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| 1 Alas for the shepherds, who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture, Declareth Yahweh. |
Pastors that destroy – A self-constituted "clergy" lording it over God's heritage, taking spoils, honors, reverence, titles, from their flocks. R1895:6
Sheep of my pasture – Characteristics of sheep are meekness, docility, lack of self-confidence, and obedience to the shepherd--traits which we should manifest. R5491:4
True sheep respond quickly to the shepherd's call and watch for his guidance. R5491:4
A fitting emblem of the kind of characters the Heavenly Father is seeking. R5491:4
Let us, as good sheep, not stray from the green pastures and pure waters. R5491:4
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| 2 Therefore, Thus, saith Yahweh, God of Israel, Concerning the shepherds who are tending my people,–Ye, have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and have not visited them,–Behold me! Visiting, upon you, the wickedness of your doings, Declareth Yahweh. |
Scattered my flock – To feed the flock is the Lord's province. The chosen elder may be the instrument through whom the Great Shepherd sends his own their "meat in due season." F283
Elders need first to watch themselves lest they assume authority and honors belonging to the Chief Shepherd. F283
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| 3 I myself, therefore, will gather the remnant of my flock, out of all the lands whither I have driven them,–And will bring them back unto their own fold, And they shall be fruitful and multiply; |
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| 4 And I will raise up over them shepherds, who will tend them,–So shall they not be afraid any more, nor be dismayed, nor be missing, Declareth Yahweh. |
Shall feed them – The Shepherd has been feeding us wonderfully. R633:4
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| 5 Lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, when I will raise up to David, A righteous Bud, And he shall reign as, king, and prosper, And shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. |
The days come – In due time God's Kingdom, founded on equity and justice, must fill the entire earth. R1213:5*
A righteous Branch – Solomon's royal branch is the high branch of the Davidic line. This must be abased and a low branch exalted. R468:4*
Exalting Nathan's line, not Solomon's. E133
The prophets foretold that Messiah was to be the son of Jesse and of David; and the glorified Jesus himself declares, "I am the root and the offspring of David." (Rev. 22:16) R944:1*
Christ was the Root of David's family, as well as the Branch. (Isa. 11:10) R1063:1*
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| 6 In his days, Shall Judah, be saved, And, Israel, abide securely,–And, this, is his name whereby he shall be called, Yahweh, our Righteousness. |
His name whereby he – The Body of the great Prophet, Priest and King, the Church, will be part of the Everlasting Father. T102
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS – Jehovah--Tsidkenu, our Righteousness of Jehovah. The Church is to share this title. (Jer. 33:16) E42; T102; R3970:5, R4831:2, R4913:3
"That we might be made the righteousness of God through him." (2 Cor. 5:21) R4913:3
The righteous one imparts righteous life--the power which embodies righteous words in righteous deeds. R1323:1*
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| 7 Therefore, lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, When it shall not be said any more, As Yahweh liveth, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt; |
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| 8 but–As Yahweh liveth, who hath brought up and who hath brought in the seed of the house of Israel out of the land of the North, and out of all the lands whither I have driven them,–And they shall remain upon their own soil. |
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| 9 As for the prophets,–Broken, is my heart within me, Trembled, have all my bones, I have become as a drunken man, And as a strong man whom wine hath overcome,–Because of Yahweh, And because of his holy, words. |
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| 10 For, with adulterers, is the land filled, Yea, because of cursing, doth the land mourn, Dried up are the oases of the desert,–And, their oppression, hath become wicked, And, their might, is not right. |
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| 11 For, both prophet and priest, are profane,–Even in my house, have I found their wickedness, Declareth Yahweh. |
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| 12 Therefore, shall their way become to them like slippery places in darkness, They shall be driven on, and shall fall therein,–For I will bring in upon them calamity–The year of their visitation, Declareth Yahweh. |
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| 13 Even among the prophets of Samaria, had I seen a foolish thing,–They prophesied by Baal, And led astray my people Israel. |
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| 14 But, among the prophets of Jerusalem, have I seen a horrible thing,–Committing adultery, And walking in falsehood, And so strengthening the hands of doers of wickedness, not to return any man from his wickedness: They have, all of them, become, to me, as Sodom, And her inhabitants, as Gomorrah. |
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| 15 Therefore, Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Concerning the prophets,–Behold me! Feeding them with wormwood, And I will cause them to drink poisoned water,–For, from the prophets of Jerusalem, hath there gone forth profanity unto all the land. |
Water of gall – Bitter poison-water, the poison of bitter error, the doctrine of devils, mingled with the pure water of life, the truth of God's Word. C158
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| 16 Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts,–Do not hearken unto the words of the prophets who are prophesying unto you, They, are filling you, with vain, hopes,–The vision of their own hearts, do they speak, Not from the mouth of Yahweh! |
Prophets – False teachers. R1715:4
Heads and pastors of worldly organizations, claiming the name of Christ yet refusing his headship, leading and control, and the teachings of his Word. R365:4
Of their own heart – There are many such false teachers who are ambitious to declare the visions of their own heart. R1715:4
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| 17 They keep on saying to them who despise me, Yahweh, hath spoken, [saying], Prosperity, shall ye have! And, to every one who is going on in the stubbornness of his own heart, have they said, There shall come on you, no calamity; |
