⁹ But as for you, ^(A)do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your ^[a]dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’ ¹⁰ For they prophesy a ^(B)lie to you in order to ^(C)remove you far from your land; and I will banish you, and you will perish.

¹⁴ So ^(A)do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy a ^(B)lie to you; ¹⁵ for ^(C)I have not sent them,” declares Yahweh, “but they ^(D)prophesy a lie in My name, in order that I may ^(E)banish you and that you may perish, ^(F)you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”

¹⁶ Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says Yahweh: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, ‘Behold, the ^(G)vessels of the house of Yahweh will now shortly be returned from Babylon’; for they are prophesying a ^(H)lie to you. ¹⁷ Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city ^(I)become a waste place?

Test the Spirits

4 ^(A)Beloved, do not believe every ^(B)spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because ^(C)many false prophets have gone out into the world.