The Righteous Branch
Jer 23:1 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD.
Jer 23:2 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the LORD.
Jer 23:3 “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number.
Jer 23:4 I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the LORD.
Jer 23:5 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.
Jer 23:6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteous Savior.
Jer 23:7 “So then, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when people will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’
Jer 23:8 but they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ Then they will live in their own land.”
Lying Prophets
Jer 23:9 Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble. I am like a drunken man, like a strong man overcome by wine, because of the LORD and his holy words.
Jer 23:10 The land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land lies parched and the pastures in the wilderness are withered. The prophets follow an evil course and use their power unjustly.
Jer 23:11 “Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness,” declares the LORD.
Jer 23:12 “Therefore their path will become slippery; they will be banished to darkness and there they will fall. I will bring disaster on them in the year they are punished,” declares the LORD.
Jer 23:13 “Among the prophets of Samaria I saw this repulsive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.
Jer 23:14 And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that not one of them turns from their wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.”
Jer 23:15 Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says concerning the prophets: “I will make them eat bitter food and drink poisoned water, because from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.”
Jer 23:16 This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.
Jer 23:17 They keep saying to those who despise me, ‘The LORD says: You will have peace.’ And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, ‘No harm will come to you.’
Jer 23:18 But which of them has stood in the council of the LORD to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word?
Jer 23:19 See, the storm of the LORD will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked.
Jer 23:20 The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart. In days to come you will understand it clearly.
Jer 23:21 I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied.
Jer 23:22 But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.
Jer 23:23 “Am I only a God nearby,” declares the LORD, “and not a God far away?
Jer 23:24 Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD.
Jer 23:25 “I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’
Jer 23:26 How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds?
Jer 23:27 They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their ancestors forgot my name through Baal worship.
Jer 23:28 Let the prophet who has a dream recount the dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the LORD.
Jer 23:29 “Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?
Jer 23:30 “Therefore,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me.
Jer 23:31 Yes,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, ‘The LORD declares.’
Jer 23:32 Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” declares the LORD. “They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least,” declares the LORD.
Jer 23:33 “When these people, or a prophet or a priest, ask you, ‘What is the message from the LORD?’ say to them, ‘What message? I will forsake you, declares the LORD.’
Jer 23:34 If a prophet or a priest or anyone else claims, ‘This is a message from the LORD,’ I will punish them and their household.
Jer 23:35 This is what each of you keeps saying to your friends and other Israelites: ‘What is the LORD’s answer?’ or ‘What has the LORD spoken?’
Jer 23:36 But you must not mention ‘a message from the LORD’ again, because each one’s word becomes their own message. So you distort the words of the living God, the LORD Almighty, our God.
Jer 23:37 This is what you keep saying to a prophet: ‘What is the LORD’s answer to you?’ or ‘What has the LORD spoken?’
Jer 23:38 Although you claim, ‘This is a message from the LORD,’ this is what the LORD says: You used the words, ‘This is a message from the LORD,’ even though I told you that you must not claim, ‘This is a message from the LORD.’
Jer 23:39 Therefore, I will surely forget you and cast you out of my presence along with the city I gave to you and your ancestors.
Jer 23:40 I will bring on you everlasting disgrace—everlasting shame that will not be forgotten.”
1 He prophesies a restoration of the scattered flock. 5 Christ shall rule and save them. 9 Against false prophets, 33 and mockers of the true prophets.
The Righteous Branch
Jer 23:1 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD.
There is no indication in ch. 23 itself as to the date of this message of woe. However, seeing that the prophecy is placed between a message given before Jehoiachin’s captivity (ch. 22:20–30) and a message that immediately follows Jehoiachin’s captivity (ch. 24), it is not unreasonable to suppose that this message of ch. 23 came during the year 597 b.c.
Jeremiah presents (ch. 23:1–8) the contrast between these false shepherds and the true ones that God will raise up. It is significant that about this same time, in the land of exile, Ezekiel should similarly contrast the false shepherds with the true (see Eze. 34).
My pasture. A pointed reminder to the leaders of Judah that the Lord is the true Shepherd of His flock (see Ps. 23; 79:13; 100:3; John 10:11–15).
