Jeremiah 23:25-40

“I have heard the prophets who prophesy lies in my name. They say, ‘I have had a dream! I have had a dream!’ How long will this continue in the minds of these lying prophets? They prophesy from their own wishful thinking. They are trying to make the people of Judah forget me by telling each other these dreams. In the same way, their ancestors forgot me and worshiped Baal. Is straw the same thing as wheat?” says the LORD. “If a prophet wants to tell about his dreams, let him! But let the person who hears my message speak it truthfully! Isn’t my message like a fire?” says the LORD. “Isn’t it like a hammer that smashes a rock? “So I am against the false prophets,” says the LORD. “They keep stealing words from each other and say they are from me. I am against the false prophets,” says the LORD. “They use their own words and pretend it is a message from me. I am against the prophets who prophesy false dreams,” says the LORD. “They mislead my people with their lies and false teachings! I did not send them or command them to do anything for me. They can’t help the people of Judah at all,” says the LORD. “Suppose the people of Judah, a prophet, or a priest asks you: ‘Jeremiah, what is the message from the LORD?’ You will answer them and say, ‘You are a heavy load to the LORD, and I will throw you down, says the LORD.’ A prophet or a priest or one of the people might say, ‘This is a message from the LORD.’ That person has lied, so I will punish him and his whole family. This is what you will say to each other: ‘What did the LORD answer?’ or ‘What did the LORD say?’ But you will never again say, ‘The message of the LORD,’ because the only message you speak is your own words. You have changed the words of our God, the living God, the LORD All-Powerful. This is how you should speak to the prophets: ‘What answer did the LORD give you?’ or ‘What did the LORD say?’ But don’t say, ‘The message from the LORD.’ If you use these words, this is what the LORD says: Because you called it a ‘message from the LORD,’ though I told you not to use those words, I will pick you up and throw you away from me, along with Jerusalem, which I gave to your ancestors and to you. And I will make a disgrace of you forever; your shame will never be forgotten.”