The Hebrew Prophets

"I did not send these prophets; yet they ran. I did not speak to them; yet they prophesied

If they have been present at my council, they should let my people hear my words and turn them from their evil way and the evil of their actions.

Am I God only when near," asks ADONAI, "and not when far away?

Can anyone hide in a place so secret that I won't see him?" asks ADONAI. ADONAI says, "Do I not fill heaven and earth?

"I have heard what these prophets prophesying lies in my name are saying: 'I've had a dream! I've had a dream!'

How long will this go on? Is [my word] in the hearts of prophets who are prophesying lies, who are prophesying the deceit of their own minds?

With their dreams that they keep telling each other, they hope to cause my people to forget my name; just as their ancestors forgot my name when they worshipped Ba'al.

"If a prophet has a dream, let him tell it as a dream. But someone who has my word should speak my word faithfully. What do chaff and wheat have in common?" asks ADONAI.

"Isn't my word like fire," asks ADONAI, "like a hammer shattering rocks?

So, I am against the prophets," says ADONAI, "who steal my words from each other.

Yes, I am against the prophets," says ADONAI, "who speak their own words, then add, 'He says.'

"I am against those who concoct prophecies out of fake dreams," says ADONAI. "They tell them, and by their lies and arrogance they lead my people astray. I didn't send them, I didn't commission them, and they don't do this people any good at all," says ADONAI.

"When [someone from] this people, a prophet or a cohen asks you, 'What is the burden of ADONAI?' you are to answer them, 'What burden? I am throwing you off,' says ADONAI.

As for a prophet, cohen or [someone else from] this people who speaks about 'the burden of ADONAI,' I will punish him and his household."

So, when you speak with your neighbor or brother, ask, "What answer has ADONAI given?" or "What has ADONAI said?"

Don't use the expression, "burden of ADONAI" any more; for every person's own word will be his burden. Must you twist the words of the living God, of ADONAI-Tzva'ot, our God

So, when speaking to a prophet, ask, "What answer has ADONAI given you?" or "What did ADONAI say?"

But if you talk about "the burden of ADONAI," then here is what ADONAI says: "Because you use this expression, 'the burden of ADONAI,' after I have already sent you the order not to say, 'the burden of ADONAI,

I will lift you up, burden that you are, and throw you off, away from my presence - you and the city I gave you and your ancestors.

Then I will subject you to everlasting disgrace - eternal, unforgettable shame."

It was after N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel had carried Y'khanyahu the son of Y'hoyakim, king of Y'hudah, along with the leaders of Y'hudah, the artisans and the skilled workers into exile from Yerushalayim and brought them to Bavel, that ADONAI gave me a vision. There, in front of the temple of ADONAI, two baskets of figs were placed.

One of the baskets had in it very good figs, like those that ripen first; while the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they were inedible.

Then ADONAI asked me, "Yirmeyahu, what do you see?" I answered, "Figs - the good figs are very good; but the bad ones are very bad, so bad they are inedible."

The word of ADONAI came to me:

"Here is what ADONAI the God of Isra'el says: 'I will regard the exiles from Y'hudah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Kasdim, as good, just as I do these good figs.