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| This is the New King James text of the passages. |
Jeremiah 23-25 Listen 
Judah's bad, bad leadership (Jeremiah 23:1-8)
1 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the LORD.
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.
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.
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.
5 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD,
“That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness;
A King shall reign and prosper,
And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
6 In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel will dwell safely;
Now this is His name by which He will be called:
THE Lord OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
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,’
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.”
Jeremiah is addressing the leadership of Judah, both civil and spiritual, prophets and priests. Prophets are addressed by name 17 times in this chapter, and priests 3 times. They have led Judah astray with their godless leadership.
With the fall of Judah as a given in verse 2, Jeremiah's prophecy declares that a new leadership team will be put into place (a new group of faithful shepherds) headed up by the Messiah. These verses are clearly speaking of the yet-future millennium in terms of Israel's restoration. The specifications of this prophecy were not fulfilled with the return of the exiles beginning in 535 B.C. Christ said in Matthew 19:28 (see notes), "So Jesus said to them, 'Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.'" There's your leadership team for the millennium when Christ will gather back to the land of Israel the scattered remnant from the nations of the world.
This "shepherd" analogy used by Jeremiah would have been well known to the corrupt Pharisees to whom Jesus directed his bad shepherd analogy in John 10 after they had kicked the healed, previously-blind man out of the synagogue in John 9. There's no question; they knew Jesus was talking about them when he spoke of the bad shepherds. Click here to read the notes on John 9 and 10.
Those lying prophets (Jeremiah 23:9-40)
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.
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.
11 “For both prophet and priest are profane;
Yes, in My house I have found their wickedness,” says the LORD.
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.
13 “And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria:
They prophesied by Baal
And caused My people Israel to err.
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.
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
Profaneness has gone out into all the land.’ ”
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.
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 dictates of his own heart, they say,
“No evil shall come upon you.’ ”
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?
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.
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.
21 “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran.
I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
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.
23 “Am I a God near at hand,” says the LORD,
“And not a God afar off?
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.
25 ¶ “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’
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,
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.
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.
29 “Is not My word like a fire?” says the LORD,
“And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
30 ¶ “Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says the LORD, “who steal My words every one from his neighbor.
31 Behold, I am against the prophets,” says the LORD, “who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’
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.
33 ¶ “So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, “What is the oracle of the LORD?’ you shall then say to them, ‘What oracle?’ I will even forsake you,” says the LORD.
34 “And as for the prophet and the priest and the people who say, ‘The oracle of the LORD!’ I will even punish that man and his house.
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?’
36 And the 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.
37 Thus you shall say to the prophet, “What has the LORD answered you?’ and, ‘What has the LORD spoken?’
38 But since you say, “The 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!’ ”
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.
40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’ ”
Perhaps the biggest challenge Jeremiah faced with the people of Judah was the constant contention between himself and the false prophets - pretend prophets. These false prophets did not declare the oracles of God, but they claimed they did. So which would you prefer, the doom-and-gloom prophecies or the kinder, gentler, politically-correct prophecies? The people of Judah had been blinded to the truth. They liked the encouraging prophecies from the false prophets. Jeremiah spends the rest of this chapter dealing with these guys. During this same period, Ezekiel similarly takes on the false prophets speaking to the exiled Jews over in Babylon in Ezekiel 13 (see notes).
So...when your fellow prophets and priests are misleading the people, what do you say about them? Here's what Jeremiah's prophecy declares regarding these godless leaders:
Verses 33-38 are a little difficult to understand without being able to capture the essence of the word "oracle" (KJV "burden") as it is used in this context. The word literally refers to the load placed upon the back of a work animal such as a donkey. However, when used by the prophets, they generally refer to a heavy prophecy - usually one that involves doom and gloom. In this passage we see that the false prophets began to use this term in a mocking way against Jeremiah because they gave politically palatable prophecies while Jeremiah gave heavy rebuking prophecies..."burdens." So...in this passage Jeremiah determines not to fuel their taunting; he will not use this word "massa" any longer in reference to his own prophecies.
And finally, Jeremiah prophesies from the Lord concerning these bad, bad prophets in verses 39-40, "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. And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten." Hey...Jeremiah! Where are your professional ethics? Don't you know it's not ethical to criticize your fellow prophets? It's interesting that Jeremiah treated those God-rejecting leaders the same way that Jesus treated the God-rejecting Sadducees and Pharisees in his day. Let's face it; when so-called "spiritual leaders" are responsible for blinding people of their day to the truth of God, they should be identified and rebuked, just as Jeremiah and Jesus did.
How do you like your figs? (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.
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.
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.”