Jer 23:2 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the LORD.
Scattered my flock. This accusation was literally as well as spiritually true. As a result of the neglect, tyranny, weakness, and apostasy of their rulers, the Israelites were dispersed into Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, etc.
Bestow punishment.. See on Ps. 8:4; Ps. 59:5. Inasmuch as the unfaithful shepherds had “not visited” the flock with the purpose of attending to the needs of the sheep, God would “visit” these shepherds with the purpose of punishing them for “the evil” of their “doings.”
Jer 23:3 “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number.
Though certain and final doom was to fall upon the “shepherds,” or rulers, there was hope for “the remnant” of the flock. The prophet brought these messages of hope to Judah at the very time when the besieging armies of Babylon were being brought against Jerusalem (see PK 427), perhaps during the time Jehoiachin was being besieged in 597 b.c. (see on v. 1).
Jer 23:4 I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the LORD.
The evil shepherds “fed themselves, and fed not the flock” (Eze. 34:8). God planned that the shepherds of the restoration should be true to their name and trust, and be faithful undershepherds of the “chief Shepherd” (1 Peter 5:2–4).
Jer 23:5 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.
A King will reign. Referring to the “Branch,” Christ, who will rule with “judgment and justice” the kingdom of the redeemed (see Isa. 9:6, 7; Dan. 7:13, 14; Rev. 11:15).
Jer 23:6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteous Saviour.
The promise of restoration to those who were faithful was given to all the people, both the house of Judah and the house of Israel (see on ch. 3:18).
The Lord our righteous Saviour. A title calling attention to the fact that righteousness comes only through Christ (see Rom. 1:16, 17; 3:21–25; 8:1–4; 9:30–33).
Jer 23:7 “So then, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when people will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’
Jer 23:8 but they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ Then they will live in their own land.”
Lying Prophets
Jer 23:9 Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble. I am like a drunken man, like a strong man overcome by wine, because of the LORD and his holy words.
This phrase somewhat abruptly begins a new part of the chapter in which the wickedness of the false prophets is denounced.
Jer 23:10 The land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land lies parched and the pastures in the wilderness are withered. The prophets follow an evil course and use their power unjustly.
Adulterers. Both literally, regarding the profligate lives of these false prophets, and spiritually, with reference to their worship of other gods (see on ch. 5:7).
Jer 23:11 “Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness,” declares the LORD.
So iniquitous had these priests and prophets become that they dared to carry on their evil ways in the Temple, the “house of the Lord” (see Jer. 7:8–11; 32:31–34; Eze. 8:3–16).
Jer 23:12 “Therefore their path will become slippery; they will be banished to darkness and there they will fall. I will bring disaster on them in the year they are punished,” declares the LORD.
Jer 23:13 “Among the prophets of Samaria I saw this repulsive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.
Jeremiah refers here to the evil of the false prophets of the northern kingdom of Israel to emphasize the greater condemnation resting upon those of the southern kingdom of Judah for their apostate condition (see ch. 3:6–10).
Prophesied by Baal. That is, they gave religious instruction in the name of Baal (1 Kings 18:19; 1 Kings 22:6, 7).
Jer 23:14 And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that not one of them turns from their wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.”
Something horrible. The hypocritical boldness of the false prophets that led them to prophesy in the Lord’s name while they transgressed the Lord’s commandments was more “horrible” to Jeremiah than even the open worship of Baal. Because of the very nature of the sin of hypocrisy, there is more hope for the open sinner than for hypocrites (see 5T 144).
Like Sodom. So wicked had these spiritual leaders become that, like Isaiah, Jeremiah likens them to “the inhabitants” of the cities of the plain (see Isa. 1:10).
Jer 23:15 Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says concerning the prophets: “I will make them eat bitter food and drink poisoned water, because from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.”
Jer 23:16 This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.
The latter soothed and calmed the people with deceptive assurances of peace, which did not come “out of the mouth of the Lord” (see on ch. 14:13).
Jer 23:17 They keep saying to those who despise me, ‘The LORD says: You will have peace.’ And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, ‘No harm will come to you.’
