| New King James Version | New Living Translation |
| 1“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the LORD. | 1“What sorrow awaits the leaders of my people—the shepherds of my sheep—for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for,” says the LORD. |
| 2Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the LORD. | 2Therefore, this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to these shepherds: “Instead of caring for my flock and leading them to safety, you have deserted them and driven them to destruction. Now I will pour out judgment on you for the evil you have done to them. |
| 3“But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. | 3But I will gather together the remnant of my flock from the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their own sheepfold, and they will be fruitful and increase in number. |
| 4I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the LORD. | 4Then 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! |
| 5“Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. | 5“For the time is coming,” says the LORD, “when I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will be a King who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. |
| 6In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. | 6And this will be his name: ‘The LORD Is Our Righteousness.’ In that day Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety. |
| 7“Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ | 7“In that day,” says the LORD, “when people are taking an oath, they will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.’ |
| 8but, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.” | 8Instead, they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.’ Then they will live in their own land.” Judgment on False Prophets |
| 9My 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 has overcome, Because of the LORD, And because of His holy words. | 9My heart is broken because of the false prophets, and my bones tremble. I stagger like a drunkard, like someone overcome by wine, because of the holy words the LORD has spoken against them. |
| 10For the land is full of adulterers; For because of a curse the land mourns. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. Their course of life is evil, And their might is not right. | 10For the land is full of adultery, and it lies under a curse. The land itself is in mourning— its wilderness pastures are dried up. For they all do evil and abuse what power they have. |
| 11“For both prophet and priest are profane; Yes, in My house I have found their wickedness,” says the LORD. | 11“Even the priests and prophets are ungodly, wicked men. I have seen their despicable acts right here in my own Temple,” says the LORD. |
| 12“Therefore their way shall be to them Like slippery ways; In the darkness they shall be driven on And fall in them; For I will bring disaster on them, The year of their punishment,” says the LORD. | 12“Therefore, the paths they take will become slippery. They will be chased through the dark, and there they will fall. For I will bring disaster upon them at the time fixed for their punishment. I, the LORD, have spoken! |
| 13“And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: They prophesied by Baal And caused My people Israel to err. | 13“I saw that the prophets of Samaria were terribly evil, for they prophesied in the name of Baal and led my people of Israel into sin. |
| 14Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: They commit adultery and walk in lies; They also strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to Me, And her inhabitants like Gomorrah. | 14But now I see that the prophets of Jerusalem are even worse! They commit adultery and love dishonesty. They encourage those who are doing evil so that no one turns away from their sins. These prophets are as wicked as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah once were.” |
| 15“Therefore thus says 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 Profaneness has gone out into all the land.’ ” | 15Therefore, this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says concerning the prophets: “I will feed them with bitterness and give them poison to drink. For it is because of Jerusalem’s prophets that wickedness has filled this land.” |
| 16Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the LORD. | 16This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says to his people: “Do not listen to these prophets when they prophesy to you, filling you with futile hopes. They are making up everything they say. They do not speak for the LORD! |
| 17They continually say to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD has said, “You shall have peace” ’; And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’ ” | 17They keep saying to those who despise my word, ‘Don’t worry! The LORD says you will have peace!’ And to those who stubbornly follow their own desires, they say, ‘No harm will come your way!’ |
| 18For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD, And has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it? | 18“Have any of these prophets been in the LORD’s presence to hear what he is really saying? Has even one of them cared enough to listen? |
| 19Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD has gone forth in fury— A violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked. | 19Look! The LORD’s anger bursts out like a storm, a whirlwind that swirls down on the heads of the wicked. |