4 ¶ Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
5 “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’ ”
Before we get to the fig illustration, let's get a little perspective on the characters in play here. Of course, Nebuchadnezzar was the King of Babylon, but who was Jeconiah? Jeconiah was King Jehoiakim's son, sometimes called Jehoiachin (II Kings 24:8-16, see notes). He was carried as a captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar along with other influential residents of Judah. Meanwhile, his uncle, Zedekiah, was placed upon the throne of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar (II Kings 24:17-20, see notes). As a matter of fact, Jeremiah shortens his name to simply "Coniah" in 22:24 and 37:1. Eighteen-year-old Jehoiachin certainly acquired a lot of nicknames in 100 days of ruling.
Jeremiah has this vision of figs - really good figs, along with some really bad figs. You probably guessed; we are told that the figs are the people of Judah. The good ones will be deported, and the bad ones will stay in Judah. The ones that stay with Zedekiah (a puppet king remaining in Judah) will disgrace Judah (and they did). That's in verse 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." However, Judah will be repopulated by the good folks (good figs). The remnant did return with enthusiasm from Babylonian/Assyrian captivity before the end of the century to begin rebuilding. We find this account beginning in Ezra 1 (see notes).
Some bad news and some good news (Jeremiah 25:1-14)
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),
2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:
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.
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.
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.
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.’
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.
8 ¶ “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words,
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.
10 Moreover I will 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.
11 And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
12 ¶ “Then it will come to pass, when 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.
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.
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.)’ ”
This is a very specific prophecy that Jeremiah issues here. For the purposes of this discussion, note the succession of last five kings of Judah:
The setting for this prophecy is 605 B.C. Josiah's reign is over along with the evil Jehoahaz who reigned only 3 months (II Kings 23:31-35, see notes). Jehoiakim is king, but in name only. Judah has been conquered, but would not completely fall until 586 B.C. So, here we are in 605 B.C., and residents of Judah are being deported to Babylon. This was the year that Daniel and his friends were taken to Babylon. Jeremiah is now prophesying that this captivity will last 70 years. In fact, it was 70 years later when, during the reign of Cyrus the Persian (the Persians defeated the Babylonians), a decree was issued in 536 B.C. that the exiles could return to Judah. So, the captivity of Jeremiah 25 lasted 70 years as Jeremiah prophesied it would.
So...here's your 70-year-exile prophecy in Jeremiah 25:11-12:
And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. “Then it will come to pass, when 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.
Jeremiah confirms this prophecy again in Jeremiah 29:10 (see notes). The return of the exiles is found beginning in Ezra 1 (see notes).
But before this return of the exiles, there's the judgment against all the nations which were conquered by the Babylonians in verse 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."
There's a chilling reality in this passage with regard to Nebuchadnezzar's role in this whole ordeal. As the evil conquering Babylonian king, he is nonetheless referred to regarding his relationship to God in verse 9 as "My servant." He is also referred to in such a manner in Jeremiah 27:6 (see notes) and Jeremiah 43:10 (see notes). Sometimes God uses evil entities to accomplish his purposes.
Jeremiah does his scorched-earth prophecy (Jeremiah 25:15-38)
15 ¶ For thus says the LORD God of Israel to me: “Take this wine cup of fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.
16 And they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.”
17 ¶ Then I took the cup from the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the LORD had sent me:
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;
19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and all his people;
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);
21 Edom, Moab, and the people of Ammon;
22 all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are across the sea;
23 Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who are in the farthest corners;
24 all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed multitude who dwell in the desert;
25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes;
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 Sheshach shall drink after them.
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.” ’
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!
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.’
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
35 And the shepherds will have no way to flee,
Nor the leaders of the flock to escape.
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,
37 And the peaceful dwellings are cut down
Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
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.”
There's really no point in leaving anyone out. He prophesies that, beginning with Judah, all the nations are going to fall to Babylon...and, of course, they did. Notice how specific Jeremiah was about those nations that would fall to the Babylonians. God declared it would happen through the prophet Jeremiah, and it happened just as he said it would.
Some might misunderstand this passage to be an end-time reference. First of all, understand that Jeremiah uses the Hebrew word "eretz," which is sometimes translated "earth" and sometimes translated "land." In this case, it's the whole "land" which is conquered by the Babylonians. The ruthless Babylonians mercilessly conquered the nations in that region as described in this passage. The term "in that day" is frequently used in the context of judgment by the Old Testament prophets. It is used to describe a period of time when the judgment takes place, not literally a 24-hour period of time. After displacing the Assyrian Empire, the Babylonians laid claim to everything in sight. The Assyrians had failed to conquer Jerusalem, but the Babylonians did.