NKJV Bible in 365 Days
False Prophets and the Coming Judgment — July 19
Jeremiah 23-25
Jeremiah 23
1 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lord . 365N 200.1
2 Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the Lord . 365N 200.2
3 “But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. 365N 200.3
4 I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the Lord . 365N 200.4
5 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord , “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and [a] prosper, And execute [b] judgment and righteousness in the [c] earth. 365N 200.5
6 In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: [d] THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 365N 200.6
7 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord , “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 365N 200.7
8 but, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.” 365N 200.8
9 My heart within me is broken Because of the prophets; All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, And like a man whom wine has overcome, Because of the Lord , And because of His holy words. 365N 200.9
10 For the land is full of adulterers; For because of a curse the land mourns. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. Their course of life is evil, And their might is not right. 365N 200.10
11 “For both prophet and priest are profane; Yes, in My house I have found their wickedness,” says the Lord . 365N 200.11
12 “Therefore their way shall be to them Like slippery ways; In the darkness they shall be driven on And fall in them; For I will bring disaster on them, The year of their punishment,” says the Lord . 365N 200.12
13 “And I have seen [e] folly in the prophets of Samaria: They prophesied by Baal And caused My people Israel to err. 365N 200.13
14 Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: They commit adultery and walk in lies; They also strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to Me, And her inhabitants like Gomorrah. 365N 200.14
15 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets: ‘Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, And make them drink the water of gall; For from the prophets of Jerusalem [f] Profaneness has gone out into all the land.’ ” 365N 200.15
16 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the Lord . 365N 200.16
17 They continually say to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said, “You shall have peace” ’; And to everyone who walks according to the [g] dictates of his own heart, they say, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’ ” 365N 200.17
18 For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord , And has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it? 365N 200.18
19 Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury— A violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked. 365N 200.19
20 The anger of the Lord will not turn back Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly. 365N 200.20
21 “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 365N 200.21
22 But if they had stood in My counsel, And had caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way And from the evil of their doings. 365N 200.22
23 “ Am I a God near at hand,” says the Lord , “And not a God afar off? 365N 200.23
24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the Lord ; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord . 365N 200.24
25 “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ 365N 200.25
26 How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, 365N 200.26
27 who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal. 365N 200.27
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 chaff to the wheat?” says the Lord . 365N 200.28
29 “ Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord , “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? 365N 200.29
30 “Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says the Lord , “who steal My words every one from his neighbor. 365N 200.30
31 Behold, I am against the prophets,” says the Lord , “who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’ 365N 200.31
32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” says the Lord , “and tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all,” says the Lord . 365N 200.32
33 “So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, ‘What is the [h] oracle of the Lord ?’ you shall then say to them, [i] ‘What oracle?’ I will even forsake you,” says the Lord . 365N 200.33
34 “And as for the prophet and the priest and the people who say, ‘The [j] oracle of the Lord !’ I will even punish that man and his house. 365N 200.34
35 Thus every one of you shall say to his neighbor, and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 365N 200.35
36 And the [k] oracle of the Lord you shall mention no more. For every man’s word will be his oracle, for you have perverted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. 365N 200.36
37 Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 365N 200.37
38 But since you say, ‘The [l] oracle of the Lord !’ therefore thus says the Lord : ‘Because you say this word, “The oracle of the Lord !” and I have sent to you, saying, “Do not say, ‘The oracle of the Lord !’ ” 365N 200.38
39 therefore behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you and forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and will cast you out of My presence. 365N 200.39
40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’ ” 365N 200.40
Jeremiah 24
1 The Lord showed me, and there were two baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord , after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. 365N 200.41
2 One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten, they were so bad. 365N 200.42
3 Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad.” 365N 200.43
4 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 365N 200.44
5 “Thus says the Lord , the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I [a] acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. 365N 200.45
6 For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. 365N 200.46
7 Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord ; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart. 365N 200.47
8 ‘And as the bad figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad’—surely thus says the Lord —‘so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt. 365N 200.48
9 I will deliver them to trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them. 365N 200.49
10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are [b] consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’ ” 365N 200.50
Jeremiah 25
1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), 365N 200.51
2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: 365N 200.52
3 “From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the Lord has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened. 365N 200.53
4 And the Lord has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear. 365N 200.54
5 They said, ‘Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers forever and ever. 365N 200.55
6 Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will not harm you.’ 365N 200.56
7 Yet you have not listened to Me,” says the Lord , “that you might provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. 365N 200.57
8 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words, 365N 200.58
9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ says the Lord , ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations. 365N 200.59
10 Moreover I will [a] take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. 365N 200.60
11 And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 365N 200.61
12 ‘Then it will come to pass, when [b] seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the Lord ; ‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation. 365N 200.62
13 So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations. 365N 200.63
14 (For many nations and great kings shall be served by them also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.)’ ” 365N 200.64
15 For thus says the Lord God of Israel to me: “Take this wine cup of [c] fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. 365N 200.65
16 And they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.” 365N 200.66
17 Then I took the cup from the Lord ’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the Lord had sent me: 365N 200.67
18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day; 365N 200.68
19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and all his people; 365N 200.69
20 all the mixed multitude, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines (namely, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod); 365N 200.70
21 Edom, Moab, and the people of Ammon; 365N 200.71
22 all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are across the sea; 365N 200.72
23 Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who are in the farthest corners; 365N 200.73
24 all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed multitude who dwell in the desert; 365N 200.74
25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes; 365N 200.75
26 all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. Also the king of [d] Sheshach shall drink after them. 365N 200.76
27 “Therefore you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Drink, be drunk, and vomit! Fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.” ’ 365N 200.77
28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “You shall certainly drink! 365N 200.78
29 For behold, I begin to bring calamity on the city which is called by My name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished, for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth,” says the Lord of hosts.’ 365N 200.79
30 “Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say to them: ‘The Lord will roar from on high, And utter His voice from His holy habitation; He will roar mightily against His fold. He will give a shout, as those who tread the grapes, Against all the inhabitants of the earth. 365N 200.80
31 A noise will come to the ends of the earth— For the Lord has a controversy with the nations; He will plead His case with all flesh. He will give those who are wicked to the sword,’ says the Lord .” 365N 200.81
32 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, disaster shall go forth From nation to nation, And a great whirlwind shall be raised up From the farthest parts of the earth. 365N 200.82
33 And at that day the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground. 365N 200.83
34 “Wail, shepherds, and cry! Roll about in the ashes, You leaders of the flock! For the days of your slaughter and your dispersions are fulfilled; You shall fall like a precious vessel. 365N 200.84
35 And the shepherds will have no [e] way to flee, Nor the leaders of the flock to escape. 365N 200.85
36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, And a wailing of the leaders to the flock will be heard. For the Lord has plundered their pasture, 365N 200.86
37 And the peaceful dwellings are cut down Because of the fierce anger of the Lord . 365N 200.87
38 He has left His lair like the lion; For their land is desolate Because of the fierceness of the Oppressor, And because of His fierce anger.” 365N 200.88