False Prophets Condemned

¹The word of the Lord came to me: ²a“Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who are prophesying, and say to those bwho prophesy from their own hearts: ‘Hear the word of the Lord!’ ³Thus says the Lord God, Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! ⁴Your prophets have been like jackals among ruins, O Israel. ⁵cYou have not gone up into the breaches, or built up a wall for the house of Israel, that it might stand in battle in the day of the Lord. ⁶dThey have seen false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘Declares the Lord,’ ewhen the Lord has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word. ⁷Have you not seen a false vision and uttered a lying divination, fwhenever you have said, ‘Declares the Lord,’ although I have not spoken?”

⁸Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Because you have uttered falsehood and seen lying visions, therefore behold, gI am against you, declares the Lord God. ⁹My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations. They shall not be in the council of my people, hnor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, inor shall they enter the land of Israel. jAnd you shall know that I am the Lord God. ¹⁰Precisely because they have misled my people, ksaying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, lthese prophets smear it with whitewash,1 ¹¹say to those who smear it with whitewash that it shall fall! mThere will be a deluge of rain, and you, O great hailstones, will fall, and a stormy wind break out. ¹²And when the wall falls, will it not be said to you, ‘Where is the coating with which you smeared it?’ ¹³Therefore thus says the Lord God: mI will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath, mand there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to make a full end. ¹⁴And I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you shall perish in the midst of it, nand you shall know that I am the Lord. ¹⁵Thus will I spend my wrath upon the wall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewash, and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who smeared it, ¹⁶the prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem kand saw visions of peace for her, when there was no peace, declares the Lord God.

¹⁷“And you, son of man, oset your face against pthe daughters of your people, qwho prophesy out of their own hearts. Prophesy against them ¹⁸and say, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women rwho sew magic bands upon all wrists, and smake veils for the heads of persons of every stature, in tthe hunt for souls! Will you hunt down souls belonging to my people and keep your own souls alive? ¹⁹You have profaned me among my people ufor handfuls of barley vand for pieces of bread, putting to death souls who should not die and keeping alive souls who should not live, by your lying to my people, who listen to lies.

²⁰“Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, wI am against xyour magic bands with which you hunt the souls like birds, and I will tear them from your arms, and I will let the souls whom you hunt go free, the souls like birds. ²¹Your veils also I will tear off and ydeliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand as prey, zand you shall know that I am the Lord. ²²aBecause you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not grieved him, and byou have encouraged the wicked, that che should not turn from his evil way to save his life, ²³dtherefore you shall no more see false visions nor practice divination. I will deliver my people out of your hand. And you shall know that I am the Lord.”