Major Prophets · Chapter 23 of 52
Jeremiah 23
God pronounces woe on the shepherds who scatter His flock, promising to gather the remnant and set faithful shepherds over them. He vows to raise up a righteous Branch for David, a King called The LORD Our Righteousness. Then He denounces the lying prophets of Jerusalem who prophesy from their hearts, promising false peace. God insists His word is like fire and a hammer, and He is against those who speak lies in His name.
What happens in Jeremiah 23
God begins with woe against the shepherds who destroy and scatter His sheep. He promises to gather the remnant from every land, restore them to their fold, and appoint shepherds who truly care. Then comes the great promise: God will raise for David a righteous Branch, a King who reigns wisely and executes justice, in whose days Judah will be saved, whose name is The LORD Our Righteousness. A new exodus will eclipse the memory of Egypt. The chapter turns to the false prophets, whose adultery and lies profane the land.
They strengthen evildoers and promise peace to the defiant, though they never stood in God's counsel. God warns against visions from their own hearts. He contrasts the chaff of their dreams with the wheat of His word, which is like fire and a hammer that shatters rock. He declares Himself against those who steal His words, wag their tongues, and lead His people astray with lies.
Jeremiah 23 in context
Delivered in Judah's last years, this chapter targets failed leaders, kings and prophets alike, whose corruption hastened the exile. The false prophets soothed the nation with promises of peace while ignoring its sin. Against this backdrop of failed shepherds, God's promise of a righteous Branch offered hope of a coming King who would embody the justice the current rulers lacked.
The name The LORD Our Righteousness directly answers the failures around it.
Main themes of Jeremiah 23
Jeremiah 23 (KJV)
1Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. 2Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. 3And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. 4And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD. 5Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. 6In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 7Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 8But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land. 9Mine 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 hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness. 10For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right. 11For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD. 12Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD. 13And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. 14I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. 15Therefore thus saith 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 is profaneness gone forth into all the land. 16Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD. 17They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. 18For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it? 19Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. 20The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly. 21I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 22But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. 23Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? 24Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. 25I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. 26How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; 27Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. 28The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD. 29Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? 30Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. 31Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. 32Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD. 33And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD. 34And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house. 35Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken? 36And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man’s word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God. 37Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken? 38But since ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith the LORD; Because ye say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD; 39Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence: 40And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.
Verses to carry from Jeremiah 23
“Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.”Jeremiah 23:5
“In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”Jeremiah 23:6
“Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?”Jeremiah 23:29
Messianic prophecy
How Jeremiah 23 points to Jesus
The promise of a righteous Branch raised for David, a King who reigns in justice and is named The LORD Our Righteousness, is one of Jeremiah's clearest messianic prophecies, fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He is the descendant of David who rules wisely, saves His people, and secures them forever. His very name here declares that our righteousness is found in the LORD Himself, which the New Testament unfolds as the righteousness God gives to those united to Christ, who becomes for us wisdom, righteousness, and redemption.
The woe on false shepherds and God's promise to shepherd the flock Himself is answered in Jesus, the good shepherd who gathers the scattered sheep and lays down His life for them. This is a messianic prophecy.
Questions about Jeremiah 23
Who is the righteous Branch, and why is His name significant?
The righteous Branch is the coming King God promises to raise for David, who reigns wisely and saves God's people. His name, The LORD Our Righteousness, is significant because it declares that righteousness comes from the LORD Himself. Christians understand this fulfilled in Jesus, the Son of David whose righteousness is given to His people, so that they stand right before God not by their own merit but through Him.
How does God distinguish true prophecy from false in this chapter?
God exposes the false prophets as those who never stood in His counsel, who speak visions from their own hearts and promise peace to those determined to do evil. He calls their dreams chaff beside the wheat of His word, which is like fire and a hammer that breaks rock. The test is whether a message comes from God's counsel and confronts sin, or merely flatters with false comfort from human imagination.
Reflection
Beware of comforting words that never call you to repent, for God's true word is more like fire and a hammer than a soothing dream. In a world of failed shepherds, fix your hope on the righteous Branch, the King named The LORD Our Righteousness, whose justice and salvation never fail those who trust Him.
A prayer from Jeremiah 23
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