Jeremiah 23:21-40

YAHWEH says: “I did not send these so-called prophets, yet they ran eagerly to prophesy their message. I did not speak to them, yet they claimed to prophesy in my name. Had they been present in my divine council and heard my words, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and caused them to turn from their evil ways and their wicked deeds. “Am I just a God nearby,” demands YAHWEH, “and not a God who is both near and far away? Can anyone hide somewhere in secret where I do not see him?” declares YAHWEH. “Is there anywhere in heaven or on earth where I am not present?” declares YAHWEH. “I have heard the lies of those prophets who claim to have received a message from me. ‘I dreamed a dream,’ they say, ‘I dreamed a dream!’ How long must this go on? These prophets of falsehood preach illusions from their own minds. Their dreams, by which one tries to outdo the other, make my people forget me just as their ancestors forgot me in favor of Baal. Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. For what do straw and grain have in common?” declares YAHWEH. “Is not my word like a mighty fire? Is it not like a powerful hammer shattering a rock in pieces?” declares YAHWEH. “So then I, YAHWEH, affirm that I am against the prophets who steal prophetic words from someone else and yet affirm that they came from me! I am against the lying prophets who make up their prophecies and say, ‘Thus says the Lord!’ I am against the prophets who boast in their lies,” declares YAHWEH. “They lead my people astray by their lying prophecies, dreams, and exaggerations. I affirm that I never sent them or commissioned them; they are no good at all for these people,” declares YAHWEH. “Jeremiah, when these people, a prophet, or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of YAHWEH’s heart?’ you must answer, ‘YAHWEH declares, “You are my burden, and I will cast you aside!” ’ “If any of you flippantly says, ‘This is YAHWEH’s message,’ I will punish you and your household, even if you are a prophet or a priest. Instead, you must ask each other, ‘What has YAHWEH said?’ or ‘What is YAHWEH’s answer?’ But stop using the expression ‘This is YAHWEH’s message,’ for their message is nothing more than their own opinion. Otherwise, you distort the words of YAHWEH our God, the living God, the Commander of Angel Armies. “This is the way to speak to a prophet: ‘What has YAHWEH said?’ or ‘What answer has YAHWEH given you?’ But if you disobey me and say, ‘The message of YAHWEH,’ though I spoke to you and told you not to say, ‘The message of YAHWEH,’ then believe me, I will pick you up and fling you from my presence. And I will also do the same thing to the city I gave to you and your ancestors. I will bring down everlasting shame on you, everlasting disgrace that will never be forgotten.”