1 Woe to the pastors, that destroy and tear the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord. 2 Therefore thus saith the Lord the God of Israel to the pastors that feed my people: You have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold I will visit upon you for the evil of your doings, saith the Lord. 3 And I will gather together the remnant of my flock, out of all the lands into which I have cast them out: and I will make them return to their own fields, and they shall increase and be multiplied. 4 And I will set up pastors over them, and they shall feed them: they shall fear no more, and they shall not be dismayed: and none shall be wanting of their number, saith the Lord. 5 Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will raise up to David a just branch: and a king shall reign, and shall be wise, and shall execute judgement and justice in the earth. 6 In those days shall Juda be saved, and Israel shall dwell confidently: and this is the name that they shall call him: the Lord our just one. 7 Therefore behold the days to come, saith the Lord, and they shall say no more: The Lord liveth, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt: 8 But the Lord liveth, who hath brought out, and brought hither the seed of the house of Israel from the land of the north, and out of all the lands, to which I had cast them forth: and they shall dwell in their own land. 9 To the prophets: My heart is broken within me, all my bones tremble: I am become as a drunken man, and as a man full of wine, at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of his holy words. 10 Because the land is full of adulterers, because the land hath mourned by reason of cursing, the fields of the desert are dried up: and their course is become evil, and their strength unlike. 11 For the prophet and the priest are defiled: and in my house I have found their wickedness, saith the Lord. 12 Therefore their way shall be as a slippery way in the dark: for they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evils upon them, the year of their visitation, saith the Lord. 13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: they prophesied in Baal, and deceived my people Israel. 14 And I have seen the likeness of adulterers, and the way of lying in the prophets of Jerusalem: and they strengthened the hand of the wicked, that no man should return from his evil doings: that are all become unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrha. 15 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts to the prophets: Behold I will feed them with wormwood, and I will give them gall to drink: for from the prophets of Jerusalem corruption has gone forth into all the land. 16 Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Hearken not to the words of the prophets that prophesy to you, and deceive you: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. 17 They say to them that blaspheme me: The Lord hath said: You shall have peace: and to every one that walketh in the perverseness of his own heart, they have said: No evil shall come to you. 18 For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath seen and heard his word? Who hath considered his word and heard it? 19 Behold the whirlwind of the Lord’s indignation shall come forth, and a tempest shall break out and come upon the head of the wicked. 20 The wrath of the Lord shall not return till he execute it, and till he accomplish the thought of his heart: in the latter days you shall understand his counsel. 21 I did not send prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 22 If they stood in my counsel, and had made my words known to my people, I should have turned them from their evil way and from their wicked doings. 23 Am I, think ye, a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? 24 Shall a man be hid in secret places, and I not see him, saith the Lord? do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord? 25 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, and say: I have dreamed, I have dreamed. 26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, and that prophesy the delusions of their own heart? 27 Who seek to make my people forget my name through their dreams, which they tell every man to his neighbor: as their fathers forgot my name for Baal. 28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream: and he that hath my word, let him speak my word with truth: what hath the chaff to do with the wheat, saith the Lord? 29 Are not my words as a fire, saith the Lord: and as a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? 30 Therefore behold I am against the prophets, saith the Lord: who steal my words every one from his neighbor. 31 Behold I am against the prophets, saith the Lord: who use their tongues, and say: The Lord saith it. 32 Behold I am against the prophets that have lying dreams, saith the Lord: and tell them, and cause my people to err by their lying, and by their wonders: when I sent them not, nor commanded them, who have not profited this people at all, saith the Lord. 33 If therefore this people, or the prophet, or the priest shall ask thee, saying: What is the burden of the Lord? thou shalt say to them: You are the burden: for I will cast you away, saith the Lord. 34 And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people that shall say: The burden of the Lord: I will visit upon that man, and upon his house. 35 Thus shall you say every one to his neighbor, and to his brother: What hath the Lord answered? and what hath the Lord spoken? 36 And the burden of the Lord shall be mentioned no more, for every man’s word shall be his burden: for you have perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts our God. 37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet: What hath the Lord answered thee? and what hath the Lord spoken? 38 But if you shall say: The burden of the Lord: therefore thus saith the Lord: Because you have said this word: The burden of the Lord: and I have sent to you saying: Say not, The burden of the Lord: 39 Therefore behold I will take you away carrying you, and will forsake you, and the city which I gave to you, and to your fathers, out of my presence. 40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame which shall never be forgotten.