| 20The anger of the LORD will not turn back Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly. | 20The anger of the LORD will not diminish until it has finished all he has planned. In the days to come you will understand all this very clearly. |
| 21“I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. | 21“I have not sent these prophets, yet they run around claiming to speak for me. I have given them no message, yet they go on prophesying. |
| 22But if they had stood in My counsel, And had caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way And from the evil of their doings. | 22If they had stood before me and listened to me, they would have spoken my words, and they would have turned my people from their evil ways and deeds. |
| 23“Am I a God near at hand,” says the LORD, “And not a God afar off? | 23Am I a God who is only close at hand?” says the LORD. “No, I am far away at the same time. |
| 24Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the LORD; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD. | 24Can anyone hide from me in a secret place? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?” says the LORD. |
| 25“I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ | 25“I have heard these prophets say, ‘Listen to the dream I had from God last night.’ And then they proceed to tell lies in my name. |
| 26How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, | 26How long will this go on? If they are prophets, they are prophets of deceit, inventing everything they say. |
| 27who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal. | 27By telling these false dreams, they are trying to get my people to forget me, just as their ancestors did by worshiping the idols of Baal. |
| 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 chaff to the wheat?” says the LORD. | 28“Let these false prophets tell their dreams, but let my true messengers faithfully proclaim my every word. There is a difference between straw and grain! |
| 29“Is not My word like a fire?” says the LORD, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? | 29Does not my word burn like fire?” says the LORD. “Is it not like a mighty hammer that smashes a rock to pieces? |
| 30“Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says the LORD, “who steal My words every one from his neighbor. | 30“Therefore,” says the LORD, “I am against these prophets who steal messages from each other and claim they are from me. |
| 31Behold, I am against the prophets,” says the LORD, “who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’ | 31I am against these smooth-tongued prophets who say, ‘This prophecy is from the LORD!’ |
| 32Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” says the LORD, “and tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all,” says the LORD. | 32I am against these false prophets. Their imaginary dreams are flagrant lies that lead my people into sin. I did not send or appoint them, and they have no message at all for my people. I, the LORD, have spoken! False Prophecies and False Prophets |
| 33“So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, ‘What is the oracle of the LORD?’ you shall then say to them, ‘What oracle?’ I will even forsake you,” says the LORD. | 33“Suppose one of the people or one of the prophets or priests asks you, ‘What prophecy has the LORD burdened you with now?’ You must reply, ‘You are the burden! The LORD says he will abandon you!’ |
| 34“And as for the prophet and the priest and the people who say, ‘The oracle of the LORD!’ I will even punish that man and his house. | 34“If any prophet, priest, or anyone else says, ‘I have a prophecy from the LORD,’ I will punish that person along with his entire family. |
| 35Thus every one of you shall say to his neighbor, and every one to his brother, ‘What has the LORD answered?’ and, ‘What has the LORD spoken?’ | 35You should keep asking each other, ‘What is the LORD’s answer?’ or ‘What is the LORD saying?’ |
| 36And the oracle of the LORD you shall mention no more. For every man’s word will be his oracle, for you have perverted the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God. | 36But stop using this phrase, ‘prophecy from the LORD.’ For people are using it to give authority to their own ideas, turning upside down the words of our God, the living God, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. |
| 37Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the LORD answered you?’ and, ‘What has the LORD spoken?’ | 37“This is what you should say to the prophets: ‘What is the LORD’s answer?’ or ‘What is the LORD saying?’ |
| 38But since you say, ‘The oracle of the LORD!’ therefore thus says the LORD: ‘Because you say this word, “The oracle of the LORD!” and I have sent to you, saying, “Do not say, ‘The oracle of the LORD!’ ” | 38But suppose they respond, ‘This is a prophecy from the LORD!’ Then you should say, ‘This is what the LORD says: Because you have used this phrase, “prophecy from the LORD,” even though I warned you not to use it, |
| 39therefore behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you and forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and will cast you out of My presence. | 39I will forget you completely. I will expel you from my presence, along with this city that I gave to you and your ancestors. |
| 40And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’ ” | 40And I will make you an object of ridicule, and your name will be infamous throughout the ages.’” |
| The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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