¶Concerning the prophets:
My heart [says Jeremiah] is broken within me,
All my bones shake;
I have become like a drunken man,
A man whom wine has overcome,
Because of the LORD
And because of His holy words [declared against unfaithful leaders].
For the land is full of adulterers (unfaithful to God);
The land mourns because of the curse [of God upon it].
The pastures of the wilderness have dried up.
The course of action [of the false prophets] is evil and they rush into wickedness;
And their power is not right.
“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 paths
In 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.
¶“And I have seen a foolish and an offensive thing in the prophets of Samaria:
They prophesied by Baal and caused My people Israel to go astray.
“Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem:
They commit adultery and walk in lies;
They encourage and strengthen the hands of evildoers,
So that no one has turned back from his wickedness.
All of them have become like Sodom to Me,
And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.
Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts in regard to the prophets,
‘Behold, I am going to feed them [the bitterness of] wormwood
And make them drink the poisonous water [of gall],
For from the [counterfeit] prophets of Jerusalem
Profaneness 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 imagination
And not [truth] from the mouth of the LORD.
“They are continually saying to those who despise Me [and My word],
‘The Lord has said, “You will have peace” ’;
And they say to everyone who walks after the stubbornness of his own heart,
‘No evil will come on you.’
“But who [among them] has stood in the council of the LORD,
That he would perceive and hear His word?
Who has marked His word [noticing and observing and paying attention to it] and has [actually] heard it?
“Behold, the tempest of the LORD has gone forth in wrath,
A whirling tempest;
It will whirl and burst on the heads of the wicked.
“The anger of the LORD will not turn back
Until He has set in motion and accomplished the thoughts and intentions of His heart;
In the last days you will clearly understand it.
“I did not send [these counterfeit] prophets,
Yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
Yet they prophesied.
“But if they had stood in My council,
Then they would have caused My people to hear My words,
Then they would have turned My people from their evil way
And from the evil of their decisions and deeds.
¶“Am I a God who is at hand,” says the LORD,
“And not a God far away?”
“Can anyone hide himself in secret places
So that I cannot see him?” says the LORD.
“Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD.
“I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My Name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed [visions when on my bed at night].’ How long [shall this state of affairs continue]? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, who think that they can make My people forget My Name by their [contrived] dreams which each one tells another, just as their fathers forgot My Name because of Baal? 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.
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