Jeremiah chapter 23

The LORD God will raise up a righteous branch. Jeremiah rebukes the false prophets.

 


 

THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP A RIGHTEOUS BRANCH

 

VERSE 1. “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” says the LORD.

the shepherds. That is, the religious leaders.

destroy. Instead of building up the spiritual life of their people, the religious leaders were destroying spiritual lives.

scattering. Instead of uniting people together, the religious leaders were divided people.

They were agents of disunity.

the sheep of my pasture. The religious leaders were destroying the LORD God’s very own people.

 

VERSE 2. Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, says against the shepherds who feed my people: “You have scattered my flock, driven them away, and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit on you the evil of your doings,” says the LORD.

 

VERSE 3. “I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they will be fruitful and multiply.

HCSB translation. I will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands where I have banished them, and I will return them to their grazing land. They will become fruitful and numerous.

I myself will gather. The LORD God is a unifier. He gathers people together.

But religious leaders are dividers. They are agents of disunity.

the remnant of My flock. Religious denominations eventually become so corrupt that they cannot be reformed.

When that happens, the only way for the LORD God to rescue his people is for him to deliver them to a new setting.

He regathers them within a new denomination. That is what the Protestant Reformation achieved.

become fruitful and numerous. The effect of corrupt spiritual leadership is to stunt the spiritual fruitfulness of the people.

After people are liberated from corrupt leaders, they finally have a chance to flourish in their spiritual lives.

 

VERSE 4. I will set up shepherds over them, who will feed them. They will no longer be afraid or dismayed, neither will any be lacking,” says the LORD.

NLT translation. Then I will appoint responsible shepherds who will care for them, and they will never be afraid again. Not a single one will be lost or missing. I, the Lord, have spoken!

shepherds who will care for them. Sometimes the LORD God must enact a regime change.

He transplants people from a corrupt setting to a good one. Then they can flourish.

 

VERSE 5. “Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he will reign as king and deal wisely, and will execute justice and righteousness in the land.

a righteous Branch. This is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

VERSE 6. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely. This is his name by which he will be called: The LORD our righteousness.

 

VERSE 7. “Therefore behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that they will no more say, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;’

they will no more say. This new restoration will be dramatic.

People will no longer look back to when the LORD God brought them up out of Egypt.

The first Exodus will pale in comparison with this new Exodus.

 

VERSE 8. but, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up and who led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will dwell in their own land.”

 

JEREMIAH REBUKES THE FALSE PROPHETS

 

VERSE 9. Concerning the prophets: My heart within me is broken. 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.

Concerning the prophets. Jeremiah addresses the false prophets.

They opposed his declaration of doom. Instead, they promised an era of peace.

They were false prophets.

 

VERSE 10. For the land is full of adulterers; for because of the curse the land mourns. The pastures of the wilderness have dried up. Their course is evil, and their might is not right;

the land is full of adulterers. Instead of worshipping the LORD God, everyone was worshipping other gods.

 

VERSE 11. for both prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in my house I have found their wickedness,” says the LORD.

NIV translation. “Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness,” declares the LORD.

Both prophet and priest are godless. Just because a person is an official minister does no guarantee that they are a godly person.

That was true back then, and it is true today.

 

VERSE 12. Therefore their way will be to them as slippery places in the darkness. They will be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil on them, even the year of their visitation,” says the LORD.

their way will be to them as slippery places. Their way will become slippery for them. The very things upon which they stand will cause them to trip and fall.

They will reap what they have sown.

There is a law of “sowing and reaping” throughout the Bible. How shall we reconcile it with grace and mercy? Here are the verses we’ve found »

 

VERSE 13. “I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria. They prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.

 

VERSE 14. In the prophets of Jerusalem I have also seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one returns from his wickedness. They have all become to me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah.”

In the prophets of Jerusalem. The false prophets were the most corrupt people of all.

 

VERSE 15. Therefore the LORD of Hosts says concerning the prophets: “Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink poisoned water; for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”

wormwood. In the Bible, the word “wormwood” refers to water made bitter. Or to a corrupt political leader. Or to corrupt officials perverting justice. Read more »

 

VERSE 16. The LORD of Hosts says, “Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They teach you vanity. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.

