⁶ They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer^(A) and false prophet^(B) named Bar-Jesus,

True and False Prophets

¹⁵ “Watch out for false prophets.^(A) They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.^(B)

On Denying the Incarnation

4 Dear friends,^(A) do not believe every spirit,^(B) but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.^(C)

¹³ For such people are false apostles,^(A) deceitful^(B) workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.^(C)

False Teachers and Their Destruction

2 But there were also false prophets^(A) among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.^(B) They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord^(C) who bought them^(D)—bringing swift destruction on themselves. ² Many will follow their depraved conduct^(E) and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. ³ In their greed^(F) these teachers will exploit you^(G) with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

Blind Bartimaeus Receives His Sight^(A)

⁴⁶ Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging.

²⁴ For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders^(A) to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

¹⁷ Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood,^(A) but by my Father in heaven.^(B)

³ And if anyone still prophesies, their father and mother, to whom they were born, will say to them, ‘You must die, because you have told lies^(A) in the Lord’s name.’ Then their own parents will stab the one who prophesies.^(B)