Denunciation of Lying Prophets

¹³ Then I said: “Ah, Lord God! Here are the prophets saying to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you true peace in this place.’ ”^(A)

False Prophets and Their Punishment

2 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive opinions. They will even deny the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.^(A)

¹⁷ They keep saying to those who despise the word of the Lord,^[a] “It shall be well with you,” and to all who stubbornly follow their own stubborn hearts, they say, “No calamity shall come upon you.”^(A)

¹⁰ Then I said, “Ah, Lord God, how utterly you have deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘It shall be well with you,’ even while the sword is at the throat!”^(A)

²² Because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not disheartened them, and you have encouraged the wicked not to turn from their wicked way and save their lives,^(A)

¹⁰ Because, in truth, because they have misled my people, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a flimsy wall, these prophets^[a] smear whitewash on it.^{(A) 11} Say to those who smear whitewash on it that it shall fall. There will be a deluge of rain,^[b] great hailstones will fall, and a stormy wind will break out.^{(B) 12} When the wall falls, will it not be said to you, “Where is the whitewash you smeared on it?” ¹³ Therefore thus says the Lord God: In my wrath I will make a stormy wind break out, and in my anger there shall be a deluge of rain and hailstones in wrath to destroy it. ¹⁴ I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash and bring it to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare; when the city falls, you shall perish within it, and you shall know that I am the Lord.^{(C) 15} Thus I will spend my wrath upon the wall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewash, and I will say to you, “The wall is no more, nor those who smeared it— ¹⁶ the prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for it when there was no peace, says the Lord God.”^(D)