Don’t listen to the words of the prophets. When a religious leader is corrupt, the people must NOT listen to him.

The date of the return of the Lord Jesus is unknown. It will be unexpected. However, some Christians claim to know when it will happen. They are false prophets. Read more »

 

VERSE 17. They say continually to those who despise me, ‘The LORD has said, “You will have peace;” ’ and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, ‘No evil will come on you.’

You will have peace. Many people think the time just before the Return of Christ will be an era of cataclysm. However, Paul says it will be when everything is peaceful and secure. Read more »

 

VERSE 18. For who has stood in the council of the LORD, that he should perceive and hear his word? Who has listened to my word, and heard it?

 

VERSE 19. Behold, the LORD’s storm, his wrath, has gone out. Yes, a whirling storm: It will burst on the head of the wicked.

 

VERSE 20. The LORD’s anger will not return until he has executed, and until he has performed the intents of his heart. In the latter days, you will understand it perfectly.

In the latter days. Biblical authors use the phrase “in the latter days.” In some cases it means “the present day.” But in other cases, it means “the future” or “The End of Days.” Read more »

 

VERSE 21. I didn’t send these prophets, yet they ran. I didn’t speak to them, yet they prophesied.

 

VERSE 22. But if they had stood in my council, then they would have caused my people to hear my words, and would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

 

VERSE 23. “Am I a God at hand,” says the LORD, “and not a God afar off?

 

VERSE 24. Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I can’t see him?” says the LORD. “Don’t I fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD.

 

VERSE 25. “I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’

 

VERSE 26. How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart?

 

VERSE 27. They intend to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they each tell his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name because of Baal.

 

VERSE 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 straw to the wheat?” says the LORD.

 

VERSE 29. “Isn’t my word like fire?” says the LORD; “and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

NIV translation. “Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?”

This verse is fantastic! Would you consider memorizing it? More great verses to memorize from the Book of Jeremiah and from the entire Bible.

word. The Hebrew word is “dabar.” It means word, words, speech.

In the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ is called the Word.

Is not my word like fire. The Bible sometimes associates fire with the presence of the Most High God. Read more »

rock. The Hebrew word is “sela.”. It means a crag, a cliff, a Rock, a rock.

In this verse, the Word smashes the rock.

 

VERSE 30. “Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says the LORD, “who each steal my words from his neighbor.

 

VERSE 31. Behold, I am against the prophets,” says the LORD, “who use their tongues, and say, ‘He says.’

 

VERSE 32. Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams,” says the LORD, “who tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting; yet I didn’t send them or command them. They don’t profit this people at all,” says the LORD.

prophecy lying dreams. The false prophets claimed to have mystical dreams. But they were lying.

In ancient times, the LORD God sometimes made his guidance known to people in their dreams. Even today, this is still possible for the all-powerful LORD God. Read more »

 

VERSE 33. “When this people, or the prophet, or a priest, asks you, saying, ‘What is the message from the LORD?’ Then you shall tell them, ‘ “What message? I will cast you off,” says the LORD.’

 

VERSE 34. As for the prophet, the priest, and the people, who say, ‘The message from the LORD,’ I will even punish that man and his household.

 

VERSE 35. You will say everyone to his neighbor, and everyone to his brother, ‘What has the LORD answered?’ and, ‘What has the LORD said?’

 

VERSE 36. You will mention the message from the LORD no more: for every man’s own word has become his message; for you have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of Hosts, our God.

 

VERSE 37. You will say to the prophet, ‘What has the LORD answered you?’ and, ‘What has the LORD spoken?’

 

VERSE 38. Although you say, ‘The message from the LORD;’ therefore the LORD says: ‘Because you say this word, “The message from the LORD,” and I have sent to you, telling you not to say, “The message from the LORD;”

 

VERSE 39. therefore, behold, I will utterly forget you, and I will cast you off, and the city that I gave to you and to your fathers, away from my presence.

 

VERSE 40. I will bring an everlasting reproach on you, and a perpetual shame, which will not be forgotten.’ ”

 


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JEREMIAH

CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52

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