13 “If a prophet or ^(A)a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder,

Test the Spirits

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

²⁵ I have heard what the prophets have said ^(A)who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ^(B)‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ ²⁶ How long shall there be lies in the heart of ^(C)the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, ²⁷ who think to make my people forget my name ^(D)by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their ^(E)fathers forgot my name for Baal? ^28 (F)Let the prophet who has a dream ^(G)tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. ^(H)What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord.

⁸ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(A)Do not let your prophets and ^(B)your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,^[a]

⁹ So ^(A)do not listen to your ^(B)prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your ^(C)fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.’

¹⁸ And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him.

⁹ The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan ^(A)with all power and false signs and wonders,

²⁶ “Woe to you, ^(A)when all people speak well of you, for ^(B)so their fathers did to ^(C)the false prophets.