seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Jeremiah 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.
10 The land is full of adulterers;
because of the curse[b] the land lies parched
and the pastures in the wilderness are withered.
The prophets follow an evil course
and use their power unjustly.
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.
10 The land is full of adulterers;
because of the curse[b] the land lies parched
and the pastures in the wilderness are withered.
The prophets follow an evil course
and use their power unjustly.
11 “Both prophet and priest are godless;
even in my temple I find their wickedness,”
declares the Lord.
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.
even in my temple I find their wickedness,”
declares the Lord.
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.
13 “Among the prophets of Samaria
I saw this repulsive thing:
They prophesied by Baal
and led my people Israel astray.
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.”
I saw this repulsive thing:
They prophesied by Baal
and led my people Israel astray.
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.”
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.”
and drink poisoned water,
because from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness has spread throughout the land.”
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.
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.’
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?
19 See, the storm of the Lord
will burst out in wrath,
a whirlwind swirling down
on the heads of the wicked.
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.
21 I did not send these prophets,
yet they have run with their message;
I did not speak to them,
yet they have prophesied.
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.
they fill you with false hopes.
They speak visions from their own minds,
not from the mouth of the Lord.
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.’
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?
19 See, the storm of the Lord
will burst out in wrath,
a whirlwind swirling down
on the heads of the wicked.
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.
21 I did not send these prophets,
yet they have run with their message;
I did not speak to them,
yet they have prophesied.
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.
23 “Am I only a God nearby,”
declares the Lord,
“and not a God far away?
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.
declares the Lord,
“and not a God far away?
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.
25 “I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ 26 How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds? 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. 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. 29 “Is not my word like fire,” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?
30 “Therefore,” declares the Lord, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. 31 Yes,” declares the Lord, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, ‘The Lord declares.’ 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.
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.’ 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. 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?’ 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. 37 This is what you keep saying to a prophet: ‘What is the Lord’s answer to you?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 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.’ 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. 40 I will bring on you everlasting disgrace—everlasting shame that will not be forgotten.”
b. Jeremiah 23:10 Or because of these things
There were fake prophets in all the temples at the time. They would tell people whatever they assumed the people wanted to hear and claim that they knew these things because they saw it in a dream or God told them directly. They were preaching to the paycheck..... preaching for the free housing.... lying to stay in their cushy little jobs.... after all.... all a "prophet" had to do was talk.... no heavy lifting.....
But God doesn't like it when humans lie. God really doesn't like it when humans lie and say God told them whatever. That was really not good.
This is from the easy English site.
Jeremiah could not understand why the prophets had refused to listen to the LORD. He could not understand why his people were so wicked. He was so confused in his mind. His thoughts were affecting him physically. His legs trembled. He felt like someone who had drunk too much wine.
Everywhere people had left the real God. They were like those women who were not loyal to their husbands. The people worshipped the false god, Baal. But that had not made the land successful. Instead, the land had become dry. There used to be grass for the animals to eat. Now there was no grass. The prophets did not use their power in the right ways. Even in the Temple, the prophets and the priests continued pagan customs and wrong moral acts. People worshipped all kinds of false gods. Ezekiel described how they worshipped the sun there (Ezekiel chapter 8). The prophets and priests were on their way to great trouble. They were like people who were walking on a path in the dark. The path was so smooth that they would slip on it. And they would fall over. The right time would come for the LORD to punish them.
The prophets in Samaria were not loyal to the LORD. And they turned the people away from the LORD. When the prophets spoke, they used the name of Baal and not the LORD’s name. The prophets in Jerusalem sinned in a worse way. They too worshipped Baal. But also they encouraged the people to do wrong deeds. Sodom and Gomorrah were two cities that the LORD had destroyed. The people who lived there had been very wicked (Genesis 18:20; 19:1-9). The people in Judah were like the people in those cities. So they deserved the LORD's punishment.
‘Bitter food’ and ‘poisonous water’ was the way that they used to describe difficulties for a person. The false prophets would have bitter pain in their lives. And they would die like someone who had drunk poison.
The false prophets do not give messages from the LORD. They say what they think. They make the people believe that there will be peace. They tell the people that they will not have troubles. That was a popular message, but it gave the people a false sense of security. People wanted to behave in the way that they chose. They did not want to obey the LORD. So the prophets encouraged them. As a result, the people continued to sin against the LORD.
The false prophets would not understand until the LORD's punishment had happened. Nebuchadnezzar defeated Judah and took the people into Babylon. Then the false prophets should have realised what Jeremiah meant. But even in Babylon, they did not understand Jeremiah's words.
The LORD said three times 'I am against these prophets’. They told lies that made people continue to live in the wrong way. The LORD had not sent those prophets. He had appointed only the true prophets. The LORD had sent Amos, Isaiah and Jeremiah (Amos 7:14-15; Isaiah 6; 8-9 and Jeremiah 1:4-5). Also other Old Testament prophets knew that they had received their messages from the LORD.
I wonder..... when God looks at the places we "worship" now..... does He see fake priests, wise men and prophets? Are the majority of the priests and preachers owned by the paycheck and the free housing..... or are they really called by God. I've noticed.... Jeremiah got tired of being insulted and threatened because of the message God wanted him to spread. He wished he had never been born.... he was treated so horribly. I wonder.... how many of the priests, preachers, and rabbis were actually called.... and how many of them are preaching to the paycheck or the free housing.... thinking they only have to work one day a week..... 
My computer and I should be back together for Tuesday.... if that's what God has in mind for me.....