² “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(A)I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

^5 (A)You have not gone up into the breaches, or built up a wall for the house of Israel, that it might stand in battle in the day of the Lord. ^6 (B)They have seen false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘Declares the Lord,’ ^(C)when the Lord has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word. ⁷ Have you not seen a false vision and uttered a lying divination, ^(D)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, ^(E)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, ^(F)nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, ^(G)nor shall they enter the land of Israel. ^(H)And you shall know that I am the Lord God. ¹⁰ Precisely because they have misled my people, ^(I)saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, ^(J)these prophets smear it with whitewash,^{[a] 11} say to those who smear it with whitewash that it shall fall! ^(K)There will be a deluge of rain, and you, O great hailstones, will fall, and a stormy wind break out. ¹² And when the wall falls, will it not be said to you, ‘Where is the coating with which you smeared it?’ ¹³ Therefore thus says the Lord God: ^(L)I will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath, ^(M)and there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to make a full end. ¹⁴ And I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you shall perish in the midst of it, ^(N)and you shall know that I am the Lord. ¹⁵ Thus will I 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 ^(O)and saw visions of peace for her, when there was no peace, declares the Lord God.

² Thus the Lord said to me: ^(A)“Make yourself straps and ^(B)yoke-bars, and put them on your neck. ³ Send word^[a] to the king of ^(C)Edom, the king of ^(D)Moab, the king of the sons of ^(E)Ammon, the king of ^(F)Tyre, and the king of Sidon by the hand of the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. ⁴ Give them this charge for their masters: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: This is what you shall say to your masters: ⁵ “It is I who ^(G)by my great power and my outstretched arm ^(H)have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, ^(I)and I give it to whomever it seems right to me. ^6 (J)Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, ^(K)my servant, ^(L)and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him. ^7 (M)All the nations shall serve him and ^(N)his son and ^(O)his grandson, ^(P)until the time of his own land comes. ^(Q)Then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave.

⁸ “‘“But if any nation or kingdom will not serve this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, ^(R)and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation ^(S)with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, declares the Lord, until I have consumed it by his hand. ⁹ So ^(T)do not listen to your ^(U)prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your ^(V)fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.’ ^10 (W)For it is a lie that they are prophesying to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish. ^11 (X)But any nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave on its own land, to work it and dwell there, declares the Lord.”’”

¹² To ^(Y)Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke in like manner: ^(Z)“Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and ^(AA)serve him and his people and live.