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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Jeremiah 23 GNT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/jeremiah/23.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/jeremiah/23-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">GNT</a> > Jeremiah 23</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../jeremiah/22.htm" title="Jeremiah 22">◄</a> Jeremiah 23 <a href="../jeremiah/24.htm" title="Jeremiah 24">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Good News Translation</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s">Hope for the Future</h3><p class="par"><span class="v24_23_1"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.1" class="v24_23_1">1</span>How terrible will be the <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s judgment on those rulers who destroy and scatter his people! </span><span class="v24_23_2"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.2" class="v24_23_2">2</span>This is what the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, the God of Israel, says about the rulers who were supposed to take care of his people: “You have not taken care of my people; you have scattered them and driven them away. Now I am going to punish you for the evil you have done. </span><span class="v24_23_3"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.3" class="v24_23_3">3</span>I will gather the rest of my people from the countries where I have scattered them, and I will bring them back to their homeland. They will have many children and increase in number. </span><span class="v24_23_4"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.4" class="v24_23_4">4</span>I will appoint rulers to take care of them. My people will no longer be afraid or terrified, and I will not punish them again.<a href="#fn" id="link_Jer.23.4!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> I, the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, have spoken.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v24_23_5"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.5" class="v24_23_5">5</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Jer.23.5!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> The <span class="nd">Lord</span> says, “The time is coming when I will choose as king a righteous descendant of David. That king will rule wisely and do what is right and just throughout the land. </span><span class="v24_23_6"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.6" class="v24_23_6">6</span>When he is king, the people of Judah will be safe, and the people of Israel will live in peace. He will be called ‘The <span class="nd">Lord</span> Our Salvation.’</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v24_23_7"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.7" class="v24_23_7">7</span>“The time is coming,” says the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, “when people will no longer swear by me as the living God who brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt. </span><span class="v24_23_8"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.8" class="v24_23_8">8</span>Instead, they will swear by me as the living God who brought the people of Israel out of a northern land and out of all the other countries where I had scattered them. Then they will live in their own land.”</span></p><h3 class="s">Jeremiah's Message about the Prophets</h3><p class="q1"><span class="v24_23_9"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.9" class="v24_23_9">9</span>My heart is crushed,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_23_9">and I am trembling.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_23_9">Because of the <span class="nd">Lord</span>,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_23_9">because of his holy words,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_23_9">I am like a man who is drunk,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_23_9">someone who has had too much wine.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_23_10"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.10" class="v24_23_10">10</span>The land is full of people unfaithful to the <span class="nd">Lord</span>;</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_23_10">they live wicked lives and misuse their power.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_23_10">Because of the <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s curse the land mourns</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_23_10">and the pastures are dry.</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="par"><span class="v24_23_11"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.11" class="v24_23_11">11</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> says,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_23_11">“The prophets and the priests are godless;</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_23_11">I have caught them doing evil in the Temple itself.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_23_12"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.12" class="v24_23_12">12</span>The paths they follow will be slippery and dark;</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_23_12">I will make them stumble and fall.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_23_12">I am going to bring disaster on them;</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_23_12">the time of their punishment is coming.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_23_12">I, the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, have spoken.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_23_13"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.13" class="v24_23_13">13</span>I have seen the sin of Samaria's prophets:</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_23_13">they have spoken in the name of Baal</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_23_13">and have led my people astray.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_23_14"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.14" class="v24_23_14">14</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Jer.23.14!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> But I have seen the prophets in Jerusalem do even worse:</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_23_14">they commit adultery and tell lies;</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_23_14">they help people to do wrong,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_23_14">so that no one stops doing what is evil.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_23_14">To me they are all as bad</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_23_14">as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="par"><span class="v24_23_15"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.15" class="v24_23_15">15</span>“So then, this is what I, the <span class="nd">Lord</span> Almighty, say about the prophets of Jerusalem:</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_23_15">I will give them bitter plants to eat</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_23_15">and poison to drink,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_23_15">because they have spread ungodliness throughout the land.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v24_23_16"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.16" class="v24_23_16">16</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> Almighty said to the people of Jerusalem, “Do not listen to what the prophets say; they are filling you with false hopes. They tell you what they have imagined and not what I have said. </span><span class="v24_23_17"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.17" class="v24_23_17">17</span>To the people who refuse to listen to what I have said, they keep saying that all will go well with them. And they tell everyone who is stubborn that disaster will never touch them.