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Thus says the Lord God: Alas for the senseless prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!(A)

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14 Your prophets have seen for you
    false and deceptive visions;
they have not exposed your iniquity
    to restore your fortunes
but have seen oracles for you
    that are false and misleading.(A)

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28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? says the Lord.(A) 29 Is not my word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?(B) 30 See, therefore, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who steal my words from one another.(C) 31 See, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who use their own tongues and say, “Says the Lord.” 32 See, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says the Lord, and who tell them and who lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or command them, so they do not profit this people at all, says the Lord.

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The days of punishment have come;
    the days of recompense have come.
Israel will cry out,[a]
“The prophet is a fool;
    the man of the spirit is mad!”
Because of your great iniquity,
    your hostility is great.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 9.7 Or will know

Mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: To the shepherds—thus says the Lord God: Woe, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?(A)

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Restoration after Exile

23 Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord.(A)

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14 The mind of one who has understanding seeks knowledge,
    but the mouths of fools feed on folly.

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is conceited, understanding nothing, and has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words. From these come envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions,(A)

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16 If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel!

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52 Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”(A)

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42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others.(A) 43 Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honor in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces.(B) 44 Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves on which people unknowingly walk.”(C)

45 One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us, too.” 46 And he said, “Woe also to you experts in the law! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them.(D) 47 Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed.(E)

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40 You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also?

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13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in you stop them.[a](A) 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell[b] as yourselves.

16 “Woe to you, blind guides who say, ‘Whoever swears by the sanctuary is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the sanctuary is bound by the oath.’(B) 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the sanctuary that has made the gold sacred?(C) 18 And you say, ‘Whoever swears by the altar is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gift that is on the altar is bound by the oath.’ 19 How blind you are! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?(D) 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it, 21 and whoever swears by the sanctuary swears by it and by the one who dwells in it, 22 and whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by the one who is seated upon it.(E)

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.(F) 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!

25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and of the plate,[c] so that the outside also may become clean.

27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of uncleanness. 28 So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous,

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Footnotes

  1. 23.13 Other authorities add 23.14 here (or after 23.12): Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for the sake of appearance you make long prayers; therefore you will receive the greater condemnation
  2. 23.15 Gk Gehenna
  3. 23.26 Other ancient authorities lack and of the plate

15 Then the Lord said to me: “Take once more the implements of a worthless shepherd.(A)

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18 and say: Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women who sew bands on all wrists and make veils for the heads of persons of every height, in the hunt for lives! Will you hunt down lives among my people and maintain your own lives?(A)

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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!(A) 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?

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The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge,
    but the mouths of fools pour out folly.(A)

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But they will not make much progress because, as in the case of those two men,[a] their folly will become plain to everyone.

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Footnotes

  1. 3.9 Gk lacks two men