New King James Version

Jeremiah 23:28-40 New King James Version (NKJV)

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.’ ”