¹⁸ For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but ^(A)their own appetites,^[a] and ^(B)by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.

¹³ but ^(A)never again prophesy at Bethel, for ^(B)it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”

⁷ Have you not seen a false vision and uttered a lying divination, ^(A)whenever you have said, ‘Declares the Lord,’ although I have not spoken?”

⁸ Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Because you have uttered falsehood and seen lying visions, therefore behold, ^(B)I am against you, declares the Lord God. ⁹ My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations. They shall not be in the council of my people, ^(C)nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, ^(D)nor shall they enter the land of Israel. ^(E)And you shall know that I am the Lord God. ¹⁰ Precisely because they have misled my people, ^(F)saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, ^(G)these prophets smear it with whitewash,^[a]

²¹ Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the men of ^(A)Anathoth, ^(B)who seek your life, and say, ^(C)“Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hand”—

⁷ And when they have finished their testimony, ^(A)the beast that rises from ^(B)the bottomless pit^{[a] (C)}will make war on them and conquer them and kill them,

²⁶ How long shall there be lies in the heart of ^(A)the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, ²⁷ who think to make my people forget my name ^(B)by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their ^(C)fathers forgot my name for Baal? ^28 (D)Let the prophet who has a dream ^(E)tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. ^(F)What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. ^29 (G)Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and ^(H)like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

¹⁷ They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ^(A)‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who ^(B)stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ^(C)‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”