Jeremiah 23 · WEB

The Righteous Branch and the False Prophets

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"Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" says Yahweh.

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

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.

⁴I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. They will fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither will any be lacking," says Yahweh.

⁵"Behold, the days come," says Yahweh, "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.

⁶In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely. This is his name by which he will be called: Yahweh our Righteousness."

⁷"Therefore behold, the days come," says Yahweh, "that they will no more say, 'As Yahweh lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;'

⁸but, 'As Yahweh 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."

⁹Concerning 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 Yahweh, and because of his holy words.

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

¹¹"For both prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in my house I have found their wickedness," says Yahweh.

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 Yahweh.

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

¹⁴In 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."

¹⁵Therefore Yahweh of Armies says concerning the prophets: "Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land."

¹⁶Yahweh of Armies 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 Yahweh.

¹⁷They say continually to those who despise me, 'Yahweh 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.'"

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

¹⁹Behold, Yahweh's storm, his wrath, has gone out. Yes, a whirling storm! It will burst on the head of the wicked.

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

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

²²But 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.

²³"Am I a God at hand," says Yahweh, "and not a God afar off?

²⁴Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I can't see him?" says Yahweh. "Don't I fill heaven and earth?" says Yahweh.

²⁵"I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, 'I had a dream! I had a dream!'

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

²⁷They intend to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they each tell his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name for 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 straw to the wheat?" says Yahweh.

²⁹"Isn't my word like fire?" says Yahweh; "and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

³⁰"Therefore behold, I am against the prophets," says Yahweh, "who each steal my words from his neighbor.

³¹Behold, I am against the prophets," says Yahweh, "who use their tongues, and say, 'He says.'

³²Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams," says Yahweh, "and 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 Yahweh.

³³"When this people, or the prophet, or a priest, asks you, saying, 'What is the message from Yahweh?' Then you shall tell them, '"What message? I will cast you off," says Yahweh.'

³⁴As for the prophet, the priest, and the people, who say, 'The message from Yahweh,' I will even punish that man and his house.

³⁵You will say everyone to his neighbor, and everyone to his brother, 'What has Yahweh answered?' and, 'What has Yahweh spoken?'

³⁶You will mention the message from Yahweh no more, for every man's own word has become his message; for you have perverted the words of the living God, of Yahweh of Armies, our God.

³⁷You will say to the prophet, 'What has Yahweh answered you?' and, 'What has Yahweh spoken?'

³⁸Although you say, 'The message from Yahweh,' therefore Yahweh says: 'Because you say this word, "The message from Yahweh," and I have sent to you, saying, "You shall not say, 'The message from Yahweh;'"

³⁹therefore 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.

⁴⁰I will bring an everlasting reproach on you, and a perpetual shame, which will not be forgotten.'"

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Summary

Jeremiah 23 divides into two major sections. The first (vv. 1-8) indicts the "shepherds" — the kings of Judah — who have scattered God's flock, then promises God himself will gather the remnant and raise up a "righteous Branch" from David's line who will reign with justice. This messianic figure will bear the name "Yahweh our Righteousness." The second section (vv. 9-40) is the longest sustained attack on false prophets in the Old Testament. These prophets commit adultery, strengthen evildoers, prophesy from their own dreams rather than from God's council, and promise peace to the wicked. God contrasts their straw with his wheat, their dreams with his word — which is like fire and a hammer that shatters rock. The chapter closes with God forbidding the very phrase "the message from Yahweh" because it has been so thoroughly corrupted.

Themes

Failed shepherds and the promise of a righteous king — the messianic Branch from David
False prophecy as spiritual adultery — prophets who invent messages and silence conviction
God's omnipresence — no one can hide from the God who fills heaven and earth
The nature of God's word — fire and hammer versus straw and dreams

Key verses

Jer 23:23-24 — “Am I a God at hand... and not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I can't see him?... Don't I fill heaven and earth?”
Jer 23:29 — “Isn't my word like fire?... and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”
Jer 23:5-6 — “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... This is his name by which he will be called: Yahweh our Righteousness.”

Context & background

The "shepherds" (vv. 1-2) are Judah's kings — the same royal line condemned in chapter 22. The "righteous Branch" (*tsemach tsaddiq*, v. 5) became a major messianic title, picked up by Zechariah (3:8, 6:12) and understood in later Jewish and Christian tradition as referring to the Messiah. The name "Yahweh our Righteousness" (*Yahweh Tsidqenu*) is a deliberate wordplay on King Zedekiah's name (*Tsidqiyyahu* = "Yahweh is my righteousness") — the coming king will actually be what Zedekiah only claimed to be. The "council of Yahweh" (v. 18) refers to the divine assembly, the heavenly court where God's decisions are made (cf. 1 Kings 22:19-23, Isaiah 6, Job 1-2). True prophets had access to this council; false prophets did not. Samaria (v. 13) was the capital of the northern kingdom (modern Sebastia in the West Bank, Palestine), destroyed by Assyria in 722 BC. Jerusalem's prophets (v. 14, modern Jerusalem, Israel) are declared worse than Samaria's — they have turned God's city into Sodom.

Cross-references

1 Kings 22:19-23 — Micaiah's vision of God's heavenly council, the standard for true prophetic access
Ezekiel 34:1-16 — God's indictment of Israel's shepherds and promise to shepherd the flock himself
Isaiah 11:1-5 — The Branch from Jesse's stump who judges with righteousness — the same messianic figure
John 10:11-14 — Jesus as the Good Shepherd who lays down his life, fulfilling the shepherd promise
Zechariah 3:8, 6:12 — "My servant the Branch" — later prophetic development of the Branch title

The Righteous Branch and the False Prophets

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