17. Peace. See on ch. 6:14.
The utterances of the false prophets confirmed the people in their iniquity instead of bringing them to repentance.
Jer 23:18 But which of them has stood in the council of the LORD to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word?
Jer 23:19 See, the storm of the LORD will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked.
A graphic depiction of the fury and force of God’s wrath upon the transgressors.
Jer 23:20 The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart. In days to come you will understand it clearly.
After the Babylonian captivity, then God’s people will understand that it was for their chastisement and discipline (see Eze. 14:22, 23).
Jer 23:21 I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied.
These false prophets were like self-appointed messengers who, without waiting for the king’s command, rushed out of the royal court to announce to the people in the king’s name what they had not been commissioned to publish (see 2 Sam. 18:22–29).
Jer 23:22 But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.
The true messenger of God is known to be so by his good fruits (Matt. 7:20, 21).
Jer 23:23 “Am I only a God nearby,” declares the LORD, “and not a God far away?
Whereas the true prophets carried on their work with the conviction that God was near to them in thought and action (see Ps. 73:23–26; 139:7–12), the false prophets acted as if the Lord was “afar off,” unconcerned with the purposes and deeds of men (see Ps. 10:11; 73:11; 94:7).
Jer 23:24 Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD.
God is omnipresent.
Jer 23:25 “I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’
The common claim of false prophets. The repetition of the phrase is for emphasis.
Jer 23:27 They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their ancestors forgot my name through Baal worship.
Jer 23:28 Let the prophet who has a dream recount the dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the LORD.
The Lord contrasts the real revelation He gives to men with that which is false (v. 32). It will not be difficult to see which one is “chaff” and which is “wheat.”
Jer 23:29 “Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?
When the word of the Lord is expressed, it destroys the evil, purifies the good, and consumes as chaff the words of the false prophets (see Jer. 5:14; 20:9; Ps. 39:3; 1 Cor. 3:12, 13).
Like a hammer. Another graphic figure of speech (cf. Matt. 21:44; Heb. 4:12).
Jer 23:30 “Therefore,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me.
The pronoun “my” indicates that these false prophets clothed their borrowed messages in the language of the true prophets to insure greater deception.
Jer 23:31 Yes,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, ‘The LORD declares.’
Declares. Heb. ne’um, not the ordinary Hebrew word for “speaking,” but a word that refers specifically to a divine utterance. The use of ne’um by the false prophets emphasizes the brazenness of their fraudulent claims.
Jer 23:32 Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” declares the LORD. “They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least,” declares the LORD.
Jer 23:33 “When these people, or a prophet or a priest, ask you, ‘What is the message from the LORD?’ say to them, ‘What message? I will forsake you, declares the LORD.’
Evidently the false prophets haughtily demanded what divine utterance Jeremiah had for them
Jer 23:34 If a prophet or a priest or anyone else claims, ‘This is a message from the LORD,’ I will punish them and their household.
Jer 23:35 This is what each of you keeps saying to your friends and other Israelites: ‘What is the LORD’s answer?’ or ‘What has the LORD spoken?’
Rejecting such deceptive teaching, Jeremiah appeals to the people to believe the true expressions of the divine will, which are the true answer to Judah’s problems and difficulties.
Jer 23:36 But you must not mention ‘a message from the LORD’ again, because each one’s word becomes their own message. So you distort the words of the living God, the LORD Almighty, our God.
Jer 23:37 This is what you keep saying to a prophet: ‘What is the LORD’s answer to you?’ or ‘What has the LORD spoken?’
Jer 23:38 Although you claim, ‘This is a message from the LORD,’ this is what the LORD says: You used the words, ‘This is a message from the LORD,’ even though I told you that you must not claim, ‘This is a message from the LORD.’
Jer 23:39 Therefore, I will surely forget you and cast you out of my presence along with the city I gave to you and your ancestors.
39. I will surely forget you. A strongly emphatic way of expressing the Lord’s punishment upon these deceivers, when the capture and destruction of Jerusalem by the coming Babylonian invasion would result in their captivity (see 2 Kings 25:1–21). Jer 23:40 I will bring on you everlasting disgrace—everlasting shame that will not be forgotten.”