Worshiping Other Gods

13 ^[a]If a prophet,^(A) or one who foretells by dreams,^(B) appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, ² and if the sign^(C) or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods”^(D) (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” ³ you must not listen to the words of that prophet^(E) or dreamer.^(F) The Lord your God is testing^(G) you to find out whether you love^(H) him with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ It is the Lord your God you must follow,^(I) and him you must revere.^(J) Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast^(K) to him. ⁵ That prophet or dreamer must be put to death^(L) for inciting rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. That prophet or dreamer tried to turn^(M) you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil^(N) from among you.

²⁰ But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods,^(A) is to be put to death.”^(B)

²¹ You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” ²² If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true,^(C) that is a message the Lord has not spoken.^(D) That prophet has spoken presumptuously,^(E) so do not be alarmed.

The False Prophet Hananiah

28 In the fifth month of that same year, the fourth year, early in the reign of Zedekiah^(A) king of Judah, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon,^(B) said to me in the house of the Lord in the presence of the priests and all the people: ² “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will break the yoke^(C) of the king of Babylon. ³ Within two years I will bring back to this place all the articles^(D) of the Lord’s house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and took to Babylon. ⁴ I will also bring back to this place Jehoiachin^[a](E) son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and all the other exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”^(F)

⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah before the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord. ⁶ He said, “Amen! May the Lord do so! May the Lord fulfill the words you have prophesied by bringing the articles of the Lord’s house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon.^{(G) 7} Nevertheless, listen to what I have to say in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people: ⁸ From early times the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague^(H) against many countries and great kingdoms. ⁹ But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true.^(I)”