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v24_23_18"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.18" class="v24_23_18">18</span>I said, “None of these prophets has ever known the <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s secret thoughts. None of them has ever heard or understood his message, or ever listened or paid attention to what he said. </span><span class="v24_23_19"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.19" class="v24_23_19">19</span>His anger is a storm, a furious wind that will rage over the heads of the wicked, </span><span class="v24_23_20"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.20" class="v24_23_20">20</span>and it will not end until he has done everything he intends to do. In days to come his people will understand this clearly.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v24_23_21"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.21" class="v24_23_21">21</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> said, “I did not send these prophets, but even so they went. I did not give them any message, but still they spoke in my name. </span><span class="v24_23_22"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.22" class="v24_23_22">22</span>If they had known my secret thoughts, then they could have proclaimed my message to my people and could have made them give up the evil lives they live and the wicked things they do.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v24_23_23"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.23" class="v24_23_23">23</span>“I am a God who is everywhere and not in one place only. </span><span class="v24_23_24"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.24" class="v24_23_24">24</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Jer.23.24!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> No one can hide where I cannot see them. Do you not know that I am everywhere in heaven and on earth? </span><span class="v24_23_25"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.25" class="v24_23_25">25</span>I know what those prophets have said who speak lies in my name and claim that I have given them my messages in their dreams. </span><span class="v24_23_26"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.26" class="v24_23_26">26</span>How much longer will those prophets mislead my people with the lies they have invented? </span><span class="v24_23_27"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.27" class="v24_23_27">27</span>They think that the dreams they tell will make my people forget me, just as their ancestors forgot me and turned to Baal. </span><span class="v24_23_28"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.28" class="v24_23_28">28</span>The prophet who has had a dream should say it is only a dream, but the prophet who has heard my message should proclaim that message faithfully. What good is straw compared with wheat? </span><span class="v24_23_29"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.29" class="v24_23_29">29</span>My message is like a fire and like a hammer that breaks rocks in pieces. </span><span class="v24_23_30"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.30" class="v24_23_30">30</span>I am against those prophets who take each other's words and proclaim them as my message. </span><span class="v24_23_31"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.31" class="v24_23_31">31</span>I am also against those prophets who speak their own words and claim they came from me. </span><span class="v24_23_32"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.32" class="v24_23_32">32</span>Listen to what I, the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, say! I am against the prophets who tell their dreams that are full of lies. They tell these dreams and lead my people astray with their lies and their boasting. I did not send them or order them to go, and they are of no help at all to the people. I, the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, have spoken.”</span></p><h3 class="s">The <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s Burden</h3><p class="par"><span class="v24_23_33"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.33" class="v24_23_33">33</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> said to me, “Jeremiah, when one of my people or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s message?’ you are to say, ‘You are a burden<a href="#fn" id="link_Jer.23.33!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> to the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, and he is going to get rid of you.’ </span><span class="v24_23_34"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.34" class="v24_23_34">34</span>If any of my people or a prophet or a priest even uses the words ‘the <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s burden,’ I will punish them and their families. </span><span class="v24_23_35"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.35" class="v24_23_35">35</span>Instead, each one of them should ask their friends and their relatives, ‘What answer has the <span class="nd">Lord</span> given? What has the <span class="nd">Lord</span> said?’ </span><span class="v24_23_36"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.36" class="v24_23_36">36</span>So they must no longer use the words ‘the <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s burden,’ because if any of them do, I will make my message a real burden to them. The people have perverted the words of their God, the living God, the <span class="nd">Lord</span> Almighty. </span><span class="v24_23_37"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.37" class="v24_23_37">37</span>Jeremiah, ask the prophets, ‘What answer did the <span class="nd">Lord</span> give you? What did the <span class="nd">Lord</span> say?’ </span><span class="v24_23_38"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.38" class="v24_23_38">38</span>And if they disobey my command and use the words ‘the <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s burden,’ then tell them that </span><span class="v24_23_39"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.39" class="v24_23_39">39</span>I will certainly pick them up<a href="#fn" id="link_Jer.23.39!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> and throw them far away from me, both them and the city that I gave to them and their ancestors. </span><span class="v24_23_40"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.23.40" class="v24_23_40">40</span>I will bring on them everlasting shame and disgrace that will never be forgotten.”</span></p><a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">23.4: </char><char style="fq" closed="false">I will not punish them again; </char><char style="ft" closed="false">or </char><char style="fq" closed="false">not one of them will be missing.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">23.33: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">The Hebrew word for </char><char style="fq" closed="false">message </char><char style="ft" closed="false">and </char><char style="fq" closed="false">burden </char><char style="ft" closed="false">is the same.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">23.39: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">The Hebrew verb for </char><char style="fq" closed="false">pick up </char><char style="ft" closed="false">comes from the same root as the Hebrew word for </char><char style="fq" closed="false">message </char><char style="ft" closed="false">and </char><char style="fq" closed="false">burden.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 1992 American Bible Society. 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