'Says the Lord' in the Bible

“Therefore thus says the Lord,‘Ask now among the nations,Who has heard of such things?The virgin IsraelHas done a very vile and horrible thing.

‘I will scatter them like an east windBefore the enemy;I will show them My back and not My faceIn the day of their disaster [says the Lord].’”

Thus says the Lord, “Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jar, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests

and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold (listen carefully), I am going to bring such disaster on this place that the ears of everyone who hears about it will tingle [in shock].

therefore, listen very closely, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when this place shall no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Just so will I break this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will bury in Topheth because there is no other place for burial.

This I will do to this place,” says the Lord, “and to its inhabitants; and I will even make this city like Topheth.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am going to bring on this city and on all its towns, all the devastation that I have declared against it, because they have become stiff-necked and refused to hear and obey My words.’”

For thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; they will fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon; he will carry them away to Babylon as captives and will slaughter them with the sword.

‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Behold, I will turn back and dull the edge of the weapons of war that are in your hands, [those] with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls; and I will bring them into the center of this city (Jerusalem).

Then afterward,” says the Lord, “I will hand over Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the virulent disease, the sword, and the famine, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemy, into the hand of those who seek their lives. And he will strike them with the edge of the sword; he will not spare them nor have mercy and compassion on them.”’

“And to this people you (Jeremiah) shall also say, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.

For I have set My face against this city to do harm and not good,” says the Lord. “It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon and he will burn it with fire.”’

O house of David, thus says the Lord:“Administer justice in the morning,And rescue the one who has been robbed from the hand of his oppressor,That My wrath will not roar up like fireAnd burn so [hotly] that none can extinguish it,Because of the evil of their deeds.

“Understand this, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley,O rock of the plain,” says the Lord—“You who say, ‘Who will come down against us?Or who will enter into our dwelling places?’

“But I will punish you in accordance with the [appropriate] consequences of your decisions and your actions,” says the Lord.“I will kindle a fire in your forest,And it will devour all that is around you.”’”

Thus says the Lord, “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak this word there:

Thus says the Lord, “Execute justice and righteousness, and rescue the one who has been robbed from the hand of his oppressor. And do no wrong; do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

But if you will not hear and obey these words, I swear [an oath] by Myself,” says the Lord, “that this house will become a desolation.”’”

For thus says the Lord in regard to the house of the king of Judah:“You are [as valuable] to Me as [the green pastures of] Gilead [east of the Jordan]Or as the [plentiful] summit of Lebanon [west of the Jordan],Yet most certainly [if you will not listen to Me] I will make you a wilderness,And uninhabited cities.

For thus says the Lord in regard to Shallum (Jehoahaz) the [third] son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father and who went from this place, “Shallum will not return here anymore;

“He defended the cause of the afflicted and needy;Then all was well.Is that not what it means to know Me?”Says the Lord.

Therefore thus says the Lord in regard to Jehoiakim the [second] son of Josiah, king of Judah,“The relatives will not lament (mourn over with expressions of grief) for him:‘Alas, my brother!’ or, ‘Alas, sister,’ [how great our loss]!The subjects will not lament for him:‘Alas, master!’ or ‘Alas, majesty [how great was his glory]!’

“As I live,” says the Lord, “though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet [ring] on My right hand, yet would I pull you (Coniah) off.

Thus says the Lord,‘Write this man [Coniah] down as childless,A man who will not prosper (succeed) in his lifetime;For not one of his descendants will succeedIn sitting on the throne of DavidOr ruling again in Judah.’”

“Woe to the shepherds (civil leaders, rulers) who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lord.

Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, in regard to the shepherds who care for and feed My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; hear this, I am about to visit and attend to you for the evil of your deeds,” says the Lord.

I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. And they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing,” says the Lord.

“Behold (listen closely), the days are coming,” says the Lord,“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;And He will reign as King and act wiselyAnd will do [those things that accomplish] justice and righteousness in the land.

“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’

“For both [false] prophet and priest are ungodly (profane, polluted);Even in My house I have found their wickedness,” says the Lord.

“Therefore their way will be to them like slippery pathsIn the dark; they will be pushed and fall into them;For I will bring disaster on them,In the year of their punishment,” says the Lord.

Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts in regard to the prophets,‘Behold, I am going to feed them [the bitterness of] wormwoodAnd make them drink the poisonous water [of gall],For from the [counterfeit] prophets of JerusalemProfaneness and ungodliness have spread into all the land.’”

Thus says the Lord of hosts,“Do not listen to the words of the [false] prophets who prophesy to you.They are teaching you worthless things and are leading you into futility;They speak a vision of their own mind and imaginationAnd not [truth] from the mouth of the Lord.

“Am I a God who is at hand,” says the Lord,“And not a God far away?”

“Can anyone hide himself in secret placesSo that I cannot see him?” says the Lord.“Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord.

The prophet who has a dream may tell his dream; but he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat [for nourishment]?” says the Lord.

“Is not My word like fire [that consumes all that cannot endure the test]?” says the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks the [most stubborn] rock [in pieces]?

Therefore behold (hear this), I am against the [counterfeit] prophets,” says the Lord, “[I am descending on them with punishment, these prophets] who steal My words from one another [imitating the words of the true prophets].

Hear this, I am against the prophets,” says the Lord, “who use their [own deceitful] tongues and say, ‘Thus says the Lord.’

Hear this, I am against those who have prophesied false and made-up dreams,” says the Lord, “and have told them and have made My people err and go astray by their lies and by their reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them nor do they benefit and enhance [the life of] these people in the slightest way,” says the Lord.

“Now when this people or a prophet or a priest asks you [in jest], ‘What is the oracle of the Lord [the burden to be lifted up and carried]?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘What oracle [besides the one that declares you people to be the burden]!’ The Lord says, ‘I will unburden Myself and I will abandon you.’

For if you say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ surely thus says the Lord, ‘Because you said this word, “The oracle of the Lord!” when I have also sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’”’

“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent from this place into the land of the Chaldeans.

‘And as for the bad figs, which are so rotten that they cannot be eaten,’ surely thus says the Lord, ‘so I will abandon Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and those who live in the land of Egypt.

Yet you have not listened to Me,” says the Lord, “so that you have provoked Me to anger with the work (idols) of your hands to your own harm.

“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Because you have not obeyed My words,

behold (hear this), I will send for all the families of the north,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will send for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant [to enact My plan], and I will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations; and I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing [that is, an object of warning and ridicule] and an everlasting desolation.

‘Then when seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans (Babylonia),’ says the Lord, ‘for their wickedness, and will make the land [of the Chaldeans] a perpetual waste.

For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to me, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it.

“Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Drink, be drunk, vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword which I will send among you.”’

And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you will say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “You shall surely drink!

For behold, I am beginning to work disaster in the city which is called by My Name, and shall you go unpunished? You will not be exempt from punishment, for I am calling for a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” says the Lord of hosts.’

‘A noise has come to the end of the earth,For the Lord has a controversy with and an indictment against the nations.He is entering into judgment with all mankind;As for the wicked, He has given them to the sword,’ says the Lord.”

Thus says the Lord of hosts,“Behold, evil is going forthFrom nation to nation,And a great whirling tempest is risingFrom the remotest part of the earth.

“Thus says the Lord, ‘Stand in the court of the Lord’s house [Jeremiah], and speak to all [the people of] the cities of Judah who have come to worship in the Lord’s house all the words that I have commanded you to speak to them. Do not omit a word!

And you will say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, “If you will not listen to Me and obey My law which I have set before you,

“Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts,“Zion will be plowed like a field,And Jerusalem will become [heaps of] ruins,And the mountain of the house [of the Lord—Mount Moriah, on which stands the temple, shall become covered not with buildings, but] like a densely wooded height.”’

Thus says the Lord to me, “Make for yourself bonds and yokes and put them on your neck,

Command them to go to their masters, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, you shall say this to your masters:

“But any nation or kingdom that will not serve this same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish,” says the Lord, “with the sword, with famine and with pestilence (virulent disease), until I have destroyed it by Nebuchadnezzar’s hand.

But the nation which will bow its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, that nation I will let remain on its own land,” says the Lord, “to cultivate it and live in it.”’”

for I have not sent them,” says the Lord, “but they are prophesying falsely in My Name, in order that I may drive you out and that you may perish, you [together] with the [false] prophets who prophesy to you.”

Then I said to the priests and to all these people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: Do not listen to the words of your [false] prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, ‘Behold, the articles of the Lord’s house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon’; for they are prophesying a lie to you.