Jeremiah · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Jeremiah 23 Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (39)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Jeremiah 10:21; Zechariah 11:15–17; Ezekiel 34:2–10; Ezekiel 13:3; Matthew 9:36
- 2 Jeremiah 21:12; Micah 7:4; Exodus 32:34; Jeremiah 23:34; Jeremiah 5:29
- 3 Amos 9:14–15; Jeremiah 32:37; Isaiah 43:5–6; Jeremiah 29:14; Jeremiah 30:3
- 4 Jeremiah 3:14–15; 1 Peter 1:5; Acts 20:28–29; John 10:27–30; Jeremiah 46:27–28
- 5 Luke 1:32–33; Isaiah 4:2; Isaiah 52:13; Isaiah 9:7; Zechariah 6:12–13
- 6 1 Corinthians 1:30; Philippians 3:9; Jeremiah 33:16; Matthew 1:21–23; Isaiah 7:14
- 7 Jeremiah 16:14–15; Jeremiah 23:3; Isaiah 43:18–19; Jeremiah 31:31–34
- 8 Amos 9:14–15; Isaiah 43:5–6; Ezekiel 34:13; Ezekiel 39:28; Zephaniah 3:20
- 9 Habakkuk 3:16; Lamentations 3:15; Isaiah 51:21; Daniel 8:27; Psalm 60:3
- 10 Psalm 107:34; Hosea 4:2–3; Jeremiah 5:7–8; Jeremiah 9:2; Jeremiah 9:10
- 11 Jeremiah 6:13; Zephaniah 3:4; Matthew 21:12–13; Jeremiah 32:34; Ezekiel 23:39
- 12 Jeremiah 13:16; Psalm 35:6; Jeremiah 11:23; Proverbs 4:19; John 12:35
- 13 Jeremiah 2:8; Isaiah 9:16; Hosea 9:7–8; 1 Kings 18:18–21; 2 Chronicles 33:9
- 14 Jeremiah 29:23; Isaiah 1:9–10; Ezekiel 22:25; Genesis 18:20; Jeremiah 14:14
- 15 Jeremiah 8:14; Jeremiah 9:15; Lamentations 3:15; Psalm 69:21; Lamentations 3:5
- 16 Jeremiah 14:14; Ezekiel 13:6; 2 Corinthians 11:13–15; Galatians 1:8–9; Jeremiah 27:9–10
- 17 Micah 3:11; Jeremiah 13:10; Amos 9:10; Deuteronomy 29:19; Jeremiah 5:12
- 18 Jeremiah 23:22; Psalm 25:14; 1 Corinthians 2:16; Amos 3:7; John 15:15
- 19 Jeremiah 30:23; Jeremiah 25:32; Amos 1:14; Isaiah 21:1; Proverbs 10:25
- 20 Jeremiah 30:24; Isaiah 55:11; Genesis 49:1; Proverbs 21:30; Zechariah 1:6
- 21 Jeremiah 14:14; Jeremiah 27:15; Jeremiah 23:32; Jeremiah 29:31; Jeremiah 28:15
- 22 Zechariah 1:4; Jeremiah 23:18; Jeremiah 25:5; Ezekiel 13:22; Jeremiah 35:15
- 23 Psalm 139:1–10; Jonah 1:3–4; Ezekiel 20:32–35; Psalm 113:5; 1 Kings 20:23
- 24 Proverbs 15:3; Psalm 139:7; Psalm 90:8; Isaiah 29:15; Amos 9:2–3
- 25 Jeremiah 23:32; Joel 2:28; Jeremiah 29:8; Jeremiah 23:28; Numbers 12:6
- 26 1 Timothy 4:1–2; Jeremiah 14:14; 2 Peter 2:13–16; 2 Timothy 4:3; 2 Thessalonians 2:9–11
- 27 Judges 8:33–34; Judges 3:7; Acts 13:8; Judges 10:6; 2 Kings 21:3
- 28 1 Timothy 1:12; 2 Corinthians 2:17; Luke 12:42; Proverbs 14:5; Matthew 24:45
- 29 Hebrews 4:12; Jeremiah 5:14; Luke 24:32; Jeremiah 20:9; 2 Corinthians 10:4–5
- 30 Deuteronomy 18:20; Ezekiel 13:8; Jeremiah 14:14–15; Psalm 34:16; Ezekiel 13:20
- 31 Jeremiah 23:17; 2 Chronicles 18:10–12; Isaiah 30:10; 2 Chronicles 18:5; 2 Chronicles 18:19–21
- 32 Zephaniah 3:4; Ezekiel 13:7–18; Lamentations 2:14; Jeremiah 29:31; Jeremiah 7:8
- 33 Malachi 1:1; Jeremiah 12:7; Nahum 1:1; Hosea 9:12; Deuteronomy 32:19–20
- 34 Zechariah 13:3; Lamentations 2:14
- 35 Jeremiah 31:34; Jeremiah 33:3; Jeremiah 42:4; Hebrews 8:11
- 36 Isaiah 3:8; 2 Peter 3:16; Jeremiah 10:10; Psalm 64:8; Psalm 120:3
- 38 2 Chronicles 11:13–14
- 39 Jeremiah 23:33; Ezekiel 8:18; Ezekiel 34:20; Isaiah 51:12; 2 Thessalonians 1:9
- 40 Jeremiah 20:11; Ezekiel 5:14–15; Jeremiah 42:18; Deuteronomy 28:37; Jeremiah 24:9
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
For where outside heaven and earth can I go that from thence my God may come into me who has said, I fill heaven and earth"? Chapter III — Everywhere God Wholly Filleth All Things, But Neither Heaven Nor Earth…
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
And how shall we preserve the truth that God pervades all things and fills all, as it is written "Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord," and "The Spirit of the Lord filleth the world," if God partly contains and partly is contained?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
as the Scriptures say, Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 9 (1899)
And who is this but our God, the God that created heaven and earth, and filleth them, because by filling them He created them?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
… gave their roundness to the eye and to the apple; and the other natural objects which we anywhere see, received also their form, not from without, but from the secret and profound might of the Creator, who said, "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" and whose wisdom it is that "reacheth from one end to another mightily; and sweetly …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)