⁵ Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred of them, and said to them, “Shall we go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” They said, “Go up, for God will give it into the hand of the king.”

²⁰ And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed in its presence the signs by which he deceived those who had received the brand of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

³ For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound teaching, but, having their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires^(A)

²² Because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not disheartened them, and you have encouraged the wicked not to turn from their wicked way and save their lives,^(A)

³ Thus says the Lord God: Alas for the senseless prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!^{(A) 4} Your prophets have been like jackals among ruins, O Israel. ⁵ You have not gone up into the breaches or repaired a wall for the house of Israel, so that it might stand in battle on the day of the Lord.^{(B) 6} They have envisioned falsehood and lying divination; they say, “Says the Lord,” when the Lord has not sent them, and yet they wait for the fulfillment of their word!^{(C) 7} Have you not seen a false vision or uttered a lying divination when you have said, “Says the Lord,” even though I did not speak?

⁸ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have uttered falsehood and envisioned lies, I am against you, says the Lord God. ⁹ My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations; they shall not be in the council of my people nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord God.^{(D) 10} Because, in truth, because they have misled my people, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a flimsy wall, these prophets^[a] smear whitewash on it.^{(E) 11} Say to those who smear whitewash on it that it shall fall. There will be a deluge of rain,^[b] great hailstones will fall, and a stormy wind will break out.^{(F) 12} When the wall falls, will it not be said to you, “Where is the whitewash you smeared on it?” ¹³ Therefore thus says the Lord God: In my wrath I will make a stormy wind break out, and in my anger there shall be a deluge of rain and hailstones in wrath to destroy it. ¹⁴ I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash and bring it to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare; when the city falls, you shall perish within it, and you shall know that I am the Lord.^{(G) 15} Thus I will spend my wrath upon the wall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewash, and I will say to you, “The wall is no more, nor those who smeared it— ¹⁶ the prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for it when there was no peace, says the Lord God.”^(H)

²⁰ that you have made a fatal mistake. For you yourselves sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the Lord our God, and whatever the Lord our God says, tell us, and we will do it.’

² the prophet Jeremiah and said, “Be good enough to listen to our plea, and pray to the Lord your God for us—for all this remnant. For there are only a few of us left out of many, as your eyes can see.^{(A) 3} Let the Lord your God show us where we should go and what we should do.”^(B)