For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the [bronze] pillars, the [bronze] Sea, the [bronze] bases [of the ten basins in Solomon’s temple used for washing sacrificial animals], and the rest of the articles that are left in this city (Jerusalem),

Yes, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the articles which remain in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem,

‘They will be carried to Babylon and they will be there until the day that I visit them [with My favor],’ says the Lord. ‘Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.’”

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

And I will also bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, along with all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,’ says the Lord, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”

Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Even so within two full years I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations.’” Then the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

“Go and tell Hananiah, ‘The Lord says this, “You have broken yokes of wood, but you have made in their place bars of iron.”

For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “I have put the iron yoke [of servitude] on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they will serve him. And I have even given him the beasts of the field.”’”

Therefore thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am about to send you away from the face of the earth. This year you will die, because you have spoken and counseled rebellion against the Lord.’”

“So says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the captives whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon,

For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your [false] prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you; pay no attention and attach no significance to the dreams which they dream or to yours,

for they prophesy falsely to you in My Name. I have not sent them,’ says the Lord.

“For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years [of exile] have been completed for Babylon, I will visit (inspect) you and keep My good promise to you, to bring you back to this place.

For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

I will be found by you,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and I will [free you and] gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’

thus says the Lord concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who live in this city, your brothers (fellow people of Judah) who did not go with you into captivity—

thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Behold (listen very carefully), I am sending the sword, famine, and virulent disease (pestilence) on them, and I will make them like rotten figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten.

because they have not listened to and honored My words,’ says the Lord, ‘which I sent to them again and again by My servants the prophets. Moreover, you [exiles] did not listen [either],’ says the Lord.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you in My Name, ‘Behold, I will hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will slaughter them before your eyes [yes, all the false prophets in Babylon whom you follow shall die]!

because they have acted foolishly in Israel and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and in My Name have spoken false and concocted words, which I did not command them. I am He who knows and I am a witness,” says the Lord.’”

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying,

“Send [this message] to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah of Nehelam, “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, although I did not send him, and he has made you trust in a lie,”

therefore thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am about to punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants. He will not have anyone [born] to live among this people, nor will he see the good that I am about to do to My people,” says the Lord, “because he has spoken and preached rebellion against the Lord.”’”

“Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Write in a book all the words which I have spoken to you.

For behold (hear this), the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will return them to the land that I gave to their forefathers and they will take possession of it.’”

“Thus says the Lord,‘We have heard a terrified voiceOf panic and dread, and there is no peace.

‘It shall come about on that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘that I will break the yoke off your neck and I will tear off your bonds and force apart your shackles; and strangers will no longer make slaves of the people [of Israel].

‘Fear not, O Jacob My servant,’ says the Lord,‘Nor be dismayed or downcast, O Israel;For behold, I will save you from a distant land [of exile]And your descendants from the land of their captivity.Jacob will return and will be quiet and at ease,And no one will make him afraid.

‘For I am with you,’ says the Lord, ‘to save you;For I will destroy completely all the nations where I have scattered you,But I will not destroy you completely.But I will judge and discipline you fairlyAnd will by no means regard you as guiltless and leave you unpunished.’

“For thus says the Lord,‘Your wound is incurableAnd your injury is beyond healing.

‘For I will restore health to youAnd I will heal your wounds,’ says the Lord,‘Because they have called you an outcast, saying:“This is Zion; no one seeks her and no one cares for her.”’

“Thus says the Lord,‘Behold (hear this), I will restore the fortunes of the tents of JacobAnd have mercy on his dwelling places;The city will be rebuilt on its [old, mound-like] ruin,And the palace will stand on its rightful place.

‘Their prince will be one of them,And their ruler will come forward from among them.I will bring him near and he shall approach Me,For who is he who would have the boldness and would dare [on his own initiative] to risk his life to approach Me?’ says the Lord.

“At that time,” says the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.”

Thus says the Lord,“The people who survived the swordFound grace in the wilderness [of exile]—Israel (the Northern Kingdom), when it went to find its rest.”

For thus says the Lord,“Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,And shout for the first and foremost of the nations [the chosen people, Israel];Proclaim, give praise and say,‘O Lord save Your people,The remnant of Israel!’