1"Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture," says the LORD.
2So this is what the LORD God of Israel says against the shepherds who feed my people: You have scattered my flock. You have driven them away, and you have not cared for them. Look, I will punish you for the evil you have done, says the LORD.
3And I will gather what is left of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their folds, and they will be fruitful and increase.
4And I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. They will not be afraid any more, or dismayed, and not one of them will be missing, says the LORD.
5Look, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch. A King will reign and prosper, and will do what is just and right in the earth.
6In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will live safely. And this is the name he will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
7So look, the days are coming, says the LORD, when people will no longer say, "As the LORD lives, who brought the children of Israel up out of the land of Egypt."
8Instead they will say, "As the LORD lives, who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel out of the north country, and out of all the countries where I had driven them." And they will live in their own land.
9My heart inside me is broken because of the prophets. All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, like a man that wine has overcome, because of the LORD, and because of his holy words.
10For the land is full of adulterers. Because of swearing the land mourns. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. The course they run is evil, and their strength is not used rightly.
11For both prophet and priest are unholy. Yes, in my own house I have found their wickedness, says the LORD.
12So their way will be to them like slippery paths in the dark. They will be driven on, and they will fall in it. For I will bring evil upon them in the year of their punishment, says the LORD.
13And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria. They prophesied by Baal, and led my people Israel astray.
14I have also seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of those who do evil, so that no one turns back from his wickedness. To me they are all like Sodom, and the people who live there like Gomorrah.
15So this is what the LORD of hosts says about the prophets: Look, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink poisoned water. For from the prophets of Jerusalem an unholy way has spread through all the land.
16This is what the LORD of hosts says: Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you empty. They speak a vision out of their own heart, and not from the mouth of the LORD.
17They keep saying to those who despise me, "The LORD has said, 'You will have peace.'" And to everyone who walks after the stubbornness of his own heart they say, "No harm will come to you."
18For who has stood in the council of the LORD, and has seen and heard his word? Who has listened to his word, and heard it?
19Look, a whirlwind from the LORD has gone out in fury, a terrible whirlwind. It will fall heavily on the head of the wicked.
20The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has done it, and carried out the purposes of his heart. In the last days you will understand this clearly.
21I did not send these prophets, yet they ran. I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.
22But if they had stood in my council, and had made my people hear my words, then they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
23Am I a God who is near, says the LORD, and not a God far away?
24Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I do not see him? says the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the LORD.
25I have heard what the prophets said who prophesy lies in my name. They say, "I have dreamed, I have dreamed."
26How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Yes, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart.
27They plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams, which they tell to one another, just as their fathers forgot my name for Baal.
28Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream. And let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? says the LORD.
29Is not my word like a fire? says the LORD. Is it not like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
30So look, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who steal my words, each one from his neighbour.
31Look, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who use their own tongues and say, "He says."
32Look, I am against those who prophesy false dreams, says the LORD. They tell them, and lead my people astray by their lies and by their reckless boasting. Yet I did not send them or command them. So they do this people no good at all, says the LORD.
33And when this people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, "What is the burden of the LORD?" you will say to them, "What burden? I will even cast you off, says the LORD."
34And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people who say, "The burden of the LORD," I will punish that man and his household.
35This is what each of you will say to his neighbour, and each to his brother: "What has the LORD answered?" and, "What has the LORD spoken?"
36And you will not speak of the burden of the LORD any more. For every man's own word will be his burden, because you have twisted the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts our God.
37This is what you will say to the prophet: "What has the LORD answered you?" and, "What has the LORD spoken?"
38But since you say, "The burden of the LORD," this is what the LORD says: Because you say these words, "The burden of the LORD," when I sent word to you saying, "You shall not say, 'The burden of the LORD,'"
39therefore look, I, even I, will completely forget you. I will cast you off, and the city that I gave to you and to your fathers, and throw you out of my presence.
40And I will bring on you everlasting disgrace and lasting shame, which will never be forgotten.