Jeremiah:22-23

---

Seeker Overlay ON

* Thus saith the LORD ; Go down to the house of the king of Judah , and speak there this word , * And say , Hear the word of the LORD , O king of Judah , that sittest upon the throne of David , thou , and thy servants , and thy people that enter in by these gates : * Thus saith the LORD ; Execute ye judgment and righteousness , and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor : and do no wrong , do no violence to the stranger , the fatherless , nor the widow , neither shed innocent blood in this place . * For if ye do this thing indeed , then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David , riding in chariots and on horses , he , and his servants , and his people . * But if ye will not hear these words , I swear by myself , saith the LORD , that this house shall become a desolation . * For thus saith the LORD unto the king 's house of Judah ; Thou art Gilead unto me , and the head of Lebanon : yet surely I will make thee a wilderness , and cities which are not inhabited . * And I will prepare destroyers against thee , every one with his weapons : and they shall cut down thy choice cedars , and cast them into the fire . * And many nations shall pass by this city , and they shall say every man to his neighbour , Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great city ? * Then they shall answer , Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God , and worshipped other gods , and served them . * Weep ye not for the dead , neither bemoan him : but weep sore for him that goeth away : for he shall return no more , nor see his native country . * For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah , which reigned instead of Josiah his father , which went forth out of this place ; He shall not return thither any more : * But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive , and shall see this land no more . * Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness , and his chambers by wrong ; that useth his neighbour 's service without wages , and giveth him not for his work ; * That saith , I will build me a wide house and large chambers , and cutteth him out windows ; and it is cieled with cedar , and painted with vermilion . * Shalt thou reign , because thou closest thyself in cedar ? did not thy father eat and drink , and do judgment and justice , and then it was well with him ? * He judged the cause of the poor and needy ; then it was well with him : was not this to know me ? saith the LORD . * But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness , and for to shed innocent blood , and for oppression , and for violence , to do it . * Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah ; They shall not lament for him , saying , Ah my brother ! or , Ah sister ! they shall not lament for him , saying , Ah lord ! or , Ah his glory ! * He shall be buried with the burial of an ass , drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem . * Go up to Lebanon , and cry ; and lift up thy voice in Bashan , and cry from the passages : for all thy lovers are destroyed . * I spake unto thee in thy prosperity ; but thou saidst , I will not hear . This hath been thy manner from thy youth , that thou obeyedst not my voice . * The wind shall eat up all thy pastors , and thy lovers shall go into captivity : surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness . * O inhabitant of Lebanon , that makest thy nest in the cedars , how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee , the pain as of a woman in travail ! * As I live , saith the LORD , though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand , yet would I pluck thee thence ; * And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life , and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest , even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon , and into the hand of the Chaldeans . * And I will cast thee out , and thy mother that bare thee , into another country , where ye were not born ; and there shall ye die . * But to the land whereunto they desire to return , thither shall they not return . * Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol ? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure ? wherefore are they cast out , he and his seed , and are cast into a land which they know not ? * O earth , earth , earth , hear the word of the LORD . * Thus saith the LORD , Write ye this man childless , a man that shall not prosper in his days : for no man of his seed shall prosper , sitting upon the throne of David , and ruling any more in Judah . * Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture ! saith the LORD . * Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people ; Ye have scattered my flock , and driven them away , and have not visited them : behold , I will visit upon you the evil of your doings , saith the LORD . * And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them , and will bring them again to their folds ; and they shall be fruitful and increase . * And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them : and they shall fear no more , nor be dismayed , neither shall they be lacking , saith the LORD . * Behold , the days come , saith the LORD , that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch , and a King shall reign and prosper , and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth . * In his days Judah shall be saved , and Israel shall dwell safely : and this is his name whereby he shall be called , THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS . * Therefore , behold , the days come , saith the LORD , that they shall no more say , The LORD liveth , which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt ; * But , The LORD liveth , which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country , and from all countries whither I had driven them ; and they shall dwell in their own land . * Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets ; all my bones shake ; I am like a drunken man , and like a man whom wine hath overcome , because of the LORD , and because of the words of his holiness . * For the land is full of adulterers ; for because of swearing the land mourneth ; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up , and their course is evil , and their force is not right . * For both prophet and priest are profane ; yea , in my house have I found their wickedness , saith the LORD . * Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness : they shall be driven on , and fall therein : for I will bring evil upon them , even the year of their visitation , saith the LORD . * And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria ; they prophesied in Baal , and caused my people Israel to err . * I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing : they commit adultery , and walk in lies : they strengthen also the hands of evildoers , that none doth return from his wickedness : they are all of them unto me as Sodom , and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah . * Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets ; Behold , I will feed them with wormwood , and make them drink the water of gall : for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land . * Thus saith the LORD of hosts , Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you : they make you vain : they speak a vision of their own heart , and not out of the mouth of the LORD . * They say still unto them that despise me , The LORD hath said , Ye shall have peace ; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart , No evil shall come upon you . * For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD , and hath perceived and heard his word ? who hath marked his word , and heard it ? * Behold , a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury , even a grievous whirlwind : it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked . * The anger of the LORD shall not return , until he have executed , and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart : in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly . * I have not sent these prophets , yet they ran : I have not spoken to them , yet they prophesied . * But if they had stood in my counsel , and had caused my people to hear my words , then they should have turned them from their evil way , and from the evil of their doings . * Am I a God at hand , saith the LORD , and not a God afar off ? * Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him ? saith the LORD . Do not I fill heaven and earth ? saith the LORD . * I have heard what the prophets said , that prophesy lies in my name , saying , I have dreamed , I have dreamed . * How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies ? yea , they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart ; * Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour , as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal . * The prophet that hath a dream , let him tell a dream ; and he that hath my word , let him speak my word faithfully . What is the chaff to the wheat ? saith the LORD . * Is not my word like as a fire ? saith the LORD ; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces ? * Therefore , behold , I am against the prophets , saith the LORD , that steal my words every one from his neighbour . * Behold , I am against the prophets , saith the LORD , that use their tongues , and say , He saith . * Behold , I am against them that prophesy false dreams , saith the LORD , and do tell them , and cause my people to err by their lies , and by their lightness ; yet I sent them not , nor commanded them : therefore they shall not profit this people at all , saith the LORD . * And when this people , or the prophet , or a priest , shall ask thee , saying , What is the burden of the LORD ? thou shalt then say unto them , What burden ? I will even forsake you , saith the LORD . * And as for the prophet , and the priest , and the people , that shall say , The burden of the LORD , I will even punish that man and his house . * Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour , and every one to his brother , What hath the LORD answered ? and , What hath the LORD spoken ? * And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more : for every man 's word shall be his burden ; for ye have perverted the words of the living God , of the LORD of hosts our God . * Thus shalt thou say to the prophet , What hath the LORD answered thee ? and , What hath the LORD spoken ? * But since ye say , The burden of the LORD ; therefore thus saith the LORD ; Because ye say this word , The burden of the LORD , and I have sent unto you , saying , Ye shall not say , The burden of the LORD ; * Therefore , behold , I , even I , will utterly forget you , and I will forsake you , and the city that I gave you and your fathers , and cast you out of my presence : * And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you , and a perpetual shame , which shall not be forgotten . * The LORD shewed me , and , behold , two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD , after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah , and the princes of Judah , with the carpenters and smiths , from Jerusalem , and had brought them to Babylon .

---