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The false prophets cannot hide from God.

BibleGateway: Jeremiah 23:9-24

ESV Text: Jeremiah 23:9-24


KJV Text:

The section starts at about 1:23 and ends at about 4:16

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     9 Mine 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. 10 For 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. 11 For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD. 12 Wherefore 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. 13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. 14 I 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. 15 Therefore 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. 16 Thus 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. 17 They 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. 18 For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it? 19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. 20 The 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. 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 should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. 23 Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? 24 Can 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.(KJV)


Hymn: TLH 260, st. 1-3:
O Lord, Look Down from Heaven

— Organ Audio

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1. O Lord, look down from heaven, behold 
And let Thy pity waken: 
How few are we within Thy Fold, 
Thy saints by men forsaken! 
True faith seems quenched on every hand, 
Men suffer not Thy Word to stand; 
Dark times have us o’ertaken. 

2. With fraud which they themselves invent 
Thy truth they have confounded; 
Their hearts are not with one consent 
On Thy pure doctrine grounded. 
While they parade with outward show, 
They lead the people to and fro, 
In error’s maze astounded. 

3. May God root out all heresy 
And of false teachers rid us 
Who proudly say: “Now, where is he 
That shall our speech forbid us? 
By right or might we shall prevail; 
What we determine cannot fail; 
We own no lord and master.”