance of the commandment in performing his actions clearly shows that he has given small thought to God. Mindful, therefore, of the voice of him who said, "Do I not fill heaven and earth?

(Ver. 23, 24.) Do you think that I am a God nearby, says the Lord, and not a God from afar? If a man hides himself in hiding places, shall I not see him? says the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord. LXX: I am a God who approaches, says the Lord, and not a God from afar. If a man hides himself in hiding places, shall I not see him?

Can a man hide himself in hidden places and I not see him? — the utterance of the LORD. Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? — the utterance of the LORD.

I have heard what the prophets said who prophesy falsehood in my name, saying: I have dreamed, I have dreamed!

How long? Is there in the heart of the prophets who prophesy the falsehood — prophets of the deception of their own heart —

who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell each to his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name for Baal?

The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him speak my word in truth. What has the straw to do with the grain? — the utterance of the LORD.

Is not my word like fire — the utterance of the LORD — and like a hammer that shatters rock?

Therefore see, I am against the prophets — the utterance of the LORD — who steal my words each from his neighbor.

See, I am against the prophets — the utterance of the LORD — who take their tongue and utter an utterance.

See, I am against those who prophesy dreams of falsehood — the utterance of the LORD — and tell them and lead my people astray by their falsehoods and by their recklessness; and I did not send them and did not command them, and they profit this people nothing at all — the utterance of the LORD.

False Prophecies

And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, asks you, saying: What is the burden of the LORD? — then you will say to them: What burden? And I will abandon you — the utterance of the LORD.

And the prophet and the priest and the people who say, The burden of the LORD — I will attend to that man and to his house.

Thus you will say, each to his neighbor and each to his brother: What has the LORD answered? and, What has the LORD spoken?

And the burden of the LORD you will not remember again; for the burden will be each man’s own word, and you have overturned the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts our God.

Thus you will say to the prophet: What has the LORD answered you? and, What has the LORD spoken?

But if you say, The burden of the LORD — therefore thus says the LORD: Because you say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I sent to you saying, You shall not say, The burden of the LORD —

therefore see, I will surely lift you up and abandon you, and the city that I gave to you and to your fathers, from before my face.

And I will put on you an everlasting reproach and everlasting humiliation, which will not be forgotten.

Jeremiah23

David’s Righteous Branch

Lying Prophets

False Prophecies