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| 18 For who, hath stood in the council of Yahweh, that he should see, and hear his word? Who hath given ear to his word, and heard it? |
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| 19 Lo! the tempest of Yahweh! Indignation, hath come forth, Even a tempest whirling along: On the head of the lawless, shall it hurl itself down. |
A whirlwind – When God lets go his restraint on the "powers of the air" (Eph. 2:2), the evil spirits, these symbolic winds will produce a great cataclysm, sweeping everything before it. R5470:1, R5863:6
Symbol of the time of trouble. D528
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| 20 The anger of Yahweh, wilt not return, Until he hath executed, nor, Until he hath established, The purposes of his heart,–In the afterpart of the days, shall ye understand it, perfectly. |
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| 21 I sent not the prophets, yet, they, ran, I spake not unto them, yet, they, prophesied. |
Not sent these prophets – "There were false teachers also among the people." (2 Pet. 2:1) R265:4, R365:4
See also comments on Jer. 23:16
Yet they prophesied – By an inspiration, or power, in them, almost like the real prophets of God. These were the counterfeits. R265:4
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| 22 But, if they had stood in my council, Then might they have announced my words unto my people, And have turned them from their wicked, way and from the wickedness of their doings. |
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| 23 Am I, a God at hand, Demandeth Yahweh, And not a God afar off? |
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| 24 Can any hide, himself in secret places, that, I, shall not see him? Demandeth Yahweh,–The heavens and the earth, do I, not fill? Demandeth Yahweh. |
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| 25 I have heard what the prophets, have said, who prophesy in my name falsely, saying,–I have dreamed! I have dreamed! |
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| 26 How long, shall it be, in the heart of the prophets, [To be] prophets of falsehood,–And prophets of the deceit of their own heart? |
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| 27 Who lay a plot to cause my people, to forget, my name, by their dreams which they relate, every man to his neighbour,–Just as their fathers forgat, my name, for Baal. |
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| 28 The prophet with whom is a dream, Let him relate it as, a dream, And, he with whom is my word, Let him speak my word as, truth,–What is the chaff, to the wheat? Demandeth Yahweh: |
That hath a dream – An imagination. SM671:1; OV411:T, CR343:3
Possibly caused by indigestion or inspired by evil spirits. R3277:6
When a man does not see a thing himself he is very apt to conclude that nobody else sees it. HG353:2
If a dream corroborates a plain statement of the Word it may be used as we would use a type, to illustrate but not to teach a doctrine. R3971:6
"If they speak not in harmony with the Word of God, it is because there is no light in them." (Isa. 8:20) R3278:1
Tell a dream – Many are teaching their own or their forefathers' imaginings; which the faithful are obliged to contradict as unscriptural. OV158:4; R2400:3
He that hath my word – The Lord's Word, his revelation, his inspired testimony, is to be put far above all dreams of our own and of others. R3971:6
All are authorized to teach his Word who know his Word. CR343:3
People are awakening to the difference between dreams and realities and are wanting something more substantial. R3757:3
Let him speak – With the Gospel itself went the right and the authority to declare it. R2966:4
If we hold back for fear of man we would be sharing in the sin of adding to the Scriptures. OV411:T, SM671:1
My word faithfully – Not uncertainly, doubtfully; but as the oracles of God. R1882:6
Not human speculations, philosophies and fanciful dreams. R3726:6, R2400:2, R3945:1
All authority to speak in the name of God must come from him. OV158:4; R2966:4
God's Book makes no division of his people into clergy and laity. HG617:4
Let him speak only my Word faithfully. R1633:5
In as kind a manner as possible, but not shunning to declare the "whole counsel of God." (Acts 20:26,27) SM404:2
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| 29 Is not my word, like this, Like fire? Demandeth Yahweh,–And like a hammer, that breaketh in pieces a cliff? |
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| 30 Therefore! behold me! against the prophets, Declareth Yahweh,–who steal my words, every man from his neighbour: |
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| 31 Behold me! against the prophets, Declareth Yahweh, who presume with their tongue and declare, He declareth: |
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| 32 Behold me! against such as prophesy the dreams of falsehood, Declareth Yahweh, who have related them, and led astray my people, with their falsehoods and with their recklessness,–whereas, I, had not sent them, nor commanded them, so that they could be of no, profit, to this people, Declareth Yahweh. |
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| 33 But, when this people, or a prophet or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the oracle of Yahweh? Then shalt thou say unto them, Ye yourselves, are the oracle, Therefore will I reject you, Declareth Yahweh; |
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| 34 But, the prophet, or the priest, or the people, who shall say–the oracle of Yahweh, I will bring punishment upon that man, and upon his house. |
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| 35 Thus, shall ye say–every man unto his neighbour, and every man unto his brother,–What, hath Yahweh, answered? or, What, hath Yahweh, spoken? |
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| 36 but, the oracle of Yahweh, shall ye not mention, any more,–for, every man's oracle, shall be his own word, because ye have perverted the words of a Living, God, Yahweh of hosts, our God. |
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| 37 Thus, shalt thou say unto the prophet,–What, hath Yahweh, answered thee? or, What, hath Yahweh, spoken? |
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| 38 But, since ye keep on saying, The Oracle of Yahweh, therefore, Thus, saith Yahweh, Because ye have said this word, The oracle of Yahweh, whereas I had sent unto you saying, Ye shall not say, The oracle of Yahweh, |
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| 39 therefore, behold me! I will lift you up,–and carry you away, and the city which I gave to you and to your fathers, from before my face; |
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| 40 and will give unto you reproach age-abiding,–and disgrace age-abiding, which shall not be forgotten. |
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