¹⁶ The Lord Almighty said to the people of Jerusalem, “Do not listen to what the prophets say; they are filling you with false hopes. They tell you what they have imagined and not what I have said. ¹⁷ To the people who refuse to listen to what I have said, they keep saying that all will go well with them. And they tell everyone who is stubborn that disaster will never touch them.”

¹⁸ I said, “None of these prophets has ever known the Lord's secret thoughts. None of them has ever heard or understood his message, or ever listened or paid attention to what he said. ¹⁹ His anger is a storm, a furious wind that will rage over the heads of the wicked, ²⁰ and it will not end until he has done everything he intends to do. In days to come his people will understand this clearly.”

²¹ The Lord said, “I did not send these prophets, but even so they went. I did not give them any message, but still they spoke in my name. ²² If they had known my secret thoughts, then they could have proclaimed my message to my people and could have made them give up the evil lives they live and the wicked things they do.