8 But, "As Jehovah liveth,

"Who brought up and led the race of Israel from the north country,

"And from all the countries, whither I had driven them!"

And they shall dwell in their own land.

XX.

Against the false prophets of his age.

- CH. XXIII. 9-40.

9 CONCERNING the Prophets.

10

My heart is broken within me; All my bones tremble.

I am become like a drunken man,

Like a man whom wine hath overcome,

Because of Jehovah,

And because of his holy words.

For the land is full of adulterers;

Because of a curse doth the land mourn ;

The pastures of the waste are dried up ;
For they run to do evil,

And their might is without right.

11 Yea, both prophet and priest are profane;

Even in my house have I found their wickedness, saith Jehovah.

12 Therefore shall their way become as slippery places in the dark;

They shall be driven on and fall therein;

13

For I will bring evil upon them

In the time of their visitation, saith Jehovah.

In the prophets of Samaria have I seen folly; They prophesy in the name of Baal, and cause my people Israel to err.

14 In the prophets of Jerusalem also have I seen a horri

ble thing;

They commit adultery, and walk in falsehood;

They strengthen the hands of evil-doers,

So that none doth turn from his iniquity.
They have all become to me as Sodom,
And her inhabitants as Gomorrah.

15 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts concerning the prophets;

Behold, I will feed them with wormwood,

And give them the water of hemlock to drink ;

For from the prophets of Jerusalem

Hath profaneness gone forth into all the land.

16 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts;

Hearken not to the words of the prophets;
They lead you to vanity;

They utter the vision of their own heart,
And not from the mouth of Jehovah.

17 To them that despise me they say continually,
"Jehovah hath said, 'Ye shall have peace;'

And to every one that walketh after the perverseness of his heart,

"No evil shall come upon you."

18 For who of them hath stood in the council of Jehovah,

And hath seen and heard his word?

Who hath listened to his word and heard it?

19

Behold a whirlwind from Jehovah goeth forth in fury,

Even a rushing whirlwind;

Upon the head of the wicked shall it rush.

20 The fierce anger of Jehovah shall not turn back, Until he shall have executed, until he shall have accomplished the purpose of his heart.

In a future day ye shall understand it fully.

21 I sent not these prophets, yet they ran;

I spake not to them, yet they prophesied.

22 For if they had stood in my council,

Then would they have caused my people to hear my words,

And would have turned them from their evil way,
And from the wickedness of their doings.

23 Am I a God near at hand, saith Jehovah,
And not a God afar off?

24 Can any one hide himself in secret places,
So that I shall not see him? saith Jehovah,
Do I not fill heaven and earth? saith Jehovah.

25

I have heard what the prophets say,

Who prophesy falsehood in my name,

Saying, "I have dreamed; I have dreamed."

26 How long [shall this be]?

Is it in the heart of the prophets, who prophesy falsehood,

The prophets of the deceit of their own heart

27 Do they design to cause my people to forget my name, By the dreams which they relate one to another, As their fathers forgot my name through Baal? 28 The prophet who hath a dream, let him tell a dream;

And he that hath my word, let him speak my word truly!
What is the chaff to the wheat? saith Jehovah.

29 Is not my word like fire, saith Jehovah,

30

And like a hammer, that breaketh the rock in pieces ?

Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith
Jehovah,

That steal my words one from another.

31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah,

That take their tongues and utter oracles.

32 Behold I am against the prophets of false dreams, saith Jehovah,

33

Who tell them, and cause my people to err

By their lies and their arrogance.

I have not sent them, nor commanded them,

And they shall not profit this people at all, saith Jehovah.

And when this people shall ask thee,

Or a prophet, or a priest, saying,

"What's the burden from Jehovah?"

Then say thou to them, "What's the burden?"
I will cast you away, saith Jehovah.

34 And the prophet, the priest, and the people,
Who shall say, "The burden of Jehovah,"
I will punish that man and his house.
35 Thus shall ye speak, one to another;
"What hath Jehovah answered?"

And "What hath Jehovah spoken ?"

36 And of a burden of Jehovah shall ye speak no more; Else shall every man's word be his burden,

Because ye pervert the words of the living God,
Of Jehovah of hosts, our God.

27 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet;

"What hath Jehovah answered thee?"

And, "What hath Jehovah spoken?" 38 If ye shall say, "The burden of Jehovah," Then, thus saith Jehovah;

Because ye say,

"The burden of Jehovah,"

Although I sent to you and said,

Ye shall not say "The burden of Jehovah,"

39 Therefore, behold, I will utterly forget you,

And I will cast you, and the city which I gave to your fathers, out of my presence;

40 And I will bring upon you an everlasting reproach, And a perpetual shame which shall not be forgotten.

1

XXI.

The type of good and bad figs. — CH. XXIV.

JEHOVAH showed me this vision. Behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of Jehovah. This was after Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had carried away captive Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, and the artificers, and the smiths, from Jerusalem, and had led them to 2 Babylon. One of the baskets contained very good figs, like those which are first ripe. The other contained very b bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten.

3

And Jehovah said to me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, exceedingly good; and the bad, exceedingly bad, so bad that they cannot be

eaten.