The Righteous Branch

1 ^u“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning ^uthe shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. ^vBehold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. 3 ^wThen I will gather the remnant of my flock ^xout of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, ^yand they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 ^zI will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.

5 ^a“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous ^bBranch, and ^che shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and ^dIsrael will ^edwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ^f‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

7 ^g“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 8 but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he¹ had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”

Lying Prophets

9 Concerning the prophets:

16 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, ^cfilling you with vain hopes. ^dThey speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. 17 They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ^e‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who ^fstubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ^g‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”

23 ^q“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? 24 ^qCan a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. ^rDo I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. 25 I have heard what the prophets have said ^swho prophesy lies in my name, saying, ^t‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ 26 How long shall there be lies in the heart of ^uthe prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, 27 who think to make my people forget my name ^tby their dreams that they tell one another, even as their ^vfathers forgot my name for Baal? 28 ^wLet the prophet who has a dream ^xtell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. ^yWhat has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. 29 ^yIs not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and ^zlike a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? 30 ^aTherefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the Lord.’ 32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and ^blead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when ^cI did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.

33 ^d“When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ you shall say to them, ‘You are the burden,² and ^fI will cast you off, declares the Lord.’ 34 And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ ^dI will punish that man and his household. 35 Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 36 But ‘the burden of the Lord’ you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man’s own word, and ^gyou pervert the words of ^hthe living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. 37 Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 38 But if you say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have said these words, “The burden of the Lord,” when I sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’” 39 therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up³ and ^fcast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers. 40 ⁱAnd I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and ⁱperpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’”

The Good Figs and the Bad Figs

1 ^jAfter Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem ^kJeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with ^lthe officials of Judah, the craftsmen, and the metal workers, and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me this vision: behold, ^mtwo baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord. 2 One basket had very good figs, ⁿlike first-ripe figs, but the other basket had ^overy bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten. 3 And the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”

4 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 5 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, ^pwhom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. 6 ^qI will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. ^rI will build them up, and not tear them down; ^sI will plant them, and not pluck them up. 7 ^tI will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, ^uand they shall be my people ^uand I will be their God, ^vfor they shall return to me with their whole heart.

8 “But thus says the Lord: Like ^wthe bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat ^xZedekiah the king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who ^ydwell in the land of Egypt. 9 I will make them ^za horror⁴ to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be ^aa reproach, ^ba byword, ^aa taunt, and ^ca curse in all the places where I shall drive them. 10 And I will send ^dsword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.”

1 For every high priest chosen from among men ^jis appointed to act on behalf of men ^kin relation to God, ^lto offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 ^mHe can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself ⁿis beset with weakness. 3 Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins ^ojust as he does for those of the people. 4 And ^pno one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, ^qjust as Aaron was.

5 So also Christ ^rdid not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him,

6 as he says also in another place,

7 In the days of his flesh, ^uJesus¹ offered up prayers and supplications, ^vwith loud cries and tears, to him ^wwho was able to save him from death, and ^xhe was heard because of his reverence. 8 Although ^yhe was a son, ^zhe learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And ^abeing made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10 being designated by God a high priest ^bafter the order of Melchizedek.

Warning Against Apostasy

11 About this we have much to say, and it is ^chard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again ^dthe basic principles of the oracles of God. You need ^emilk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is ^fa child. 14 But solid food is for ^gthe mature, for those who have their powers ^hof discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Sit at My Right Hand

A Psalm of David.