False Prophets Condemned

13 The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets(A) of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination:(B) ‘Hear the word of the Lord!(C) This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the foolish[a] prophets(D) who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!(E) Your prophets, Israel, are like jackals among ruins. You have not gone up to the breaches in the wall to repair(F) it for the people of Israel so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of the Lord.(G) Their visions are false(H) and their divinations a lie. Even though the Lord has not sent(I) them, they say, “The Lord declares,” and expect him to fulfill their words.(J) Have you not seen false visions(K) and uttered lying divinations when you say, “The Lord declares,” though I have not spoken?

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 13:3 Or wicked

13 Then this message came to me: 2-3 “Son of dust, prophesy against the false prophets of Israel who are inventing their own visions and claiming to have messages from me when I have never told them anything at all. Woe upon them!

“O Israel, these ‘prophets’ of yours are as useless as foxes for rebuilding your walls! O evil prophets, what have you ever done to strengthen the walls of Israel against her enemies—by strengthening Israel in the Lord? Instead you have lied when you said, ‘My message is from God!’ God did not send you. And yet you expect him to fulfill your prophecies. Can you deny that you have claimed to see ‘visions’ you never saw, and that you have said, ‘This message is from God,’ when I never spoke to you at all?”

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