What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? {maker of...: Heb. fashioner of his fashion}

Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. {destroyed: Heb. cut off}

For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.

The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love {to have it} so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? {bear...: or, take into their hands}

But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. {dishonesty: Gr. shame}

For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. {rulers: Heb. heads}

And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.

They were all ashamed of a people {that} could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.

Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered. {hindered: or, forbad}

O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and {things} wherein {there is} no profit.

Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. {pleasant...: Heb. portion of desire}

How do ye say, We {are} wise, and the law of the LORD {is} with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he {it}; the pen of the scribes {is} in vain. {in vain made...: or, the false pen of the scribes worketh for falsehood}

For my people {is} foolish, they have not known me; they {are} sottish children, and they have none understanding: they {are} wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there. {Take: or, Apprehend}

Neither said they, Where {is} the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?

But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble {in} judgment.

The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.

Then said Elijah unto the people, I, {even} I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets {are} four hundred and fifty men.

Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.

And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the {time} of the offering of the {evening} sacrifice, that {there was} neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded. {offering: Heb. ascending} {that regarded: Heb. attention}

Hath a nation changed {their} gods, which {are} yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for {that which} doth not profit.

And turn ye not aside: for {then should ye go} after vain {things}, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they {are} vain.

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.

They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar. {They shall teach: or, Let them teach} {they shall put: or, let them put} {before...: Heb. at thy nose}

Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.

Now the sons of Eli {were} sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.

All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, {yea}, all ye beasts in the forest.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. {destroyed: Heb. cut off}

Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.

Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe {be} to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

Now the sons of Eli {were} sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.

I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies {are} my meditation.

But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.

Hath a nation changed {their} gods, which {are} yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for {that which} doth not profit.

And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. {folly: or, an absurd thing: Heb. unsavoury}

Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed {difference} between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. {violated: Heb. offered violence to}

Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words. {with...: or, for the tongue}

Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment.

Of these things put {them} in remembrance, charging {them} before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, {but} to the subverting of the hearers.

But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them: {imagination: or, stubbornness}

For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.

If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not. {go about...: or, make merchandise against a land, and men acknowledge it not}

He looketh upon men, and {if any} say, I have sinned, and perverted {that which was} right, and it profited me not; {He...: or, He shall look upon men, and say}

And this also {is} a sore evil, {that} in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?

Neither said they, Where {is} the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?

For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one {is} given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.

Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;

The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.