Ezekiel 13:2-12

“Preach to them the real thing. Tell them, ‘Listen to GOD’s Message!’ GOD, the Master, pronounces doom on the empty-headed prophets who do their own thing and know nothing of what’s going on! Your prophets, Israel, are like jackals scavenging through the ruins. They haven’t lifted a finger to repair the defenses of the city and have risked nothing to help Israel stand on GOD’s Day of Judgment. All they do is fantasize comforting illusions and preach lying sermons. They say ‘GOD says . . .’ when GOD hasn’t so much as breathed in their direction. And yet they stand around thinking that something they said is going to happen. “Haven’t you fantasized sheer nonsense? Aren’t your sermons tissues of lies, saying ‘GOD says . . .’ when I’ve done nothing of the kind? Therefore—and this is the Message of GOD, the Master, remember—I’m dead set against prophets who substitute illusions for visions and use sermons to tell lies. I’m going to ban them from the council of my people, remove them from membership in Israel, and outlaw them from the land of Israel. Then you’ll realize that I am GOD, the Master. “The fact is that they’ve lied to my people. They’ve said, ‘No problem; everything’s just fine,’ when things are not at all fine. When people build a wall, they’re right behind them slapping on whitewash. Tell those who are slapping on the whitewash, ‘When a torrent of rain comes and the hailstones crash down and the hurricane sweeps in and the wall collapses, what’s the good of the whitewash that you slapped on so liberally, making it look so good?’