Beginning

False Prophets

13 The word of Adonai came to me saying: ² “Son of man, prophesy concerning the prophets of Israel, who are prophesying, say to those who prophesy out of their own heart, hear the word of Adonai, ³ thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit—except they have seen nothing! ⁴ O Israel, your prophets have been like jackals among ruins. ⁵ You have not gone up into the breaches and repaired the walls for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle in the day of Adonai. ⁶ They have prophesied emptiness and predicted falsely, who say, “Adonai says.” Adonai has not sent them, yet they hope for confirmation of their word. ⁷ Did you not see an empty vision and speak a false omen, when you say, “Adonai says”—when I have not spoken?’”

⁸ Therefore thus says Adonai Elohim: “Because you have spoken falsely and prophesied lies, therefore behold, I am against you.” It is a declaration of Adonai. ⁹ “My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will not remain in the assembly of My people, nor will they be recorded in the register of the house of Israel, nor enter into the land of Israel. You will know that I am Adonai. ¹⁰ Precisely because they have led My people astray saying, ‘Shalom’ when there is no shalom, they build a weak wall, behold, they plaster it over with whitewash. ¹¹ Say to those who plaster it over with whitewash, that it will fall. There will be a down-pouring rain, and on you great hailstones will fall, and a storm wind will break out. ¹² Behold, when the wall has fallen, will it not be said about you, ‘Where is the whitewash that you plastered it with?’’’

¹³ Therefore thus says Adonai Elohim: “I will cause a storm wind to burst out in My fury. There will be a down-pouring rain in My anger and great hailstones in destructive wrath. ¹⁴ I will tear down the wall that you have plastered with whitewash and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation of it is exposed. It will collapse and you will be consumed within it. Then you will know that I am Adonai. ¹⁵ I will spend My wrath against the wall and against those who plastered it with whitewash. I will say to you, the wall is no more! The whitewashers are no more— ¹⁶ the prophets of Israel who prophesy to Jerusalem and see visions of shalom for her, when there is no shalom.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

¹⁷ “Now you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own imagination. Prophesy against them ¹⁸ saying, thus says Adonai Elohim, ‘Oy to the women who sew magic charms on all their wrists and make veils of every size for their heads in order to ensnare souls! You hunt down the souls of My people, but preserve yourselves. ¹⁹ You have profaned Me among My people for handfuls of barley and crumbs of bread, to kill those who should not die and to save those who should not live, by lying to My people, who listen to lies.’”

²⁰ Therefore thus says Adonai Elohim, “Behold, I am against your magic charms with which you hunt people like birds. I will tear them from your arms. I will deliver the people you hunt like birds. ²¹ I will tear off your veils and deliver My people from your hands. They will never again be in your hand to be hunted. So you will know that I am Adonai. ²² Because you have discouraged the hearts of the righteous with your lies, when I have not grieved him; and strengthened the hands of the wicked so he may not return from his wicked way and live, ²³ therefore you will no longer see false visions or utter lying divinations again. I will deliver My people out of your hand. Then you will know that I am Adonai.”

14 Some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. ² The word of Adonai came to me saying: ³ “Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts. They have put the stumbling block of their iniquity right before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all? ⁴ Therefore speak to them, and say to them, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Every man from the house of Israel who sets up idols in his heart and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity right before his face, and then comes to the prophet—I, Adonai, will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, ⁵ so I may take hold of the house of Israel in their hearts. For they have all become estranged from Me through their idols.’”

⁶ Therefore say to the house of Israel, thus says Adonai Elohim: “Return, turn away from your idols; turn your faces from all your abominations. ⁷ For anyone from the house of Israel or the outsiders who dwell in Israel who breaks himself away from Me takes idols into his heart, puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me through him—I, Adonai, will answer him Myself. ⁸ I will set My face against that man. I will make him a sign and a proverb and cut him off from among My people. Then you will know that I am Adonai.

⁹ “When the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, Adonai, have deceived that prophet. I will stretch out My hand against him. I will destroy him from among My people Israel. ¹⁰ They will bear their punishment—the punishment of the prophet will be the same as the punishment of the inquirer— ¹¹ so that the house of Israel will not wander again from Me or defile themselves again with all their transgressions. They will be My people and I will be their God.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

¹² The word of Adonai came to me saying, ¹³ “Son of man, suppose a land sins against Me by trespassing grievously and I stretch out My hand over it, break off its staff of bread, send famine upon it and cut it off from man and beast. ¹⁴ Even if these three men—Noah, Daniel and Job—be in it, they would only deliver their own souls by their righteousness.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

¹⁵ “If I cause evil beasts to pass through the land and they ravage it and make it a wasteland, so that no one would pass through because of the beasts, ¹⁶ even if these three men were in it, as I live, says Adonai, they will not deliver sons or daughters. They would only deliver themselves, but the land will be desolate. ¹⁷ Or if I bring a sword on that land and say: ‘Let the sword go through the land,’ so that I cut off man and beast from it; ¹⁸ though these three men were in it, as I live, says Adonai, they will not deliver sons or daughters, for they will only deliver themselves.

¹⁹ “Or, suppose I were to send a plague to that land and pour out My fury upon it in blood, to cut off man and beast from it. ²⁰ Even if Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, as I live, says Adonai, they would not deliver either a son or a daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.”

²¹ For thus Adonai says: “How much more if I send My four dreadful judgments against Jerusalem—the sword, the famine, the evil beasts and the plague—to cut man and beast off from it. ²² Yet behold, survivors would remain in it who would be brought out, both sons and daughters. Behold, when they come to you and you see their ways and their deeds, you would be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought against Jerusalem, all that I have brought on it. ²³ They would comfort you when you see their ways and their deeds. So you will know that I had not done all that I had done without cause.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

Vine Wood for the Fire

15 The word of Adonai came to me saying: ² “Son of man, how can the wood of a vine be better than the branch of any tree that is among the trees of the forest? ³ Can wood be taken from it to make anything useful? Can a peg be made from it to hang anything on? ⁴ Behold, when it is cast in the fire for fuel, both ends are devoured in fire and the middle is charred—is it useful for any work? ⁵ Look, when it was whole, it was not useful for any work—how much less, when the fire has devoured it and it is charred, will it be useful for any work? ⁶ Therefore thus says Adonai Elohim: Like the vine’s wood among the trees of the forest that I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give up the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ⁷ I will set My face against them. Even if they come out of the fire, the fire will yet devour them. So you will know that I am Adonai, when I set My face against them. ⁸ I will make the land desolate, because they have acted so faithlessly.” It is a declaration of Adonai.