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Jeremiah 23:16-40 English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁶Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, ^(A)filling you with vain hopes. ^(B)They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. ¹⁷They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ^(C)‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who ^(D)stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ^(E)‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”

¹⁸For ^(F)who among them has stood in the council of the Lord
    to see and to hear his word,
    or who has paid attention to his word and listened?
¹⁹^(G)Behold, the storm of the Lord!
    Wrath has gone forth,
^(H)a whirling tempest;
    it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
²⁰^(I)The anger of the Lord will not turn back
    until he has executed and ^(J)accomplished
    the intents of his heart.
^(K)In the latter days you will understand it clearly.

²¹^(L)“I did not send the prophets,
    yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
    yet they prophesied.
²²^(M)But if they had stood in my council,
    then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
^(N)and they would have turned them from their evil way,
    and ^(O)from the evil of their deeds.

²³^(P)“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? ²⁴^(Q)Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. ^(R)Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. ²⁵I have heard what the prophets have said ^(S)who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ^(T)‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ ²⁶How long shall there be lies in the heart of ^(U)the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, ²⁷who think to make my people forget my name ^(V)by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their ^(W)fathers forgot my name for Baal? ²⁸^(X)Let the prophet who has a dream ^(Y)tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. ^(Z)What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. ²⁹^(AA)Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and ^(AB)like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? ³⁰^(AC)Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another. ³¹Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the Lord.’ ³²Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and ^(AD)lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when ^(AE)I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.

³³^(AF)“When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ you shall say to them, ‘You are the burden,^[a] and ^(AG)I will cast you off, declares the Lord.’ ³⁴And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ ^(AH)I will punish that man and his household. ³⁵Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁶But ‘the burden of the Lord’ you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man's own word, and ^(AI)you pervert the words of ^(AJ)the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. ³⁷Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁸But if you say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have said these words, “The burden of the Lord,” when I sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’” ³⁹therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up^[b] and ^(AK)cast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers. ⁴⁰^(AL)And I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and ^(AM)perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’”

English Standard Version (ESV)